Heading South

I love good infrastructure.

According to the GPS on my BlackBerry (techno nerd? Me?) the TGV I'm on is rocketing along at about 290 kph. And looking at how slow the cars on the autoroute look - having driven on French roads, I reckon they're probably doing 130 ~ 140 kph - it certainly looks like we're going bloody fast.

Guess what ... the train was scheduled to leave at 9:42 and it did. Connex, take a lesson please.

I'm heading south to Valence, where I'll be collected by BikeStyle Tours, the group that has arranged the accommodation, entries for the Etape, and most importantly, the transfers to the start village and the bus home from Ventoux.

There are a couple of guys from Canberra, Phil & Mick, in the carriage with me. With their bikes. On the same tour as me. We've chatted a bit, sized each other up, and in a very Aussie, self depreciating way, all down played our training and how well we might to do.

I'm a little concerned about the weather on Monday - the forecast is for low 30's. If I'd been training in the heat it wouldn't bother me, but my last few hard rides started at 3 and rose to maybe 12 degrees. I guess I should start my pre event hydration today, rather than rely on just a couple of glasses of water on the morning of the ride.