the final countdown

– yes I did go to see “Europe” play live in Bristol a few months ago, and yes – somewhat surprisingly – they weren’t too bad.  But I digress.

Currently the bedroom floor is littered with cycling clothing (warm weather, cold weather, hot weather, dry weather, wet weather), non cycling clothing (minimal, for the few hours when I expect not to be on a bike during the next month), swimming trunks (delusional), energy products (desperate), sun cream (hopeful), cycle accessories and spare parts (bet-hedging), medicinal products various (ditto), electronic telephony/photography/computing gadgets (for the record, for posterity, and for the ego).  All part of the normal run of the mill routine of every day life in the Jennings household marital bedroom, you might, perhaps reasonably, assume.  But no, there is also a large black bag into whose cavernous depths all the aforementioned items and more will be swallowed tomorrow evening, ready to start the trek to Corsica on Thursday evening.

Tomorrow morning the bike goes on the truck that will deliver it lovingly to Porto Vecchio.  While it’s travelling, I have a further two days in work in which to cram multiple days of “stuff” before I admit defeat, leave what’s left, and head for the door, grab my gear at home, then the first taxi, the first train, the next train, the underground, overnight at my sister’s, the second taxi, the first airport, the first flight, the second airport, and the second flight, finally the third taxi, before (hopefully) being reunited with the bike.

The questions now are not so much – have I trained enough / will my dodgy knee be ok / how embarrassing will it be to fail to even complete the three Corsica stages, and moved onto more specific short term detail such as – will it all fit in one bag / how heavy is the one bag allowed to be / can I lift the one bag.

At the same time I am massively grateful for everyone who has so far sponsored me, as the total everyone has donated now exceeds £2,000, which is truly fantastic.  I am nearly up to my self-created target of £1 per mile, for which I thought – yes, it will be worth trying to ride this wretched route for that.  And even if I don’t end up at £2,200, the money so far donated will do many great things for lots of damaged or disadvantaged children across the country – so to anyone reading this – particularly if they have donated to my fundraising – once again, very many heartfelt thanks.

From Saturday my aim is to post daily, and the route is reputed to be filled with achingly beautiful scenery – examples of which I will duly try to capture and share, without crashing in the process.  So keep checking for new posts, both here and on the main Tour de Force webpage, at http://www.tourdeforce.org.uk – and from where you can also track our progress, live.

It is currently 24 degrees in Porto Vecchio at 9.45pm, with a forecast of 29 degrees for the weekend.  Mmmmm!