Proper Prior Preparation...

Prevents P** Poor Performance.

Yup, good old rule of the 7P's... got drummed into me through 5 years of school cadets and 3 years of ADFA (in between adventures with vacuum cleaners).  Even made an appearance in my MBA somewhere (not sure that teaching method was as effective as a drill sergeant yelling at you so close you could feel the spittle but I digress).

So preparing the body has pretty much been assisted as always by my coach Mark Fenner.  Actually to call Mark a coach is probably understating things.  I found him more or less by accident when I needed a coach to take me through to 24hr Solo Worlds in 2009.

He'd been coaching more or less in addition to his his day job and had just decided to go at it full time.  I remember being at a training camp at his place with Josh Carlson (now a pro on the US Enduro / Freeride scene), Jason McAvoy (multiple Masters world 24hr champ) and Kev wells.  Now Mark coaches Pro Tour road riders, pro mountain bikes, is pretty much full time with the Avanti pro team and to top it all off has launched Today's Plan with Andrew Hall (who I used to work with once upon a time).

Yet manages to find the time to keep coaching a tubby-ish bloke in his early 40's just out to add challenge to life.  Amazing huh?   Much more of a mate now than just a coach though.

Bikewise I'm riding my trusty BlackSheep - well documented by Cycle Exif.  It's single speed, rigid (no suspension) and I love it.  Although to be honest Singapore stretches the friendship at times - there is actually a fair amount of MTB trails here but no hills.  Well, of any length that is.  The biggest climb is to the top of Mt Faber.  On the Sheep it takes about 5 minutes.  Not awesome when you're trying to train for a race that is going to require you to climb for hours.  On the single sheep that means that any ride of any length involves spinning like a demented hamster and not going anywhere particularly quickly.

Probably the biggest issue is going to be the temperature.  In Singapore when we get up to go riding (at about 5am) its usually about 25'C. In the middle of the day it rises to around 35-38'C.  All year.  Oh and the humidity is generally about 75%.  For someone that is prone to cramping at the best of times this is a nightmare and getting used to this is an ongoing project.

Cloudride on the other hand is going to be in temperatures ranging from 0'-18'C.  Much more my preferred riding temperatures but you adapt to your environment and my system just ain't used to it.  I was in Korea last week riding in 0'C and its amazing how you forget just how unpleasant it is to be cold!  Hmmm.

Gear wise I'm pretty sorted and am pretty much using my Tour Divide kit list with just a couple of changes.  I've switched from my Klymit mat to a Therm-a-Rest Neo Air.  The Therm-a-rest is a little heavier (by a whole 50grams or so) but is a thicker mattress and I'm hoping lets me sleep a little more soundly - I anticipate that Cloudride will involve very little in the way of hotel stays and so something that helps me sleep better on the ground is important.

Other stuff is pretty similar.  My frame bags are still supplied by Bike Bag Dude (another little Aussie company that I've used since before it was famous :) ) but learning from TDR, the new bags are slightly wider which means that its less of a struggle to fit the full 4 litres of water in it.  The great thing about custom design is that you can have a conversation about whether another 20mm of width is easy to do and then it simply happens.

Final major change is the upgrade to the Garmin Edge 1000.  Despite warnings to the contrary my 810 has been very reliable and performed perfectly on Tour Divide (and since) however, lately my vision has been getting a little worse and the larger screen of the 1000 is a help.  Also, it seems to be a slightly better navigation (as opposed to simply following a line) tool than the 810.  The auto upload to starve etc on a wireless network is also pretty handy.

Everything else is pretty similar with the exception of some riding gear where I tend to use more Rapha stuff now...

My complete list is below.

