Jul 29 - ok, here we go

To High Wycombe this morning, not without problems as our nav's didn't want to find it.  The one nav that found it yesterday, Google Maps, had somehow deleted its offline maps.  I'm trying to get them loaded but it's soooo slooowww and might not finish before I head out.  Pain. 

Anyway, we made it to the train station in good time and Sandy got to Stratford-upon-Avon and saw her 3.5 hour Shakespeare play and found a wine bottle with a screw top and ate at a Moroccan Restaurant.  For my part, I found a corkscrew that had been in my carry-on bag ... duh ...

I was back to the registration point in reasonable time and went through the queues, first registration and second to pickup my pre-ordered jersey and t's.  They had me down for an XXL jersey, which of course is silly, not what I ordered and they were giving me some grief about that until I pointed out that their alphabetical jersey orders list had everyone from R's on up with XXL's ... now is that just a coincidence ????!!!!

So I got my "L" jersey.  European size M's are too snug for my liking.

A group of us had lunch; Mark Thomas from Seattle; Hamid of course and some PA riders that I've seen / ridden with before.

Then, back at the ranch, er hotel, I lazed around a little, organized things, took the bike out for a short spin to ensure that the suspended-from-the-garage shifting adjustments that I'd made actually worked under load, and they did.

The weather might have eased up a little, i.e. not raining 100% of the time.  That's good.  It looks like we'll start off dry anyway.  If using my fenders is good insurance, I'll take it.

I found Mass at a church less than a mile away (yes, they use miles in the UK) at 6pm, hit a grocery store and ate back at the hotel.  Meat, cheese, pate ... no carbs ... perhaps I'll regret this ?  There will be plenty of carbs on the ride.  I've got a few boiled eggs for breakfast and some more cheese but might skip the cheese; wasn't all that good -- a brie-like goat cheese, not what I was expecting.

I should be sleeping except that I don't have to get up any earlier than I've been rising all week. 

My strategy for this ride is simple.  Ride till I drop.  Seriously though, I'm using the provided faciities and have setup my drop bags for Pocklington and Edinburgh -- 350, 700, 1050, home.  It's an out and back and Pocklington is the mid point.  Leaving earlier in the a.m. would be better; my four day ride will likely comprise days longer than 24 hours ...25 would be nice, finishing up around noon on my check-back-in day but time will tell.  I'm slower than I was 4 years ago.

I don't really expect to provide any updates between now and being finished but I will have spot and spotwalla running.   I'm WDT on spotwalla, of course.  The nice thing about the spotwalla link is that you can see where I am.  Hamid is HA.  Mark Thomas is 64 (his RUSA number) and there's someone else who has signed up. 

SPOT -- same as usual -- http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=05ndnEHBc2PPuiqK3GtxQ4oTrqbNBZ7YM

spotwalla -- right now it shows me in Harrogate but will change once I start riding --  https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=449

Onward ... Edinburgh-ward ...