The Last Post

It is fitting that I should write my last post before heading to Flanders. Both my daughters have visited the memorials to the fallen soldiers in Northern France and Belgium and it will be impossible to travel through that landscape without a thought for the history that is within it.

Yesterday I collected the bike from Specialised Cycles, in Norwich, where she had been for a final service and check over. A tweak and a tighten here, new brake pads and chain there.

This morning we went out on a fairly uppish 40 miles and duly took my total through 4500 of training. It was a warm muggy couple of hours and only a glimpse of what is ahead. 2 hours is nothing compared to 16 or 18 in the saddle. The latter being a state of mind as much as anything.

I have refined my kit to what I consider to be the barest minimum. Anything else I need, I shall buy along the way. it is basically this:-

Bivibag
Sleeping bag (1 season)
Thermarest
Spare shorts
Light weight thermal long sleeved shirt
Warm cycling outer jacket
Waterproof jacket
Spare socks x 1 pair
Leg warmers. (Bottom half of a pair of tracksuit trousers)
High Viz tabbard

Suntan cream
Sudocrem
Vaseline
Toothbrush and small tube toothpaste
Electrolyte replacement tablets 2 tubes

Tools
Tubes x 2
Chain oil
Puncture repair kit

Paperwork
GPS/Phone
IPod

I'll try to get Laura to write the odd blog post here for you. Otherwise it will be little snippets by twitter @johnnymbakewell from now on.

See you on the Muur at midnight on the 24th and in Istanbul some time after that. Thank you for your support one and all.