4 days to go - mid week bike upgrade.

So in my Monday update I said I was getting some new bits on the bike so here it what it looks like now.

Whilst it may just look normal a closer look at the front and rear mechs (the bits that do the gear changing) might give you a better clue.

These gears are eTap from SRAM. They are electronic and also wireless so there are no mechanical or electronic cables front the shifters to the front or rear mechs.

Each mech has it's own clip on battery (the black unit on the left of the rear mech) which on a full charge is good for in the region of 1000km of riding. The shifters have a CR2032 button cell in them that should last for around 2 years.

To change gear you simply press the paddle button behind the brake lever.

You press the paddle behind the right hand brake lever to go into a bigger (harder) gear and the paddle behind the left hand brake lever to go into a smaller (easier) gear. Whilst this accounts for changing gear at the back you may be wondering how you change gears at the front - the answer is simply that you press both paddles at once and the system changes to the other front chainring.

SRAM have been really clever in that they haven't used Bluetooth or ANT+ which are the main 'sports' wireless protocols but have developed Airea their very own propriety wireless protocol that uses 128 bit encryption. This means that when you pair the two mechs and the shifters and new encryption code is created as assigned to all the components. You can only ever have one front and one rear mech paired with the shifters at any time so you couldn't mess with your friends bike and control their gears from your bike.

The front and rear mechs contain accelerometers so that the system goes to sleep when not in use. Once the bike has been moved the system wakes up and is ready to go so this extends the battery life.

I've not had much chance to try it out in full anger yet as currently I'm full of cold but an initial ride round the block was without incident and the method of shifting very intuitive.

Finally a big thanks to Vanilla Bikes in Carnforth for sorting eTap out for me.

7 days to go - It's the Final Countdown, as Joey Tempest might say.

Well that's it, no more training to be done now as I need to let my legs recover with a gentle rides and rest days this week ready for the 'Grand Départ' a week today.

On my two big training rides last week I finally seemed to get my pacing right and under control but the down side was having really sore legs. Based on previous experiences I know that my legs will hurt more the day after I've finished so I'm booked in for a massage at THE Medical in Portishead next Thursday and am also going out for a ride on the Friday too. Hopefully that means I'll be okay for the Summerset Festival I'm going to Bristol for (and yes it's meant to be spelt that way).

I also seem to have cracked the hydration well and truly based on the warm rides last week but it is a big effort to keep drinking regularly when you don't feel thirsty but by the time you feel thirsty it's too late. On this ride I'll be drinking bidons of water along with bidons of HIGH5 Energy Source into which I'll also pop a HIGH5 Zero electrolyte tablet to replace the salts and minerals lost by sweating. The energy source will provide me with some of the carbohydrate I'll need for the 6-7 hours I'll be riding each day and the rest will be made up with the odd gel and good old fashioned real food.

The bike is in for a bit of an upgrade this week so the gentle short recover rides will get me used to the changes I've made to it - if I get chance I may post later in the week about the new bits as they're a bit special.

This is the kit I'll be wearing on my ride courtesy of Prendas Ciclismo.

I do admit I thought it had more red on it so the black will be fun in the sun.

So that's me pretty much done apart from packing so my next blog will either be about the whizzo new bits on the bike or will be a report from the end of the first day.

Many thanks to those that have sponsored me so far and thank you to those who do so during next week - the details of how to sponsor me are below. If you see me between Lancaster and the Ring O'Bells in Nailsea give me a shout out.

To sponsor me £5 text FLAB48 £5 to 70070
To sponsor me £10 text FLAB £10 to 70070

Or use my Just Giving site.

14 days to - final week of training.

Well the big event is getting nearer and I'm feeling excited and scared.

Excited because it's been a long time since New Year when I decided to do this on a bit of a whim and it's nearly time to go but scared because I know it's going to hurt and potentially be quite grim.

Organisation wise I'm pretty much there. All the kit I'll be wearing is purchased and laundered and ready to go, all the energy food is boxed ready and the bike is booked in for next week for a service and a little bit of an upgrade. One of the main things I need to do now is program the sat nav in the car with all my rest points which will no doubt be fun.

The main things that are a bit of a concern of things I have no control over so I shouldn't really worry but they are fairly big things. What if it rains? What if it's windy. What if it's really hot?

If it rains it'll be a bit less fun and I'll have to put wet shoes on the next day as my cycling shoes take an age to dry. Wind is a bit more of an issue as if it's a strong head wind progress will be much slower and strong sidewinds can be quite scary on the bike. With regards to heat - the BBC said the weather was going to get very hot towards the end of July (so it'll rain) so I really need to make sure I stay hydrated and try not to over heat which may be easier said than done.

This week is the last week of hard training and will mainly involve local loops with a good portion of climbing and then next week will be a very easy week to give my body time to adapt.

Thank you to all that have sponsored me but to those that haven't please do. You can donate £5 by texting FLAB48 £5 to 70070 or you can donate via Just Giving.