London to Paris - the fundraising

Bit pleased with myself this weekend. The brass band I'm involved with (Gawthorpe Brass '85) played at Ed Balls' garden party - he's our local MP - this weekend and I asked both Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper to sponsor me. They both agreed, although I was a bit slow - when Ed asked me "how much do people normally give" I said ten pounds. In hindsight I should have said fifty... but Yvette doubled his donation anyway.

Unfortunately, although I have asked, none of our other local politicians have responded. Comments about expenses would be unfair at this point, I think!

I have to say thanks to John Tudor from CREW. He is doing a great job sorting out sponsorship for me. I'm due to visit Bradford Bulls game on 23rd August where I can do a bucket collection. That should really help. He's also hoping to sort out a shirt sponsor. I'm not having much luck, none of the companies I have contacted have responded - although Benecol sent me some vouchers for some of their products.

I've been following Bernie Hollywood's progress on his Lands End to John o' Groats + 3 Peaks challenge. He's been doing really well - miles ahead of schedule. Take a look at his website, it makes what I'm doing look a bit wimpy:

http://www.berniehollywood.com/Bernie_Hollywood/BernieHollywood.com_-_Home.html

London to Paris - the bike

Back to the bike with some more modifications. I rode it down to the station today as I had a meeting in London and wanted to try going on the train with it.

It was a reasonably nice day in Wakefield, so I didn't bother with a coat. But when I got to London it was teeming down with rain and I had to shelter under some trees for a bit in one of the squares. Then, when I set off again, I noticed my bottom was getting rather wet. I looked round and saw a plume of water being thrown up by the rear wheel. Of course, I no longer have a mudguard on.

This evening I have corrected that by making a new mudguard from a mountainbike front mudguard I had lying about in the garage.

The other modification I've made is to drill a small hole in the seat post and threaded a cut down spoke through as a stop that will prevent the gradual sinking of the seat height. (this occurs because the seat post is slightly too slim for the socket and the shim doesn't hold it quite tight enough.) Because I lost the first one on the trip to London, I have chained the new one to the bike! Pictures to follow.

Back to Gloucester tomorrow for another meeting, I will take the bike on the train again to see whether the modifications work. This time, I'll also take a coat!!

London to Paris - The Halifax to Gloucester ride

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Its always the way. Last week it was lovely sunshine; this week its been raining enough to refloat the Ark. Fortunately Thursday morning was only in drizzle.

I rode to Dewbury station to catch a train to Sowerby Bridge and rode to Halifax from there, doing 7 rather than the full 17 miles to work as normal. I was a bit nervous of how I would cope with riding 100+ miles in a day.

This trip was organised by Adam, who works in one of our Gloucester offices. He had managed to persuade one of his colleagues, Lee, to join him and Adam's mother (Jane) had offered to drive a support vehicle.

The Thursday morning in the hills was a bit damp, but only drizzle so not too bad. By early afternoon it had cheered up. Lee was struggling though, having confessed to not riding a bike much. The most he had done was one ride of 40 miles with Adam in Gloucester! So much for my worrying!

Fortunately, Jane was doing a great job with the support vehicle - meeting us about every 10 miles. So we pressed on regardless, trying to limit the pace so that Lee could keep up but inevitably he was riding at his limit all the time. Somewhat surprisingly though, he managed 40 miles through the worst of the hills to Macclesfield before cramp got him and he needed a break in the car.

Adam and I continued on in ever-improving weather through the lanes around Rudyard Lake and up some quite stiff climbs. By this time, the sun was starting to break through and Adam even took off his rain jacket. (I wasn't wearing one - I hate the things and only wear them when its really wet) We covered a further 20 miles or so up hill and down dale until Stoke where, cramp eased, Lee rejoined us for the next 25 miles.

We had intended to call in at the office in Pendeford (just outside Wolverhampton) but time was against us - it was nearing 6pm. So we stopped at a place called Hyde Lea, just south of Stafford, where Lee and Adam put their bikes on the car ready to take them to the hotel.

I looked at the cycle computer and it said 90.5 miles - including my 7 miles in the morning. The hotel we were staying in was about 10 miles away and I was feeling good. I couldn't resist and, despite having picked up a slow puncture, decided to ride the remaining miles to make it a century. So I did.

So we finished the day at about 7pm and went for a wash and a meal. After the meal, I had a puncture to mend before going to bed. I was really pleased as I still felt great despite 100 miles on a mountain bike. (I still don't get why we rode mountain bikes Adam!)

Next morning, having fixed the puncture, we set off again. Lee did really well again riding with us. He must have been hurting by this time as we weren't really hanging around and the terrain is quite 'lumpy'. (Not hilly, understand... those were yesterday)

Sensibly, in my view, Lee took another break after 23 miles, and loaded his bike on the car again. Jane was doing a great job tracking our progress and popping up every now and again so we could fill drinks bottles or just a great excuse to stop.

Adam and I pressed on. The roads were rolling and I was feeling really good so we kept the pace high. Adam suggested 20 mph, and I took this to mean an average of... so we really pushed on. Unfortunately, I think we misunderstood each other but it did get the miles done.

As we rode through Worcester, there were crowds of people lining the streets and on the bridges. Now I know what the end of a stage of the Tour de France must feel like. But, of course, they weren't there for us but for the returning soldiers from Afghanistan.

