Twas the night before stonehenge!

So, tomorrow after work we are off to sunny Wales ready for the weekends ride. EEEEEEK I can’t believe it’s so close, the planning, the prep, the training rides and falling off have all been in preparation for this moment.

We are driving there- well when I say “we” I mean Andy is driving and I apparently am navigating- this could be interesting.

Assuming we get there in 1 piece HASSRA crew are all meeting in a pub called, the Begelly Arms tomorrow evening, if our chats on face book and yammer are anything to go by this weekend is going to be a riot!  My plan is not to drink (go on then, maybe just the 1) and have a nice, pasta meal to set me up ready for the challenge ahead- also planning on it not being a late night.

Then it’s an evening in a lovely travel lodge with Andy before we have to be at the start for 7.30am on Friday morning. I have porridge pots ready for breakfast as well as some yummy flap jacks made by my friends daughter and will need the obligatory coffee.

Had a moment of panic on Monday, I asked the team at expedition wise for a route, so one was emailed to me yay! Only it was showing day 1 as 85 miles not 75 what, what, WHAT??????? Queue much stress from the whole team as our day 1 ride had increased by 15 miles! Close to tears I emailed the expedition wise man who replied…..

“slight typo, sorry day 1 has increased to 75 miles not 85”

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand relax, I can cope with an extra 5 miles but my brain was definitely not computing an extra 15. So my ride is now 200 miles over 3 days, 75 day 1, 56 day 2 and 69 day 3, I am going to enjoy my glass of champers in Stonehenge. 

Phew, it’s a good job I have rescue remedy!

My bag is packed and ready to go, including the ipad so I can blog at the end of each day for those of you who are interested. I have water proofs, arm warmers (Lidl bargain-if you cycle and you aren’t a brand snob Lidl and Aldi are the place to go) clothes for the evening and, a book just in case i'm awake enough to read. I also have my camera so be prepared for pics galore next week.

I know I am ready, I have prepared for this but I am still nervous, 200 miles is rather a long way when you consider my only other challenge was 100km/62 miles. I’m pretty sure that the banter and camaraderie is going to get me up day 1’s hills- because from what i’m hearing they are something special.

So readers wish me luck and send me some “get up the hill easily” vibes and I will keep you all posted with my progress.