3 weeks to go - still training

Three weeks today we leave Phillip Island, I cannot believe that we are so close to the start of this ride now.
It seems a long time ago that we started all the training. But that was 7 months and nearly 4,000kms ago. The plus side of the training now is that the weather is so much warmer than even 1 month ago. The 5am starts are not quite as hard as they do not have that biting cold on the face and the body. On a couple of mornings recently I have found myself wearing too much in the way of clothing and nearly over heating...never happy!
The last couple of weeks have seen a lot of kms travelled, we have done over 700kms in training for the month of September alone and this weekend we are planning two big days of riding which will bring the total closer to 1000kms for the month..
We were discussing how far we have come, and if we look back 5 months, a 100km ride seemed quite daunting, whereas now it is not something that we are concerned about. The mental approach is how many kms can we do past the 100km mark? Last weekend I decided to go home after 130kms, not because I was getting tired but because I had other stuff I needed to do....!
The weather forecast is not that great for the next few days but we will have to get out as we cannot afford to lose any weekend training. That is where we put in the big kms and the weekdays are used to keep the legs turning over. After this weekend we only have one more weekend where we will put in big rides as I think the weekend before we leave will be quite mellow, a light ride or two and just getting all the kit together.
The question of how we will go by riding long distances day after day is only something that we will know once we are doing the trip. With families and so on it is asking too much to try and replicate that in training, just getting out like we are impacts more than just the riders. Partners, wives, kids and so on are all impacted. I would like to say thanks to all those involved in the ride, not just Aaron, Paul and Erika, but their families and those who are also helping us raise the money. It is a great team effort.

Cheers
Carl