Raid Caneo Nature
Le Grand Calamity Before Le “Raid CaneO�
Nicola McLeod / 24.07.2008
Nicola MacLeod of Team Helly Hansen UK reports from her roller blades as she prepares for the longest adventure race this year. Nicola is racing with Ski Sharp, Howard Lowe and Mark Humphrey.I think some of our AR mates will empathise with this week of frantic activity ...
So far we’re looking good! Ski managed to return with a record 2 days to spare from a rather hot and dusty place where he has been working 20 hour days. Now he’s spending his nights ironing sticky patches onto his lycra leggings to fulfill the Raid Caneo rules and his days handing over work to some unsuspecting soul who thinks he’s going on an adventure holiday to the Algarve. Ski learnt the hard way last night, despite Mark’s expert tuition, after putting an iron shaped hole and a half folded logo onto the wrong side of his brand new Helly Hansen leggings!
Mark is commuting 3 and a half hours each way this week to mark maps up, get ready in the evening and trying to find a U bolt which fits around the minibus’ jumbo roof racks (carefully bid for on ebay a few weeks ago by Ski who, displaying his good Scottish streak, has managed to sell them back to the minibus owner in exchange for a much reduced price for the vehicle hire). He’s been getting to grips with some extremely useful Garmin and memory-map toys and looking at the scale of this thing which we have taken on. 1000km and ten disciplines - roughly double our previous longest race.
I’m happy: 1. because I’ve just found out we’re Team 37 (my lucky number) and 2. because I’ve just finished assisting in my last ever caesarian section on nights (small celebration) because I come back to a new job and new home the day after we return from racing. I haven’t slept yet after work and am skating around my small flat on roller blades in my favourite new stripy shorts reminding myself how to brake and practicing for Gerard Fusil’s hilly horrendo-blade sections. If I’m not experiencing the sleepmonsters I’m sure my neighbours think they are.
Howard has gone AWOL to try and finish designing a super-yacht, pick some walnut trimmings and silk cushions or something and liaise with our awesome sponsors to make sure everyone has some clothes to wear, packs to carry, tyres to roll fast on the big roadie sections and shoes to thrash. He is trying to pack for the race remotely, probably guess what I will forget and pack it too AND get to a friends wedding the day after the rest of us drive the big happy minibus over to the continent stacked with 4 boats, 4 people and a whole load of kit, mini Babybels and Pepperami (which we’re hoping we can eat to make room for even more wine on the way back). Hopefully he will make it out for a bit of a running start on a flight to Charles de Gaulle some hours before the race start.See All Event Posts