10l Dry Bag - Front		Ortlieb
	Sleeping Bag	Western Mountineering 2'C
	Bivy	Borah Designs Cuben Fibre
	Sleeping Mat	Thermarest Neo Air X-lite	Change	More Comfort
	Tent	Zpacks
	Down Jacket	Western Mountineering
13l Dry Bag - Rear		Ortlieb
	1 spare Jersey	Rapha Brevet	Change	Shorter Trip
	Warm Jacket	Assos Bonka
	Winter Baselayer	Assos Fall
	Summer Base Layer	Rapha	Change
	Spare Knicks	Assos T.607	Change	Shorter Trip
	Gillet	Rapha Brevet	Change	Jersey Pocket
	1 * Warm Socks	Assos Fugu	change	Shorter Trip
	Waterproof Socks	Rocky Sox
	Beanie	Assos Fugu
	Arm Warmers	Rapha	Change
	Basic First Aid Kit
	Toiletries
	Tek Towel
	Light Trousers	Kathmandu	Remove
	Wool Shirt	Kathmandu	Remove
	Underwear	Rapha (can't help it!)	Remove
	Spare Belt	Gates
	Water Filter	Sawyer
	Chamois Cream	Paw Paw Ointment
	USB Charger
	Spare GPS	Garmin Edge 810
Large Framebag		BikeBag Dude
	4l Water Bladder	MSR Dromlite
	Rain Jacket	Rapha	Change	Assos can't make zippers!
	Rain Pants	Assos SturmPrinz
	TDR Map Set		Remove
	Passport		Remove
Small Framebag		BikeBag Dude
	Winter Gloves	Rockel Mittens
	Insulator Gloves	Assos Insulator
	Summer Gloves	Rockel Gel	Remove
	Pump	Lezyne
	Misc Spares
GasTank		Oveja Negra	Change	From Bike Bag Dude
	Camera	Sony RX100
	Food
FeedBags		Bike Bag Dude	Change	Better!
	Food
	Bike Lock
	Sunscreen
Jerry Can		Oveja Negra	Change	From BBD
	Spare Tubes
Handlebar Bag			Change	Not Carrying - distribute gear in Drybags
	Anti-inflamatories
	Panadol
	Asthma Meds
	USB Cords
Misc Stuff
	Shoes	S-Works Trail	Change	Mavic stopped making theirs - these are awesome
	Helmet	Giro	Change	Lighter XC based
	Spare Light	Exposure Diablo IV

Welcome!

New Blog, new start!

A while ago, I had a blog - Musings of a Wannabe Racer which was focussed on my adventures in trying to juggle work / training / family mostly as I prepared for the Tour Divide Race (race went well - equal 1st Single Speed and to date the only Aussie SS to finish :) Read about it on Marathonmtb.com.  Well, one thing led to another and before long I managed to get a part time gig writing a column for Australian Mountain Bike Magazine.  All of which whilst managing to keep that job etc.

But, with the monthly column in AMB and Tour Divide all done... I found I blogged less and less to the point where I had pretty much given it up altogether.  After all, isn't the dream of every blogger to end up in actual print one day?

Well no as it turns out!

Whilst I love writing for AMB, you are conscious that you are writing for a print mag - it has advertisers, it needs a broad appeal and, well, I miss the intimacy of blogging!  One of the things I like about this format is that it gives me a chance to open a window into what I'm thinking and share thoughts on pretty much whatever it is that _I_ want to talk about.

So here we are!

Now... to catch you up...

Since I last blogged regularly our little family has had a bit of a sea change and moved to Singapore.  Initially driven by Lisa's work but even before getting here I managed to land a job with Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore looking after Operational Risk across about 19 Countries or so.  Yowsaha! (Actually I had visions of being a trailing spouse / semi professional bike rider but somehow I landed a grown up job - bugga!).

I guess moved is a bit of an understatement as we sold our lovely house in Glebe hence Singapore really is our home now - at least for the next year or two.

Despite some initial trepidation we have pretty much settled in now - I mean what's not to like... things are ordered (maybe too ordered), clean (maybe too clean) and there is a standard process for everything (heaven help you if you want/need non-standard!).

Riding wise, despite it being tiny (to go around the island is about 120km) there is a thriving riding scene here - yes even MTB and I've somehow wound up the MTB Co-ordinator for the ANZA (Australian and New Zealand Association) Cycling Club. Even managed to come second in a teams mixed 4 MTB race on about my fourth week here.

So, Adventures in Absentia - what's that about?

After Tour Divide I found that more and more I was finding that although I was continuing to have a great time out and about on my bike I really became much more conscious that time away on my own was time not spent with my family.  I still believe that getting out and having adventures (either on my own or otherwise) is an essential part of who I am but I'm also conscious that its time away from my family so its always tinged with a bit of regret.

Of course, it could also just be about about the life and times of an Aussie living away from home!  We'll see - it might take this little project a bit of time to find its voice :)

Riding wise... well there are some plans for 2015 (of course!).  Up first we have 1000km Cloudride - a 1000km jaunt around Canberra and the Snowy Mountains.  This was actually on my schedule for last year but life (moving countries as it turned out) intervened so pretty keen to see how I go.  It's more a Tour Divide style thing and I'll be racing it on my trusty Black Sheep Singlespeed (although given the 24,000 VM of climbing I suspect it'll involve a lot of walking!).

The biggie for me this year is the Transcontinental Race - about 4500km from Flanders to Istanbul with no fixed route.  It's pretty much all road so I'll be using a Moots Routt 45 Gravel Grinder (running road tyres of course!).

Well, more on the riding and the adventures as we go along.  For those who have followed me on an off hello again and for anyone new welcome.  I generally post pics etc on Instagram / twitter as @arranp or in the Bikepacking Australia group on Facebook.  See you there.

AP