My last day was spent trying to find things to do to fill in the time until blast off. Packing all done, weighed, contents culled, reweighed etc etc , I'd checked in on line and planned to visit Bodyology, have coffee with a friend, get on the bike for a spin on the ergo and then what.... mooch around being annoying until 1630.
Packing.....
with silver frequent flyers points on Emirates I was allowed an extra 12kgs free luggage which meant 42kgs in total plus 7kgs in the take on board back pack. The bike and spares + bag took up almost 20kgs, then I was taking over presents, extra stuff for Alex since his ticket only allowed him 20kgs, and my old Asus tablet for my sister which all added up to 6kgs leaving me with what weight left for clothes etc? ...well you do the maths, I'm too jet lagged. The drama trying to find a case/backpack/duffel bag or 2 from amongst our hoard that would be light and right was fairly lengthy.
On line check in time was 24 hours before lift off and to my consternation I discovered that the Emirates database had lost me and had allocated me window seats and standard food, whereas my preferences are for an aisle seat and lactose free food (better for my on board digestion and you get your food first!!!). What to do...a frantic email to my travel agent and the advice was...get there super early and politely point out the error. And that's what I did and woo hoo...I got upgraded to business class for the hideously long 14 hour sector from Melbourne to Dubai.
Bodyology
For those who haven't seen me in a while I'm pretty well the lightest I've been in 20 years and I really wanted to know what % fat I was and also needed some advice on how much I could eat at my new weight and not risk putting it all back on again. Skinfold testing is so inaccurate its not worth the time $$ and effort, my Tanita weighing machine was saying anything from 19-23%, depending on my level of dehydration and what used to be the gold standard of immersion was unobtainable..what to do? Go to Dr Google of course and here I found Bodyology in Notting Hill with their BodPod. So 1 month ago I went and armed with my data went back to NOT trying to lose weight. Friday's visit was to check on how I'd gone and the result? lost 500gms...so not too bad. I always lose weight when overseas so the advice is...be careful...too much weight loss might be good for climbing steep hills, but only if you don't lose power as well as weight.
An unevetful flight to say the least, full of horizontal sleeping...no dramas at all and the Emirates lounge at Dubai was super nice and such a relief from having to fight the heaving hoards in the concourse.
I was picked up by the Renault agent in my lease car and unlike other times he drove me to a petrol station thereby eliminating the stress of having to find a garage when there's only a tablespoon of fuel in the car. The next car related task was this:
The stories around "getting lost courtesy of the GPS" are a million and while not exactly getting "lost" this time, I certainly seemed to take an inordinate time getting out of the clutches of Munich and its environs. I absolutely MUST remember never to arrive on a Saturday again...too many cars on the road as Saturday is tourist change location day.
I finally arrived at Sankt Johann, picked up my left behind gear (ergo, track pump, gas bottles, tools etc etc) and made my way to my B'nB. Where upon I started to sort my gear from how I'd packed for the journey to a more manageable 5 or so packages of like minded stuff so I can find things easily.
After doing that I had no energy for food or unpacking the bike and sleep overcame me... at about 730pm and naturally 2am saw me wide awake and famished. Sadly all there was to eat was 2 of these:
and now...well I still have four hours to wait til brekky...
and finally I have just seen/heard my first mozzie...now where did I put that zapper?
Glad to see you have some warmer weather for riding in again! Hope it doesn't get too hot so you complain later !!!! Just read a report of a Perth couple who climbed Mont Ventoux yesterday - it was 'green', since they have had such a long damp winter. Hopefully I'll get to see the race in full tonight and not land in bed! Have fun.
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