It seemed like forever, but it’s not less than one month to go. After my friend had decided not to go (after being sick), she still insisted on driving me to Paris. From there, I’ll take a TGV train to Turin. Hopefully, without any issues or delays.
That’s a big step of the trip settled. Train ticket, train bag for the bike and hostel in Turin. This part had me worried. I didn’t want to fly, and driving was out of the question for me. That would leave the train. But trains are extremely popular due to covid and very unpredictable. I could possibly take a long-distance coach, but to be honest, that seems more like a last resort type of thing.
Just as long as I can board the train in Paris, I’ll be fine, I guess. I won’t be the only one going to Turin and certainly not the only biker. So I bought a bag that would fit a dismantled bike and pack up really small, so I can use it on the way back home.
Talking about packing. These last few weeks will be about packing and re-packing my stuff and fitting it to my bike. I think I have all I need; the bike is undergoing service maintenance and will receive a new drive chain.
So that’s stuff, the bike and getting there.
How about the actual event: the Torino Nice Rally itself?
James has released the route with a few options and important remarks; the rest is up to us. Normally I use Komoot for everything, but for this trip, I opted for RidewithGPS. Komoot sometimes reroutes in an undesirable way and causes big headaches. It took a while to get the hang of RidewithGPS, though, but I’m getting there, and I ended up using Komoot for some details. I have no idea how I will cope with the intense days and ride alone. I tried to chop the route into bite-sized days focused on the profile, like trying not to start a day with a big climb within the first few kilometres.
Another thing I did, was to give myself permission to have the option for a shortcut near Little Peru. Any given day would be a little over 2.000 meters uphill. But that day would be 3.000 or more… if I want to be on a train on Monday 12th at the latest.
Yes, less than one month to go, and it is all about fine-tuning and fine-tuning. And trying not to get too nervous…