packed... and ready?

I can confirm that I am packed. I have put all of the necessary items in a bag. However, I can under no circumstances, confirm that I am ready. I was actually fairly well-behaved about sticking to the training schedule. However, in my longest week, I biked around 250 miles. On the trip, we’ll average just under 500 miles. I feel grossly underprepared.

I wasn’t certain that I’d be able to participate in the bicycle trip until just over a few months prior to its start, so my training was somewhat more condensed than I’d have liked. I began with about 100 miles per week, and added about 20 miles per week, until I reached around 250 miles in my last week. My longest day was riding 100 miles, during which it rained for the last four hours. I won’t deny crying… a little. :o)

The city is no place to train, but when I went off into the countryside, I generally got myself lost, or spent most of the time looking at directions, so a lot of days I spent going ‘round and ‘round either the 7-mile loop at Richmond Park or the 3-mile loop at Regent’s Park. All that time with little mental distraction can drive a person mad, so I listened to some books on tape, which helped a good deal, and on special occasions managed to drag some friends along to keep me company.

On Wednesday, I flew to Seattle where the trip begins. Truthfully, everything went as smoothly as could be asked. I managed to get all of my belongings I’m not taking on the trip packed up and into storage in the spare room at our flat as I’m renting out my room while I’m away. Simpson’s Cycles packed up my bicycle for shipping, and I caught the bus with my two duffle bags to pick up my bike, and a cab met me at the bicycle shop to take the whole lot of us to the airport.

Despite all going smoothly, I still managed to panic. If I got onto that plane, it meant it was all actually going to happen. The thought made me tremble like a leaf. I recently read an article on stress relief techniques, such as breathing deeply and breathing from your tummy rather than chest. I’ll tell you, I belly-breathed my whole way through that airport and onto the plane to prevent myself from turning tail and running straight out of the airport, into a cab, and back to my happy little life.

When I did see the plane, however, I was heartened -- it was a double decker plane! It would just be like on the London bus. I planned to go straight to the top, grab a front row seat, and stare out the window the whole time. Unfortunately, I was on the lower deck, and as far as I could tell from the inside, it was like any other plane I'd flown on. However, just knowing there was a whole level above me did add an air of mystery and excitement (when you're in such a frazzled state, even the littlest of things don't fail to excite!).

On another note, I appreciate it when ridiculous, yet comfortable, fashions become socially acceptable. For example, in the winter, I manage to get away with wearing what's more or less a sleeping bag with a hood, under the guise of a coat -- brilliant! And let's face it -- Uggs are just tall bedroom slippers that someone decided are OK to wear about in public. My travel dress is another noteworthy example. It is made of terry cloth and is actually just a towel with straps. It is the single most comfortable item of clothing in the world, and while I don't understand it, I'm over the moon that someone decided adding straps to a towel and wearing it about is now socially acceptable!



While my travelling clothing was great, I did encounter a few rowdy babies (otherwise known as RBs) on the plane. In fact, I was somewhat surrounded!



RB1 was a little girl with her hair done up in a single pony tail on the top of her head that stuck straight up in the air, much like Pebbles Flintstone. RB2 was a bald boy, and truthfully with one exception was not all that rowdy -- he was more of a plain B. And RB3 was a beautiful Indian girl with the thickest head of hair I've ever seen on a baby -- it looked almost like a bonnet.

While you may have heard of duelling pianos, you may be less familiar with duelling babies. I became very familiar with them on my flight. RB1 and RB3 that got into quite a duel with RB1 taking soprano and RB3 picking up alto. Sometimes they'd take turns. Sometimes they'd wail together. But wail they surely did, and whenever one of them got started, the other would join right in.

In all seriousness, I am just being silly and have the utmost respect for parents travelling with children. Getting myself through the airport and along to my destination is more than enough to keep my hands full -- I can't imagine what a challenge it is to take care of a little one along the way. Also, the way my parents tell it, I too was once a RB on flights!

The other unexpected treat of the flight is that Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was one of the available movies. My friend, Kate, and I have been watching the trilogy together, and made it through the first two, but had serious difficulties watching the third. Between US DVDs not working on UK DVD players, missing DVDs, and stalled downloads, we never managed to catch it. So it was great fun to be able to at long last catch it on the flight and at over 3 hours long, it managed to keep me occupied and out of trouble for a good portion of the flight.

About 10 hours after I left London, we landed in Seattle!