Packing, eating, training, etc...

A few things:

#1. To avoid blowing my training timeline, I NEED to do my 60 mile ride next weekend. I'll be in NYC drinking beer and agonizing over whether to draft Jose Offerman or Dante Bichette in a fantasy baseball draft the weekend after that, and after that it's April and this needs to be done before the end of March, according to the arbitrary, meaningless goal I set for myself.

#2. I've plateaued in terms of training, I think. My rides haven't gotten any shorter over the past few weeks. After a fairly impressive 22 pounds lost thus far, I seem to have stalled out in that regard as well. Diagnosis?

I've still been eating nothing but garbage food. Granted, less of it, and since I still bike 100+ miles per week I was getting away with it for awhile, but unfortunately it's time to take the next step. Right now my diet basically consists of dollar burgers from the various fast food places (FYI: McDoubles are SO inferior to Double Stacks it's not even funny), Crystal Lite, Granola Bars (not the good kind either, the Quaker Chocolate Chip kind) and the occasional multivitamin to stave off a bad case of scurvy. That's no longer going to cut it.

So there's something to look forward to, folks. Anyone who read my vegetarian blog back during Lent 08 knows what a raving lunatic I turn into when you take away my fast food for a few weeks (never mind 4 months)

#3. I'm all done packing stuff. I'm also all done buying various camping equipment. I gotta say, I'm sick of buying Mountain Hardwear this and biodegradeable that. Here's my complete packing list. This is everything I'm bringing with me.

1. Sleeping Bag (20 Degree rated)
2. Sleeping Pad
3. Tent
4. Footprint for tent
5. Water Bottles
6. Flashlight
7. Pocketknife
8. Bungees
9. Maps
10. Towel
11. Nylon Cord (50 feet)
12. Headlight
13. Taillight
14. Helmet
15. Cable Lock
16. Gloves
17. Clipless shoes
18. 2 Pairs of bike Shorts
19. 1 Pair of Underwear *
20. 1 Pair leg warmers
21. 3 Pairs of socks
22. 1 Waterproof Rain Coat
23. 6 Rubber Bands (to put on my pant legs to keep them from getting caught in the crank)
24. 1 Fleece Pullover
25. Tire Patch Kit
26. Tire Levers
27. C02 Pump
28. Multi Tool
29. Chain Lube
30. Chain Tool
31. Spoke Wrench
32. Presta Adapter
33. Duct Tape
34. Safety Pins
35. Plastic Ties
36. 3 Inner Tubes
37. Spare Tire
38. 6 Spokes
39. 2 Chain Links
40. 1 Cyclocomputer Battery
41. Eating Utensils
42. Sunglasses
43. Camp Soap (Biodegradeable "everything" soap)
44. Water Purifying Tablets
45. Tweezers/Nail Clippers
46. Pills (Not the fun kind, some multivitamins and some Sominex to make sure I get to sleep early)
47. Gold Bond
48. Book
49. Rain Cover for rear panniers
50. Laptop
51. Digital Camera
52. NiMH Batteries (8 AA 12 AAA) plus charger
53. Ipod Touch (music/backup computer)
54. Cell Phone
55. Food (1-2 Days worth)
56. 2 racing jerseys
57. 1 pair Zip-Off pants (pants that can turn into shorts)
58. 2 T-Shirts
59. Rain Pants
60. Speakers (For hands-free listening to Car-Talk or watching movies on my Ipod)
61. GPS
62. Wool Cap (for any nights my sleeping bag isn't going to cut it.)

Sounds like a lot of stuff, right? Well look at it all laid out (click the pictures for a better idea. Blogger has the worst thumbnail system ever):



Looks pretty unwieldy, right? Kinda like cramming Rosie O'Donnel into one of those wetsuits Michael Phelps wore when he won 9 billion gold medals or cured cancer or whatever he did. However, hand to God, it all fits. Check it out.



It's a kind of tight fit, but everything goes in there without having to jump on the bags or anything like that. I might still install a small handlebar bag to have some extra breathing room, but if I can avoid that I wil.

So yep, packing and camping stuff is done. All I need to do now is get the bike components swapped out and we're made in the shade, folks.







* "WHAT?!?" Hear me out, bike shorts aren't meant to be worn with underwear. The underwear is strictly for days off, which are going to be few and far between