Time to ride

At times it felt as though the start of this adventure would never arrive. Working weeks dragged on and on with our leaving date remaining months away. At some point this changed – September became visible on the horizon and each month passed quicker than the last, with the weeks slipping by at an increasingly alarming rate.

The last 2 weeks since finishing work have flown by in a blur of leaving parties (thanks to everyone who came!), goodbyes, moving out of flats, last minute equipment shopping, packing and bike building. I’ve been trying hard to really appreciate the final luxuries – the last lie in with a warm duvet, last football match watched in the pub with friends, last english breakfast, last gig, last ‘proper’ cup of tea. I’m sure we’ll be able to sample some of these things as we ride, but they won’t be quite the same, and certainly not taken for granted in the way I would at home.

I know that once underway the nerves will disappear as we begin to adapt to life on the road, but I am half excited about and half dreading ‘leaving day’. Excited because we’re finally beginning the adventure we’ve be dreaming about and planning for the last 8 months, dreading the goodbyes to our families and the emotions we’ll all be feeling.

We’re leaving at 10am on Sunday 5th September from Henley (Valley Rd) – if you want to cycle the first bit with us or wave us off, please do! We’ll be heading towards Windsor Great Park before heading south east – ideal for a round trip from Henley, or the first half of a return cycle to London!

Our next post will be our first from the road – it’s finally time to ride!

3 weeks to go…

3 weeks to go until we start riding, and we’re beyond excited. We loaded up our panniers for the first time at the weekend with mine weighing in at 11.5kg and Ryan’s at around 20kg, pretty light for 18 months:-D

Oh, and it’s my final week at work, which meant today’s was the last Monday morning wake up call for a while…wahoo!

7 weeks to go…

There are 7 weeks to go until we start cycling towards New Zealand (leaving day is Sunday 5th September).  We still have an intimidating amount of  kit to buy and admin to sort before we’re  officially “ready”, but we are getting close to being organised and are both beginning to fantasise about riding effortlessly off into the sunset…or at least riding around the M25 towards Dover.

We will be updating this blog as regularly as we come across internet access and will share our favourite pictures and highlights of the journey with you, and of course attempt to make you feel jealous enough so that you come and join us for a leg of the tour!