14/06/2019 – P for Planning

There are many phrases which my dad uses but the one we hear most is ‘P for Planning’.

Whenever we are about to do something of any importance it is one of the first things out of his mouth. It would also appear whenever something went slightly wrong which could have been avoidable in his eyes.

Having it ingrained in me for as long as I can remember, I was sure I was going to heed his warning now.

After a weekend busy with a rowing ball on the Saturday and then recovering and training on the Sunday, the obvious time to start planning was Monday.

It was probably one of the most productive days of my life.

I planned the skeleton of the whole route which came to 28,000 miles. A point to note, the minimum requirement for an ‘around the world record attempt’ is 18,000 miles. Naturally, if I was going for the record, I’d be annoyed if I had to do a mile more than necessary but as this was not the case, I was not bothered by the high number.

Once this was finished, I got to figuring out what I needed to help me complete the journey. This got me onto one of my favourite pass times, shopping.

Over the last few months I had made a rough list of things that I need and so now was the time to bring it all together.

After many hours scouring the web putting my experience hunting for ‘bargains’ to good use, I came out with the main things that I would need: new wheels and tyres, a GoPro, bags to carry my things, a Bike Computer and a super safe helmet.

The next few days were spent waiting for the original items to arrive, rowing training and eagerly awaiting Love Island at 9pm every day. It’s a tough life this…

My bike has been taken off for a service and whilst I would love to say that I am a sufficiently experienced bike mechanic who can service and repair my own bike, this is just simply not the case.

Looking after the bike will be one of the bigger challenges I will have to face during the trip and one that I hope I can get away with getting other people to do for me along the way.

I guess I can spin it to say that I ‘plan’ for my bike to get serviced along the way in bike shops as I have planned not to take all the tools necessary to fix the entire bike? Plus, how much can really go wrong in 28,000 miles…