Bright Spark (one of the three A's)

Describe yourself in three words

Thorny little seedpod

What motivated you to do this ride?

I long to recall what the actual spark of inspiration was. A cardiovascular adventure into French territory with a collection of good humour and collective wit. I think this is good prep for the Lands end to John o'Groat goal.

What book are you reading now?

I'm alternating between Graphic. and Remake It and some self help classic that I downloaded for free on my phone. All bar one have lots of pictures. What does that say about me?

What does your training regime look like?

Sporadic rides to work and home giving even love to both bikes, alternate Wednesday early 30km rides with Brendan, the occasional long haul with the crew over the weekend. With a lot of enthusiasm and intention to do more when the time presents itself. I have stopped using the elevators to the second floor and now mostly use the stairs at work. I have done a couple of triathlons this season (does that count) and have the best intentions to still join a gym nearby and commit myself to train hard for this event. I might still join the swimming league and I played softball on Tuesday.

Two weeks to go... how do you feel?
It's three nights away now - I'm slow on the blog. I feel more concerned over the logistics than the ride. I think my concerns are as such: with our minimal planning, do we have everything (kids, passports, ferry tickets, a plan). How is everyone else going to cope with the rain - has anyone looked at the weather report? It's going to bucket down. I have slicks (go fast slicks but slicks never the less). Uber sexy bike tweaked to perfection useless when wet. Has everyone got wet weather gear? Plasters? Bandages?
Rain can make the grumpier folk in our contingency grumpier and grumpiness is super contagious when clustered in males. Lost grumpy males with a soggy map are the worst of the lot and no matter how fast my super slicks are, they are no bloody good when it's raining and the Navigator has said we are supposedly riding on railway tracks. Which is in itself another concern, railway tracks? I'm not sure that I'm insured to do that kind of thing. I am sure he said railway tracks. I only half read the email because I was nodding in my practiced way in the meeting and skimming the email in that blackberry fashion accustomed to those who get it dead wrong.

I read something along the lines of railway tracks or cobbles. I am still not sure if those are our only two options and I don't know France (I am sure we have to ride on the other side of the road there and I don't know if we touched on this or if we ever covered French hand signals in any one of our preparatory discussions).

This is where at the height of contemplation I have a thought of Rob, wet in a dayglo shirt, grumpy to the power of three (perhaps cursing) with a close grumble of Michael and Brendan following Andy down the wrong side of a cobble road .... Andy wishing he had my slicks.

R aka Wingman

1 - Describe yourself in three words

A man of few words (5 words, how ironic)

2 - What motivated you to do this ride?

Whining friends, 2 liters of Rum and about 5 hours of non-stop harassment! = Motivation.

3 - What book are you reading now?

Is it out on DVD yet?

4 - What does your training regime look like?

Well, after the whining (& hangover) it started out fairly slow but am now doing 20 kms every morning with circa 60 to 70 kms on the weekend. Goddess has got me eating healthily and with the lack of disposable cash the beer intake has slowed considerably.

5 - Two weeks to go... how do you feel?

Shitting myself...