Oct 28-31 - another ride - Riverina 1200

Well, at least I finished this one.   It's been a tough year. It seems that I wiped myself out on the Italian Alpi 4000 and never quite recovered. 

Bordeaux - right after Alpi, running behind and deciding not really safe to continue.  

Philippines - car altercation 

Florida - too flat and easy to quit

New Zealand - same as Bordeaux, actually not seriously behind, just slow, didn't feel safe riding through the night. 

Virginia - finished without issue

Italy Verona - same as Bordeaux 

Bulgaria - on time but saving myself for France / PBP, stopped at 600

France - altercation with another cyclist

Australia - finished but not really pretty. 

Day 1 300 - was slow. Hot, biting flies when slow, rough roads. Hamid then broke his seatpost which I (Dave T) and Dave R helped him get through but it was time to call it a day and leave the 100k part until day 2.  Finished at 10:30. 

Day 2 100k - 4am depart, slow. More flies. More rough roads. 

Day 2 300k - more of the same. Finished up after dawn. 

Day 3 300k - I suggested 10:30 start. Hamid wanted 11:45.  We compromised and rode separately :).   I finished up around 5:15 am. Hamid 7 am?  I had a good ride albeit cold to finish.  Hamid rode last 200k with Dave R. 

Day 4 2x100k - I was going to get my usual 3 hrs sleep and leave about 9:15 but woke up to a text suggesting 10. Ok, I went back to sleep.  The first 100k was tough. I knew that we needed the break so spent 1/2 hour at hotel in between.  We finished at 12:30 am vs the 1:43 time limit. Colder still. Wildfire smoke. More of the same flies, rough roads in the first 100. 

There was some climbing but not overly much. Rough roads ate watts. Flies, about 1/2 the size of a house fly, drove you crazy.  They would walk across my glasses. 

I was pretty strung out with shoulder issue and cold, but it wasn't really cold.  I'm needing more sleep and fueling isn't really doing well.  I'm not as organized as I used to be.  Body temp control never was good and now worse. 

Jason asked me if I was mentally ready.  The answer was a definite no but I kept that to myself. 

Back - tied in knits. 

Knee - no issue except at the beginning of day 4 it was clicking for the first couple of kms. 

Riding days may be numbered. 

From my iwdt

Aug 14-Sep 12 - itinerary

I need to provide some detail but wanted to at least do a location listing by night.  This is a retrospective e.g. none of this was really planned in advance other than PBP in Rambouillet.  We stayed there an extra night to get to the dentist in Paris.  We had intended to drive north from Oslo but decided on Bergen and then went no further north.  The weather was rainy so we stayed in that area, did a day drive north and back along the coast.  We added Amsterdam to our thinking because of that weather-related shortchanging in Norway.  Meaux is our go-to Paris location before flying; relatively close to CDG.  One time we stayed at another location - Paris Disney. 

Mishaps:

- Reims purse stolen

- PBP off in an ambulance with 20k to go

- Copenhagen (minor) - hotel didn't understand we added a night; were going to evict us

- SIM card problems with new phone along the way and then again in Amsterdam; still won't connect to either carrier

Having fun anyway ...

Aug 14 - Toronto to Paris 

Aug 15,16,17 - Reims - 136 km

Aug 18-26 - Rambouillet - 198 km

Aug 23 - Giverny and back (Sandy only) - 182 km

Aug 27 - Hamburg - mid drive stop - 958 km

Aug 28,29,30 - Copenhagen - 472 km (no ferry)

Aug 31,Sep 1 - Oslo - 608 km

Sep 2,3,4 - Bergen - 465 km + 122km to/from Hellesoy

Sep 5 - Hamar - mid drive stop - 475 km

Sep 6,7 - Stockholm - 554 km

Sep 8 - Rodby - mid drive stop before ferry - 804 km

Sep 9,10 - Amsterdam - 640 km

Sep 11 - Meaux - 494 km (30km from CDG)

Sep 12 - Paris to Toronto

Total kms - 6138 not counting misc driving eg. around Rambouillet

Jun 6-Jul 15 - another month goes by

Perhaps at some point I'll have to admit that the blog is dead, long live the blog. 

