Weather or not, 7 days 23 hours to go

Today was a late lesson..normally I wouldn't flog myself on a day like today..very hot, very humid, thunder, rain.. just not my favourite scenario. But today I just had to and as a result learned a valuable lesson..if the weather's similar on Monday 26th..ride an easy gear.

Tasks done now include:
Both wheels and tyres in good order..yup
Lap times sorted
No of laps expected to be ridden by end of each 10 mins..sorted
Anticipated times of first few slower laps sorted and factored in.
Healthy? yup and friends know to keep away if they're sick..thanks Lisa for the shouted conversation across the infield this morning..she's recovering from a cold

Today I'd like to take the opportunity thank all of you who are visiting my blog..2,532 visits so far..and you range from the hundreds of you in Aus, UK and USA to the lone person in Ecuador, Iran, Mauritius, Serbia and Tunisia to name a few.. Many of you are people I know and have arrived via my signature on an email, others came via links from my sponsors , other blogs and via search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Some of the search requests have given rise to a smile: I wonder what the person who typed in "blue boy" was ACTUALLY looking for?, likewise "bike porn"...neither stayed very long!

I hope that I was able to help those who arrived via a search for vertigo, which I suffered from for 6 weeks in August and September and which cramped my training more than somewhat.

The point of this blog was to keep a record for myself of the ups and downs in my journey to the hour attempt..a challenge taken up in haste and regretted not at all. It is essentially a diary, albeit a public one and hopefully it will inspire others, both male and female of any age, but especially those who were born in the forties and fifties, to get out and do things that are apparently "beyond their reach". For I believe, as was declared by Robert Browning in his long, long poem, Andrea del Sarto, a poem that I was required to study for English 'A' level many, many years ago

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp".

And when the 26th is past and I have come back to life..able to drink wine and beer again, eat ice cream and chips (but not together), frolic on my MTB and think beyond cycling around in small ovals...what will I do???...well....I'll be preparing for the next challenge, for people like me just never stop.

And the challenge will be???.....well to find out, I guess you'll just have to keep visiting this blog wont you!!