T1me to Ride

  I aim to camp for 3 nights, so I'm going to pare down from the amount of kit I took across France .  I'm also acutely aware that on Day 3 I'll be climbing the Col de Vergio, 30km long, 1,500m up. With that in mind, I need to shed as much weight as I can.  For a start off, I'm going to do without the ability to self brew a cup of coffee. That's the stove, gas, pan, coffee, filters, lighter and aeropress out.  Do I really need a camping chair? Luxurious as it was last time, no.  Sandals? Nope.  Spare clothes? No. I managed fairly well showering at the end of each day in cycling kit, then rinsing the kit out and drying it overnight. Fingers crossed for good weather... Front & Rear Panniers and rear luggage rack? Get it gone.  So here’s what I'm taking, and where it will go: On the Bike (Somewhere...) Lock Frame Bag Tent Pegs Pillow Head Torch EyeMask + Ear Plugs Toolkit, comprising: Cable Ties Cables Brake Pads Chain Links Duck Tape Pump CO2 head + cartridges

Still full of excitement and adventure off the back of my tour across France  I was eager to conjure up my next challenge. I felt that I’d finished my business on mainland France but had enjoyed the tour and the French hospitality so much that I was keen to ride on French soil, but away from mainland France.  Corsica was the obvious choice.  Credit: gobik.com I wouldn’t have the luxury of a full 2 weeks this time, in fact 4 days would be my limit; I naively assumed that I could ride a lap of Corsica in that time. Er, no.  Although Corsica looks like a little dot off the south of mainland France, it’s actually 170km into the Mediterranean, and an 8 hour ferry journey from Nice. Alarmingly it's also 8,722 square km in area and measures some 185km long by 85km wide.  Hmm. I’m not riding around that in 4 days.  Furthermore, once the French holiday month of August is over, it’s a tricky place to get to. There are just 2 flights a week from the UK, so my hand was dealt: fly out on a Tues