In Tewkesbury, we took a brief stop to refill the water bottles and Lee joined us again to ride the final 23 miles to Gloucester.

What a reception at the Gloucester office. I was expecting a couple of people out, but no. Loads of people, all cheering; balloons; champagne; photographs. (I nicked some of the biscuits from the tin, by the way. I'd have taken the whole tin but couldn't fit it in my bag)

Jane took me back to Cheltenham Spa station and I caught the (delayed) 15:12 back to Wakefield and rode home.

Total distance 185 miles in 2 days. Really pleased, because there have been no ill effects and I felt great at the end of each day. Things are really looking good and it has encouraged me to get out a bit more.

Next update will be when I have more news on the fundraising front.

London to Paris - Training

I've lost weight! I thought I'd weigh myself yesterday and I normally come in between 80 - 81kg. This time 79.2kg! A bit less to haul between London and Paris. Although this evening I've been a bit of a pig and had 3 slices of pizza BEFORE eating my tea.

Must be the excitement; on Thursday I'm joining a couple of colleagues who work in our Gloucester office on their ride from Halifax to Gloucester. We're doing it on mountain bikes. Who knows why? (I nearly swore then, but my wife has told me off for the swearing earlier on. I hope nobody was offended and I did put *** in place of some of the letters!)

We're doing the 170 miles over two days; Thursday and Friday. My mountain bike has massive knobbly tyres and I've never ridden it more than about 40 miles in one go so I'm just a little nervous. Will be interesting to see how this crock of a body stands up to that and will be a good test for the actual event.

Unless there is some more breaking news, I won't be posting anything else until Saturday. I may have some more pictures of that event for my growing fan base and will post them here.

Oh, by the way, I got my camo shorts from Halfords last year. Thanks for showing an interest.

Don't forget to click on the adverts - especially Wellman and VitaBiotics.

Finally, I'm posting this at 18:05 and not 09:54 - honest Stuart, we can't get access at work!

Just a quick update on a couple of things. The pictures are here from the CREW photo session. John has done a great job.... I'm the good looking one on the bike, supported by the two gorgeous gals; I felt like I'd won something!

I've also managed to get some sponsorship for my shorts. Its from a company who distribute vitamins, mineral and other natural supplements - VitaBiotics. Their website is http://www.vitabiotics.com/ if you want to take a look - and of course support them. I'm going to find someone who can make a panel to stick on my shorts with the company logo on. Thanks to Meghran for sorting it for me.

Just the jersey situation to sort now. I need to get on with it, because the company that prints them has a 5 week lead time!

London to Paris - CREW

Today saw the first ride of any real distance. To work and back - round trip just shy of 35 miles. Although the computer on this bike thinks it was only 13... I need to get that calibrated properly!

Of course, as anticipated, it wasn't all straight forward. Everything was going fine as I shot down Pildacre Brow at close to 40mph but as I went to go up the other side, the three speed shifter popped and threw me back into a big gear. Nearly ripped my quads off hauling it up the hill in a massive gear. So I had to stop at the top and disconnect the three speed hub, which meant the range was a bit limited. Still, it is all flat from there until the final short bump (Salter Hebble Hill) into Halifax.

Going downhill fast is an interesting experience. There's quite a lot of front wheel oscillation at high speed that takes a bit of getting used to. Going up is nearly the same as on a road bike, except I can't lean over the bars quite the same as I would so the technique is slightly different.

I passed one ordinary Joe on his bike in Mirfield, doing (I'm guessing) about 18 mph. He caught me up at the lights and said "F**k me! You can't half shift on that thing lad!" I declined his offer and muttered something about heart, legs and lungs being more important than type of bike. Then the lights changed and I thought I'd better give him a quick start demonstration and didn't see him again.

Lunchtime, I went down to Northbridge Leisure Centre to meet the people at CREW (see previous post) for the picture taking session. They are a really cheerful bunch to say what some of them have been through. John took some pictures - I'll post them on here when I get them (If I can figure out how!)

I've nicked John's CREW t-shirt. Those of you that know me will not be surprised. And you won't be surprised when I'm still wearing it in 10 years time - probably at the spinning classes - either! To be fair, this time I did ask and I didn't realise it was John's until he told me when he said I could have it.

Then rode home. Got a puncture; rear wheel too. As I've already indicated, that tyre is a real b******d to get off and on. Add to that a hot day, and the sweat was dripping off me as I sat in a car park in Dewsbury wrestling with it. This time I managed not to swear at all though, and I think it worked because it only took me ten minutes start to finish to get it fixed. It was an office staple digging in the tyre. I think I won't be riding the bike round the office again.

Finally, if anyone is reading this drivel, perhaps you could help. I'm looking for a sponsor for my cycle clothes. I thought if I offered to wear a jersey with a company name on during training and on the ride, someone might be willing to pay for it. I've looked on a web site and whilst there are companies that make them, the minimum order is about 10 to be cost effective (one-offs cost about 90 quid each!)

I've suggested to BHF and the organisers that we all wear the same and asked if they could help with a corporate sponsor... we'll see. But in the meantime, if you know anyone who may be able to help, let me know.

As you'll see, I've only £667 to go to reach my self-imposed target as I write this. Plenty of time to exceed it though.