Why Blog?

I decided to try and document this experience for a few reasons. Putting this together takes a little time and thought so it is probably worth explaining why I decided to do it at all. In the past I have written travel blogs when I gone roaming on my motorbike to keep a record of my trips and to let my friends and family know where I was and what I was seeing. Most of those trips were a month or more long so it made some sense to take a little time to think about the places I had been and it put a little structure in an otherwise fairly loose schedule. I rarely travelled with anything more that an idea of a direction to go in and a long list of things that might be worth a visit. I could decide to go anywhere on any given day. This time round, it is very different as the trip is just over a week long and highly structured because of the race. Someone else is deciding where you have to be all the time.

As its is a sort of tour of Portugal I want to have some sort of longer term record of the event that I can look back on later in life and help recall details that sometimes get lost. I like to look back and navel gaze a little and a blog is one way to preserve a snapshot of the places and events experienced. A sort of narcissists diary.

I am also using the ride to raise some money for a few charities and though a blog like this would be one way to thank my generous donors by offering a view of my progress leading up to the event and as we go along. Lets' see how that one works out. I may well be just too wrecked to post every day but I promise to try. 

I also want to leave some sort of record for anyone else who is thinking of trying something similar. I thought it might be useful for someone be able to see what my experiences of trying to get fit enough to take part in an ultra endurance event like the TP. I found very little training advice for the 'more mature' wannabe athlete. Most of the advice I found was aimed at younger athletes who can train hard and recover at faster rates than  40+ folk. Age is not as they say 'just a number' when you are taking part in sporting events, It is a simple fact of life we all lose muscle mass and recover slower from physical exertion as we go over the hill. Apparently the peak is somewhere around 30 and then its all downhill....bugger, In my head, I am still about 27 but my body is telling me a different story, I will limit the training stuff to just a few posts so you can skip those if that's not your cup of tea.