So what's going on?

- quick trip to Florida to see ortho; I need surgery but can keep on keeping on, so I'll schedule for the fall

- bought our first new car in 21 years; Buffalo dealer, a replacement X5, carbon black exterior like the M5.  Don't get me going on tartufo interior.

- They had used in stock but the price difference wasn't worth buying used, especially considering this one had factory trailer hitch.  

- Why does anyone need 523hp?

- the 2015 is on the auction block but won't get much more than the price of a good bottle of wine. Stay tuned. 

- decided to go to Sofia. Sandy came along and made plans to tour.  I hung up my bike at 600k, playing it safe. I'm saving myself for France and PBP. We had a good time. 

- Shopska salads are to die for.  Food and wine were great. 

- outbound Air Canada kept us on the runway in Toronto for 3 hours with lame excuses. Lufthansa rebooked us for much later flight FRA=>SOF; we spent the day in lounges. Flight back was smooth. 

- don't ever rent a Dacia Logan old beat up car. Worst car we've ever driven in.  Off airport rental added to the woes but Gemut and Auto Europe were wonderful. 

- on return, used Marriott points to stay in Toronto, hit the market for food, to David and Vanda for Cassie, Parry Sound LCBO for wine pickup, Farmers Market, Sobeys and the Kart for lunch. 

- Cassie bounded next door; Kim helped unload. Trip complete. 

Hamid and Mark were in Bulgaria as well. They completed a tough ride. Could I have finished?  I expect so. Other than the heat and worry about riding alone, I was doing well, in good shape timewise but really wanted to play it safe.   I didn't want to push myself. 

Next up, 400k on Wednesday; Emma Zoe and Matthew on Thursday; more family later. It will be a busy time. 

We fly out again August 14. 

Onward. 

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From my iwdt

May 20-Jun 5 - Planes and Automobiles

That X5?  Effectively dead. I don't know how much I've spent on diagnostics yet but they finally put a camera in the cylinder and there's a damaged valve and piston.  The cost of a rebuild is about the same as the book value of the car. Instant depreciation.  Today we head to Buffalo to look at a replacement. The old X5 is posted on the wholesale market. 

The trip to Italy?  Lots of fun; Verona is wonderful. We ate and drank well before and after my ride. 

The Transalp 1200k? Yet another DNF.  I wasn't keeping up with the 13.33 min speed and knew that I wouldn't gain ground from km 600-900, which had some of the toughest climbing, so Sandy picked me up at 600.   At that point, from the night start, I was pushing 3x24 hours with 45 minutes sleep.  Too much fun. 

Beautiful scenery!

Hamid was also a dnf. He finally threw in the towel 100k from the end. I'd been watching his tracker and knew that his chances of finishing were slim to nonexistent.  Mark, Bob, Chris and Chris made it with a couple of hours to spare.  I had pizzza and coke awaiting them at the 100k-to-go-hotel and they rolled on without sleep. 

Korea?  Cancelled. On the day we were flying out, I was having trouble walking. It just didn't make sense to go to Korea. 

We had a good trip back, stayed overnight by the Toronto airport, picked up Cassie on the way back to the cottage. 

The way forward for me, cycling wise, is unclear. Finally on the trainer yesterday, I found that when I sit up, not a normal riding position, a tendon behind my knee moves from side to side. There's clearly a torn ligament that would normally keep it in place.  Sigh.   Like the car, a rebuild I'd in order. Unlike the car, replacement isn't an option … or maybe it is. 

But, life goes on.   

I stripped one of the spruces downslope from the driveway and decided that the other 4 are better handled by Miles. A hoe would make it easy. We will ultimately fill that slope with rock and plantings, is Sandy's vision. To me that's generating a lot of maintenance. We shall see. 

I'm planning on replacing the deck railings out front, and after examining all the options, keeping the posts and glass and buying the brackets and railings in black aluminum from HHBC in town.    There are other options but I'm looking for less maintenance. 

