T - 7

Less than 7 days to go! In fact 7 days from now I'll probably be in Montelimar, pissed after 2 sips of wine.

After my fantastic ride yesterday, I had a poor night's sleep, with much tickly coughing and awoke with a croaky voice. But hey, I'm not discussing my health any more am I? I decided to take advantage of a child-free house and have a rest day with a bit of lounging around and book reading. Not talking for a good few hours certainly helped but the kids were arguing a lot this evening, which meant I had to step in as referee. Actually, I could save my voice if I went the whole hog and got a whistle, just for a few days anyway :-).........that was meant as a joke but I'm starting to like the idea.

I took my bike back to the shop today as my gear changing is not as smooth as I would like after a £150 service. It's just a bit hit and miss - sometimes changes are so smooth but other times I move the shifter and I get tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-CLUNK as the gear is eventually found. Other times, this can go on and I have to give her a bit of help by gently pushing the shifter over a little bit more. It's the right shifter and it can be changing up or down.

I have bought another new pump - I went for this one http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Lezyne_Road_Drive_Mini_Pump/5360040898/ . The other pump gave a fine pressure but it's so damn big and ugly on my frame. It doesn't fit snugly alongside a bottle cage so you have to either forego one of your bottle cages (NO) or use the supplied zip ties and attach the bracket to the top tube. This looks IMO a bit crap as it isn't close fitting and hangs down quite a bit. So, I now have a light pump ordered and will collect it on Thursday. In addition, I tried out co2 today. It was remarkably quick and easy to get a fantastic pressure. The co2 system that we already had does not allow you to control the inflation, so I've ordered a new one of those too http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Innovations_Air_Chuck_SL_Pump/5360018215/ (well and truly sponsoring myself today). So, I have a good pump, 2 co2, 2 tubes and some patches. I have a husband waiting half way round with Joe Blow plus spares should things go disastrously wrong. I feel comfortable about this now. I do have one question though - I read that it is possible to over inflate with co2 - how do you know when to stop. I went for 16g cartridges, which fill to 130psi on a 700x23c - I usually only inflate to 110psi. How do you use yours?

My husband is away so I've done some pre-etape beautification. The nails are filed right down in case of punctures and the fake tanning has started - only that moisturiser with a hint of tan in it stuff. Don't want pasty legs on my pictures :-)

Finally, I bought a night time calming balm thing - you supposed to go through a ritual of massaging into various pressure points and apparently, it sends you off into a wonderful sleep. It's worth a shot. I'll let you know tomorrow.