Seattle

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Much as I have enjoyed my little road trip, it occurs to me that what I have just done is the equivalent of picking up a van in Rome for a trip starting in London!  There were good reasons for doing it this way but another time it might be worth swallowing the extra cost of a 1-way rental.


When it comes to organising cycling trips I am a perfectionist.  This doesn’t mean that the trips are perfect, just that I have to live with the daily frustration of knowing that they are not.  It is even worse when real human beings and real world situations come along and mess up my plans.  There is an old saying that “no plan survives 1st contact with the enemy” and my ‘enemy’ for this trip will be the riders (with all their human frailties), their bikes (which will break in ways that annoyingly won’t match the tools and spares I have brought) and the hotels (which based on my last trip here will be completely f*&%ing useless).    So, it was with a degree of trepidation that I ended my 2 days of quiet contemplation in the van and rolled into our Seattle hotel.  


Nothing terrible has emerged yet...a puncture on a bike that hasn't even been ridden, a critical ferry that has been re-timed in a way that messes up our departure plans, a hotel receptionist who had to be persuaded to stop being a dick...the usual stuff.


The group is excited but visibly nervous and rightly so, this is a big undertaking for them all.  The biggest concern for everyone is the weather; today barely got into mid-single digits Celsius  with some heavy rain showers.  Tomorrow is supposed to be drier but still pretty darned nippy.  We are waiting to hear whether our departure will be filmed by local TV news reporters...it would make everyone feel suitably heroic but might mess with my need to get everyone to the aforementioned ferry at the necessary time.  

 

 *Perry Como...not one of his best but then none of them were

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