The Taper

It's just as well you're meant to taper before a big event,because there isn't much time to train. Going away for three weeks, there is always the inevitable rush to get things finished at work. I could quite easily be doing 12 hour days and still not get everything done that I would like/need to. Unfortunately, in getting ready for the race we don't have the same luxury....stuff just has to get done. The 'to do list' has been cut done dramatically in the last week or so, but there is still a myriad of of minutiae that needs to be dealt with. Everything from vaccinations to building bike boxes, from chasing up that last spare part for your bike to finding your headtorch, from naming 10 pairs of socks to re-stan'sing your tubes, from finalising accomodation to organising hire cars.....you get the picture. In amongst all of this you are trying to fit in 10-15 hours of training, it just doesn't all fit. And I haven't even mentioned trying to stay awake each night to watch Le Tour.

During the course of the week, we all recieved two new pairs of Keen Ridgeline trail running shoes. I tried mine out at the You Yangs last night, in two words; "Bloody Fantastic". I've been hanging out for these puppies since my Wasatch's finally died after the Keen Adventure Race, and they haven't disappointed. Hopefully I'll write a full review after the Bull, where I'll put them through their paces.

Another highlight was recieving not ONE, not TWO, but THREE boxes of Torq stuff. Heaps of new kit so we are once again the sexiest looking team out there. Enough electrolyte, natural energy, bars and gels to keep us powering through 6 days of racing. Due to excess baggage restrictions we have to post this stuff over ahead of us. It will be a nervous wait for all of us (including Gen) until we hear from a friend of a friend who is picking it up for us in South Africa. If something goes wrong with the post, I'll need Gen to calculate the energy equivalent in creamed rice. I really hope it's there to meet us when we get to East London.

I'm so looking forward to getting on the plane. All the organising, preparation and training (or lack of it) will be behind us and all we'll have to think about is racing and enjoying ourselves while we do it.

Stew.