Epic Camp Italy - -prologue and random ramblings

Well, well, well. Here we are again putting metaphorical pen to paper in advance of another camp. Asking myself existential questions as to I why I choose 10 days of type 2 fun and extreme exhaustion as a holiday. Then I get to Epic camp and realise I'm with a bunch of people cut from the same cloth and also define this as a favourite way to vacazione, something about mutual suffering - right?!!! Perhaps us A types all need to pedal away from everything for a period of time, who knows?!! This build up has been rather less focused than previous camps. The joy of riding my bike for long distances and general enjoyment of cycling has waned over the last few years along with other aspects of life that have taken priority Epic camp is not to be disrespected however. I'm approaching this with less aerobic fitness ( esp cycling ) but a more robust chassis from a good focus at lifting heavy shit in the gym ( as Stacy Sims says:-) which has ironed out many of the niggles I used to be plagued with while racking up volume of triathlon training. Still have a bit of run speed in the legs and swimming, well, mehhh- that will just be a showcase of my innate talents in the water as usual. My main concern for the camp ( apart from the usual trepidation about the task(s) ahead) is that without the burning desire for long distance triathlon, can I keep it rolling when it gets really tough ? I'm not sure my mental fortitude is what it once was but I suppose I'll find out and attempt to live up to the moniker of my alter ego: The Grinder. Broke up the journey with a 2 night stop in Singapore, then arrived into Milan a day after the rest of the NZ crew who had undertaken the mammoth journey in one hit. We had a longish day travelling to Venice yesterday and picking up hire bikes en route. Thankfully John spared me the ordeal of navigation ( given I was riding shotgun) and we made it to the hotel with car intact despite agitated Italians blaring horns and appearing behind us at ~100mph. Or massive trucks changing lanes with no indication at similar speeds, jeepers. I thought Christchurch was full of ignorant,road entitled w*****s but this was an extra level!! We had a pleasant tourist jog round the beautiful Venice this morning before the masses arrived ( tourists that is, not the rest of the campers ha ). then back to the hotel to demolish the breakfast buffet ( in keeping with daily Epic camp traditions, right?!). Bike built up and ready then time to spend the the day to do some more touristing and relax, probably for the last time until camp is done! I'll add some photos from our Venice run, aim is to blog daily and document each day as I have done previously. Fingers crossed I can sleep a litte later than 3.30am ****** No pics sorry as having some issue with Google saying I've denied access to cookies or something , couldnt make sense of how it told me to fix and another night of 3am wake up means comprehension is even less likely today. Will try later when have to write Day 1 blog, if I make it through an aqua thon and a ride !!****