Apparently all you need for two months away cycling?

Only two days to go! "Finalised" the kit I am taking now....finalised is in quotation marks as to be honest there are still things I am questioning that are not in there but could be, and things that made the cut but shouldn't have. There is more about what I am taking on The Rig page. 

Successful test run with Rose fully laden this morning.

The last run up to One Tree Hill - taken from the Garmin Virb camera

Only three days to go before I am off. Went out for a little test run this morning with all my bags on fully loaded just to see how Rose ran with them on. I guess have left it a little late to do that but I was confident she would be all over it, and she was. 

You spin me right round...

Tightening up the cassette - to exactly 40NM as manufacturers specifications of course

Only four more days until I leave now! Changed out the rear cassette on Rose today to make sure I can still spin my way up the mountains of France and Italy, particularly as they will be mah-hussive compared to what I am used to and I will be carrying an additional 7ish kgs with me. Took off the 12-25 cassette that came with Rose and replaced it with the 11-32 cassette from Candy - thanks for the loan Candy! That should do the trick when coupled with the compact crankset up front.

Hmmm, what to take?

With only five days to go before I fly out today has been spent getting a few last minute preparations all done, most importantly the final selection on what I am actually going to take with me on the bike. Although I had a list, it is different placing it all out in front of you and seeing it in the flesh - part of you thinks that it doesn't seem much and I need more, the other thinks that it looks like too much it won't all fit on the bike!