Counting down

One more week to go, and the schedule is already tight. We need to pack our bags, we need to set up the live tracking, the bike will need some last-minute repairs, we need to have everything ready for the trip. However well we prepare, we will face a lot of uncertainty. The first two days until Berlin are more or less clear, at least we have a plan. For the rest, we will have to be flexible. I try to remind myself of the days some fifteen years ago when I ran ultramarathons: what did my body need in order to carry on running all day? We will pack some sort of isotonic drink, the tent will be big enough to do some yoga stretches, and cold showers will also be available from our water bottle. Stay calm.
But the trip is changing my perspective: I watch the weather, imagining myself riding outside at the end of a long, dark day, battling against the windstorm that blew through Budapest a couple of days ago, grinding the muddy chain I got one rainy day, feeling the sweat trickle down my spine. Am I ready to take all of this for days on end? I hope so. Having a purpose always helps. Riding homeward also helps, and this also means the prevailing winds will come from our back. Sometimes I read bike touring blogs, but the hippie attitude of doing a few tens of miles each day and deciding where to go on a whim is something different. We will have to push ourselves hard if we want to do this in time.
We have shared the blog with some friends, and already we have a lot to be happy about. People are interested, companies are preparing to donate, we get invitations to talk about the trip when we get home, and hopefully this blog is shared widely. Spring is on the way, the right season for a new mode of transport, not just for us wealthy city-dwellers, but also for the poor.