Oct 17 - planning ahead

I have been trying to think ahead to next year's biking, since this one is largely finished, looking at the various 1200's that will be offered for next year. There are a number of alternatives:

-- Cascade 1200, out of Seattle
-- Shenandoah 1200 -- same as last year
-- Endless Mountains 1240 -- the one in PA
-- Last Chance 1200 -- out of Boulder CO

... and there is one Canadian 1200 that is likely to be offered, on Vancouver Island. Of course there is also the "silly" ride that is 3x1000's back-to-back on Vancouver Island. Why is this silly ? It just is. It's called, fittingly, Diablo. If it was one ride of 3000km the requirement would be 125 miles per day. As three separate 1000's, the requirement is 206 miles per day. Yikes.

I started browsing around trying to find out what else was being offered, and on the BC Randonneurs site stumbled upon the 1001 Miglia Italia. Yes that's 1001 as in 1001 miles (1600 km). Yes, it's held in Italy, starting near Milan, mid August. Being 1600 km the time requirement is 5 days, 13 hours. It loops through lots of mountains, based on my look at the route.

I signed up. How's your Italian ? The site is only partly translated but I did exchange emails with the guy doing the translation, an American living in the Rome area -- Tony, of course ! At this point signing up is not a commitment since no money must be sent until sometime in the new year. We would go out early (yes, I talked to Sandy about this) and then she might return or enjoy the Italian countryside.

http://www.1001migliaitalia.it/

I know a few names on the list and rode with one of them in the Granite Anvil - Carol Bell. She says that she's torn between that ride and the one in Australia (she's from New Zealand). They will accommodate 300 riders, so it's a bigger event than the ones that I've ridden in before but not a zoo like Paris-Brest-Paris which handles 5000 riders. I exchanged emails with Geoff and Vincent -- both interested but no commitment yet. Vincent quoted Oscar Wilde -- "I can resist everything but temptation".

Anyway, it's an interesting thought but it's a long way off. I also want to do one in North America but if I do, it will be one to which I can drive and at a reasonable time. There are only two that might fit those criteria -- Shenandoah and Endless Mountains -- so I don't know. 2011 is the PBP year and as Sandy says, I have to do that once. I think that's because mentally she's already planning for her month in France ... :).

I may have another goal for 2010 -- learning some Italian !

Back to reality -- I did go fishing yesterday a.m. The sun came out and there was little wind so I took Abby and we sat by the point at Smith's Bay. I brought home two good-sized pike, so it was well worthwhile.

I puttered around a little, covering the air conditioner, organizing the boathouse and then finally hit upon my "project of the day" -- putting the tarps around the gazebo and hanging the Christmas lights around same. That took several hours and is not quite finished yet. I need to tie it down some more, or rather, tie it up some more. I also need to buy some more lights. I must have hung more loops because I ran out on the side facing the house. After I finished Sandy said -- "didn't you have the brown side out last year" -- drat. Yes, that's what I did. This year the silver side is out. Oh well, I'm not taking it down and putting it up again !

I was part-way finished hanging the tarp on the house-side and Sandy came out (why didn't she notice the wrong colour at that point ?) and tidied up inside and brought the cushions in the house. She just missed getting closed in for the winter.

The job would be easy with three docks, i.e. one on each water side, and two people. Using one dock I spent a large part of my time moving that dock around -- about four times in total -- plus up and down hanging the huge tarp and the lights. I'm not sure that there is any easier way. Fixed covers, like Donnie's, would be awkward, heavy, expensive and warped like my sense of humour. Another option would be to wrap it with clear, heavy-duty vapour barrier. I have a huge roll of the stuff but that would not be reusable and would create a large amount of trash each year. Using that approach I would inset each of the four sides. It's something to think about, but that would definitely require two people.

It's cold out again at 24F, but there is no more frost in the forecast. In fact, it's supposed to get up to 59F on Thursday -- banana growing weather -- coupled with rain, naturally. I'd rather have cold and sunny.

Today I'll go to Mass, likely Britt, but I haven't decided for sure. Sandy will probably go into Sudbury tomorrow. She gave her car some introductory exercise yesterday going into Port Loring to pickup up soda water and a newspaper.

That's it.