Ian Hendry, the guy from Adelaide has been in touch again and gives some useful musings about distances etc (he is in blue, my comments in red):
I was anticipating 100km+ per day from Waterloo to Central Rome (only going to Rome as it will easier to fly out and meet my parents as they will be maybe in Spain by then).I’m prepping for 140km per day (5am-1 or 2pm) with a rest day every 4th day so I can see some more significant sights and carbo-load. I will aim for 5 weeks. Sounds reasonable. This is my initial pre-plan, of course…I’m off on a 100km ride tomorrow to measure my average speed and what my recovery is like. i can ride that distance easily, but the big difference will be backing it up day after day after day 🙂 I expect shortly I will be taking the long way to work to increase my bike endurance.I hope you get the time off. Should do – I have to sacrifice four of my weekends escorting students to France in June / July of next year which is useful timing. It will be good to enjoy a challenging ride that pushes you, but not ridiculously so. I’m predicting a train ride through the Alps might be required. I don’t want to carry anymore than a small pack. I will hybridise as much of my gear as I can and stay in hostels/hotels so i don’t need to camp (means more gear). This is a question I have been debating today and my current thinking is to camp – it is very flexible and adds to the adventure. May well change my mind however when it comes to gathering all the equipment together. These are my preliminary plans, but as I’ve never done a cycling tour before, I might be well off the mark so I will refine and change as the year goes on and my training escalates. Exactly my situation and attitude to the whole thing! Man, I’m getting a buzz just thinking about the next northern summer!!! Where are you at with your training now? Just really starting – I set off in exactly one year today so it is a good time for things to really kick in (see previous post) What are your capabilities? I’m cycling to Yorkshire – about 250 miles in four or five days – in a couple of weeks time. That is going to give me an indication of what I am capable of…. my bike is very old and is reaching it’s limits.:) I bought a “hybrid” earlier in the year and will be using that to cycle to Yorkshire but not sure whether it will be up to cycling all the way to Puglia. Thanks for not mentioning the cricket, too. Don’t talk too soon:
Just for the record, as I type, Australia are up against the wall at Lords 🙂