Doubts!!

Yes, I have doubts about whether I can manage to cycle all that way.

Over the New Year period I went skiing and came back with a dodgy left knee. The injury was not caused by any one thing but I noticed it about half way through the holiday but of course I carried on skiing despite the pain. Anyway, since then I have continued to train and exercise. The knee has actually been ok whilst I run but squats and leg presses are seriously dodgy. Fortunately my cycling doesn't seem to be affected. The weather hasn't been good for getting out on the bike so I haven't really tested my knee much. I'm just starting to get out and about on the bike. Of course on top of this there is still the fact that I am a 51 year old man who has never cycled more than 160 miles over 3 days...so why should I doubt my physical ability to compete the route!!

Another thing that could go wrong is the bike could fail and I'm no mechanic. I can change a tyre and I can replace brake blocks (unfortunately, my bike has disc brakes). I reassure myself that there are bike repair shops in Europe. To add to this problem I don't speak any foreign languages so I won't be able to explain what I want. My older brother, David, will start the route with me and he can speak French so I may survive the first week!

Lastly, I am not making any plan for my journey. So there is no chance that I can fail to keep to the plan. I intend to seek accommodation each evening after my days riding and I won't be carrying a tent. I feel reasonably confident finding somewhere to stay whilst I am in France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria but not too sure for the later stages of the ride. I guess I could be sleeping rough.

It's started to make me think......