How can I possibly live without my............and yes I'm planning my packing for OS again

Yesterday my SRM powermeter thingey turned prima donna.  Actually it's been a bit princess-like for a while, but yesterday after shifting it from the  TT to road bike it spat the dummy totally.

And  suddenly I have to contemplate training the old fashioned way, which led me to thinking about how we now rely so much on things electronic.   Certainly ditching all of the following would considerably lighten my lugggage, what with all the different chargers, cables and batteries.

1 cable, one wall charger

I have 3 of these...doh!...1 for audiobooks, 1 for Italian learning stuff and 1 for feral music to listen to while training  1 cable+1 wall charger

how can I travel without one of these? instant communication with the world, blog writing, plus DVD/CD player and also good for charging other stuff. 1 loooong mains cable

as a navigational aid this is of little use to me on the bike  since with my contacts in I can barely read it..but it's sorta "nice" to know how the steep is  the hill you're grovelling up!!...and later on to show where you went on a groovy map diagram.

Vital when driving solo in Europe but it did try and get me to drive across a ditch somewhere in France and also sent me into a blind panic when it told me to take the 6th exit from a Geneva roundabout when I couldn't find 6 exits.  I also got very fed up of hearing "re-calculating".  Currently I've got it set up to talk to me in Italian(!)  1 cable serves both these plus a mains charger and an in car charger.

 nothing extra for this baby unless I go the rechargeable battery route.

 this old point and shoot is for taking on the bike..spare batteries, wall charger with a cable that doesn't suit any other bit of equipment I have.

I would never have looked beyond the iPhone if I wasn't a cyclist and knew all about HTC from their sponsorship of the pro team, so advertising DOES work!  This baby will stay turned off except for a brief minute or 2 once a day, once bitten twice shy and I'm not keen on arriving home ever again to a huge bill for data access caused by a roaming phone. 1 cable for mains and computer

Instead this little basic baby below, complete with Italian or Austrian or UK phone number will be on 24/7  an in car and a mains charger

and  earphones....actually ear buds.  FINALLY I've found some that fit my ears and don't fall out, they're made so there's a slight angle to them, PLUS I have the lime green ones so I can find them.  Sold at Big W.

nothing extra for these babies, but I will take a spare pair just in case.

 Blueant S4 hands free in car speaker thing...this is a must have here (I've already been caught and fined once and at 9 demerit points am too close to having to take the VicRoads test for comfort) but since I'm not expecting a flood of calls while in Europe, this baby will not get a guernsey for OS travel.

And finally a 2 way socket to allow me to plug into the mains in Europe and one for UK plus  a 4 hole power board since I have so many things to charge!!

Ker-azy

Long time no blog

Been too busy with "out of comfort zone" job. 
6 more weeks.
In the meantime..this little man is the newest member of our family..I'd been eying him since waaay before Christmas and he was even on my Christmas list.  I  finally gave in on Saturday.

Meet Aloysius the first of the 3 blind mice:

when this pix was taken he was guarding our front door but in keeping with the "Ernie"  tradition he keeps moving around and currently he's sitting on the balcony

Back to europe for a more relaxed holiday

..well actually it'll be just as cycle focused as I'll be training for the World Masters Road Champs in Austria at the end of August,  however since I've just endured a week of jet lag followed almost immediately by a week of "the 'flu", my training is so far behind where it should be that  I'm 100% certain I'll be propping up the bottom of the list this time round.

Curently Alex is competing in Portugal in the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships, please take a look at this web site for details...http://mtbwoc2010.fpo.pt/   or this one for the team's blog     http://www.ozmtboteam.socialfx.net/

 There are quite a few events..sprint, middle distance  qualifying for the long and then the long distance and after that the relays.  Alex is better at the longer distances.  The sprint event starts later today (Sunday am both  there).

I fly out on Thursday and will be riding the Alp d'Huez on Sunday..providing my cough and sinus issues doesn't worsen during the flight. 

I'm soooo looking forward to warmer weather and the 21 hairpin bends...better than the 48 of the Stelvio

Farewells, group members, the daily routine and EFI

Yesterday and today we lose 2 of our group..one was going anyway but the other had to retire injured following a fall resulting in a fractured olecranon...such a shame, but he's planning on returning next year..I wonder if anyone does do this trip twice...must ask.

So..to the composition of the group..there are 35of us..3 non riders and more Aussies than not....we have a Brit, 3 from NZ, 2 Germans, 2 Dutch and 2 from Brazil to add an exotic touch...mostly guys and mostly either as couples or with a friend......a real mix of characters.

For those reading this that might be thinking of doing the ride sometime..the level of bike riding ability varies from racers to those who have only just taken up bike riding.  However, despite this variance the amout of training prior to coming on the trip is similar....high to very high.

The daily routine..the previous day we're given a briefing about "the day of tomorrow" which includes a map complete with instructions and distances between navgiational decision points, weather forecast and time for breakfast and start.

We try to set off early and our first stop is ALWAYS for coffee...but finding a location is not always easy, especially as most of the towns seem to be situated on the top of a hill and our relucatnce to climb any more than we have to overcomes the need for caffeine.

A great lunch is provided along the way..usually somewhere from 50-70km, then we ride the rest of the way (more coffee stops are slotted in) and miraculously always get to the camp site at beer o'clock.  The cooks do a fine job providing us with an evening meal plus red wine and once the housekeeping jobs are done we're not long out of our beds to rest up for the next day.

EFI
= riding Every F"*&^ing Inch of the tour..which is the aim of some but by no means all of the group. There's never any pressure to complete the ride if you chose not to..you can ride half a day, have a day off or bail out if it gets all too much for you....


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