The Toe of Italy to Monte Carlo

BTW, sun screeners. If you can't stand the smell of P20, Calypso all day is just as good and less chemically. They even have a kids version which is creamy and had no chemical smell at all. Factor 50.

You can get it at Sainsbury's and I can vouch for it working very well with just one application first thing in the morning.

Heat and ultraviolet radiation deserve a distinction though.

Episode 36 with videos.

http://www.lloydswellbeingcentre.co.uk/clives-cycling-blog-36/

Episode 37 Fast riding and logistics worries.

http://www.lloydswellbeingcentre.co.uk/clives-cycling-blog-37/

So how are you feeling about the ride: you must be keen to put all your preparation to the test?

Lots of stuff on my mind, not just preparations, heat, recovery, nutrition, logistics and the distances involved but also unrelated work pressures building up with everything seemingly coming to a head at once. I can see my evenings being spent on the phone or typing emails instead of recovering. That said, it is serving to keep my mind off worrying tooo much about the ride.

No worries, you don't type with the legs.

True but stress carries itself into the legs.

Then typing with the legs could be recovering.

One of the things I like about long rides (especially multi-day rides) is that the stresses of work are soon forgotten when you start riding as you know that there's nothing you can do until you get back.

How do we follow your progress on the ride itself? Twitter? Blog? La Gazzetta dello Sport?

I will be tweeting @cliveoconnell

I will be blogging, hopefully, daily. I have been asked to blog by a reinsurance magazine - Reactions http://www.reactionsnet.com/ - as I have done for earlier rides. There will be a link from the Lloyd's Wellbeing Centre's site http://www.lloydswellbeingcentre.co.uk/category/exercise-and-fitness/cycling/ and I will post a precise link here when I have it .

Episode 38. Tapering begins and I revert to my natural slobbish self.

http://www.lloydswellbeingcentre.co.uk/clives-cycling-blog-38/

Also contains link to our route....

"Overlapping" not half-wheeling.

Half-wheeling is something else: http://mod-spot.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/bike-practice.html

(Of course, the term is applied incorrectly so often [especially on the Internet] that it's true original meaning is almost lost. If you don't want to piss off a small minority of your readers then I'd use the appropriate terms.)

Truly chastened. I will ensure that all future references are correct.

Sorry, reading my post back it sounds arsey to point out that and ignore the rest of the blog post.

No worries. Point well made and noted.

Good luck @cliveo. When are you off?

Thanks @mikec We fly a week today and start pedaling on 6 September...

Clive, catching up on your blog just made for a good hour at work on a Friday. Many thanks.

Have a great trip. You are more than ready.

Thanks!

Bags packed and brought into the City. Van loaded tomorrow.

Bike serviced on Friday. Being boxed in the morning.

All getting very imminent.

Had my first wheat for six months yesterday. The idea is to get my body used to it before the ride as it is unlikely that I will be able to avoid it in Italy and also unlikely that I will be able to get Spelt pasta or bread on the road (although I am carrying some with me). My stomach feels bloated and painful.

Weather is looking decent. Only 26/7 degrees at the start. slight headwind but that is a cooling northerly so probably better than a hot southerly.

Probably forgotten loads.

What was the thinking behind your wheat-free diet: was it specific to you or is it considered beneficial more generally, perhaps for weight-loss or general good health?

Forza Clive! Enjoy your trip and may you avoid the jour sans

Gluten free. Gluten is hard to digest, leads to bloatedness and loss of umph. Cutting carbs was part of weight loss but I was always allowed brown rice and spelt wheat pasta and then bread and sweet potatoes and a few other things.

Ideally, to obtain peak performance from my body, I will continue to avoid gluten but this is unrealistic when I will be moving through Italy burning 5,000 calories a day.

I thin that the theory is that most people would benefit by dropping or reducing gluten but that some people react worse to it than others.