Epic Camp - Arrivee

Having left home over 40 hours ago I’ve arrived for our grand depart from Aix en Provence, and what a trip it has been getting here. My taper went well until packing Friday night. Having dealt with technical stuff like downloading movies to watch enroute, and music to listen to by 9pm, then it was just a matter of packing the bags, and getting a few last minute emails away.

My baggage allowance was 30kg checked, 7kg cabin bag and a personal item (handbag) 40x30x10cm. My bike case empty is 10kg and with my bike, helmet case and accessories that was well over 20kg so out came the pedal spanner, uber headlight for tunnels, tool kit, and some other metal object I can’t remember now. My checked bag was 4kg empty, and with the base layer of tri gear that became 15kg, without cycle clothing or casual wear, so I knew I had a problem. Cutting cycling clothing to the minimum specified for the camp, my cabin bag was 9kg which was close to 7kg. The checked bag with casual wear was 18kg. My personal item had no weight limit so that’s where the two 1kg boxes of food bars went that I was taking for Coach John Newsom the camp organiser. Eventually all packed, emails sent, and into bed just after 4am to leave for the airport at 8am.

Let the fun begin. At check-in my bike case and checked bag totalled over 38kg, so with my cabin bag I had to jettison over 10kg, and the supervisor deemed I was only allowed one cabin bag, with no personal item — despite what their website clearly states! I’ve seen people unpacking their bags at check-in, and now I know what that feels like, and how difficult it is.

One large plastic bag received my run training shoes (leaving only elasticised lace race shoes), bike helmet case, sunblock, chamois cream, shaving cream, deodorant, vitamins, casual shirts for dining out, casual socks, underwear, spare cold/wet weather gear, food bars for athletes, personal food treats, travel documentation, reading material…

Obviously I’ll be going out of my way to fly Air NZ in future where as a Koru member I get two 23kg checked bags — no problem.

The longest I’ve previously flown is United States, so this has been two flights over that duration, with over six hours in Singapore, three hours in Paris, and 3.5 hours on the TGV train, so more tiring than I anticipated. Combined with airline food with too much carbohydrate, I’m looking forward to getting back into good eating and sleep routine.

Assembled the bike and headed out to ride the start of our first day tomorrow. Magnifique - rode over a classic cobbled arch single lane bridge, saw a TGV viaduct one side of the road, and harvested crops with an alpine climb in the background the other, and rode through a quaint village with the road abutting buildings - perfect acclimatisation 33C.

Camp briefing before dinner informed us we leave at 5:30am to drive 30 minutes to the Mediterranean for our first 3km swim, before biking…