I talked to Steve and then went in to look at, and cost, options.  Believe it or not's not, he remembered the detail of my order from 2006. 17 years. What a guy.  An irreplaceable asset.  

Buffalo here we come.  

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From my iwdt

May 11-19 - cramming

Yikes. A lot has happened in a short period of time. 

- Some major work on the nsb master bath - have all the floor standing cabinets, counter in place, I did the sink and faucet plumbing - still missing the 

- still missing/to do - Jeff - tile baseboard, laminate to tile transition; Kirk - shower glass; Vic - cabinet drawer and door fronts, cabinet on top of vanity, mirrors, couple of replacement drawers; me - vanity lights, interior of entranceway closet 

We do have a working toilet and sinks. We don't have a working shower. 

We scrambled and packed on Saturday the 13th and left on the 14th heading to Stef's in SC on Sunday. Long story short, an hour into the trip the car had a "drivetrain malfunction" that my tool diagnosed as misfires on cylinder 7; we went back home and tried to come up with a rental option; came up dry; decided to proceed anyway; had the tool plugged in full-time doing resets whenever our revs were low and the misfires put the car into limp mode.  I drove in manual keeping the revs up which worked fine on the highway but required the tool whenever we had to stop.  We took the car to Barrie yesterday and left it with Georgian BMW. 

We got to Stef's about 9:30pm, vs the original 5pm plan. Left mid morning vs staying most of the day (nervous about the trip), stopped at Meadowlands PA overnight (Pittsburgh area), and to cottage Tuesday 5pm including a stop for groceries.  Our original plan was a more leisurely Wednesday arrival. 

On Wednesday, I unwrapped the gazebo and put in the docks. Sandy charged into laundry duties, washing bedding. On Thursday she decided to put in part of a garden so I hooked up the lake pump.  We picked up zucchini and tomatoes on Friday in Parry Sound (we took two cars to Barrie).  I'm the midst of this we packed for Italy and South Korea. We leave in a few hours. 

David and Vanda arrived in time for dinner last night. Kylie and Jesse weren't too far behind. Cassie went crazy of course. D&V will take Cassie home with them.  She probably won't miss us.  Actually that's unfair - she has a different relationship with each human in her life.   Witness the fact that Jason knew when we arrived because Cassie triggered their camera when she went over to see if they were home.  Soon she'll see Gavin and Amanda. 

In 24 hours we will have flown to Venice and driven to Verona. Time flies and so do we. 

Oh - and I installed a Ting electrical monitoring device. You can look that one up. 

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From my iwdt

May 1-10 - the pace picks up

But not everywhere. Damn bathroom. 

Drove to Huntersville north of Charlotte, stayed overnight, finished up in Sterling on the 3rd. Completed (yay) the 1200 from 4-7, stopped in Lexington VA visiting Alec and Linda on the 8th, opted to stop in Orangeburg that night and got back to nsb on the 9th. 

I've been busy with chores since - doing whatever plumbing I can preparing for the vanity top and sinks installation on Friday. I just changed the X5 oil.  I cleaned the bike - I need to take it for a short spin and then pack it - won't be reopened until Verona. 

The ride was tough because the first day was long. 25.5 hours, back in daylight - that set the stage for two more all nighters. We spent a lot of time off the bike. It's not my usual style but it was great to have Hamid's company. 

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From my iwdt

Apr 28-30 - gimme a brake

Ok, my sense of humor on display again.  I did the X5 front brakes yesterday. It went faster than the first time but still takes time. It's difficult to remove the calipers and caliper holder.  It's difficult to line them up to reinstall. The calipers and rotors weigh a ton.  I did too much kneeling and am feeling the aftermath in the bad knee today, that might have been my last hurrah. 

Marda is here, arrived Thursday night.  We ate at the SYC on Thursday, they had brunch there yesterday and we ate there last night.  We love the SYC 😊

Tomorrow am I leave for VA and a 1200 that has more climbing albeit not as difficult climbing as NZ. 

Onward. 

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From my iwdt