Thursday 23rd October....
£100 cheque for Breast Cancer Care received from Tarporley Rotary Club ....Big thanks to Gordon Hamilton and all who those at the Rotary who meet at the Rising Sun on a Tuesday Night....donation now entered on my justgiving page as an off-line donation.
Friday 17th October....
Big thanks to all who those who have contributed from EVT and ESS business groups based at Shell Thornton, and a very special thanks to Tommy who not only went round and 'encouraged' donations but also collected and handed over today the fantastic sum of £475 for Breast Cancer Care.
3rd October 2008
Chester Chronicle interview about my Lands End to John O'Groats cycle ride in aid of Breast Cancer Care. Click on the following Video Clip to see more.
Thursday 18th September
The press are coming to Tarporley tomorrow 19th Sep to catch the departure up North...will it be the News of the World, The Daily Star girls or the local Buy Sell? To find out ....be at Tarporley Fire Station Chocolate Shop at 9am tomorrow...
Saturday 13th September
It has been such a fantastic response to my sponsorship for Breast Cancer Care - thanks to all of you so far - that I have pushed the bar a bit higher to £4000 !
Tuesday 9th September
Boycie Powers up:
Yep his done it....Struggling with the notion of powering a laptop via a rechargeable battery....Boycie has gone a got himself a 1100 Watt portable Generator to fit in the back of the Van ...."Big is beautiful' Boycie... Watch this Blog for further details.
Also, after searching high and low for an appropriate mascot to take with me the guys in ELMA at work have come up with the answer.....'pink furry dice'!!!!.
Thanks guys and look out for their occasional and timely appearance on the BLOG....
Sunday 7th September
Fundraising going well, Tarporley Village swamped with posters...well done Sharon & Snapper!
Posters are now on display at:
* Caran Dache Ladies fashions (Thanks to the 'Dacher' Girls)
* Skin Deep Beauty Salon
* Swaffies Barber for men
* Churchill Dry cleaners
* Tarporley DIY (nice one Phil!)
* Forrester's (Thanks Stuart)
* The Rising Sun (Thanks Dave)
* The village Butcher (Thanks Rob)
Will target Rising Sun and Forester Arms on Tuesday.
As of today we stand at over £1600 and our target is now £2,500, so a big thanks if you have donated or are about to donate ...
Tuned in TV to Country File for Weather forecast...more rain forecast for next week..no worries its good for cycling and keeps you cool.
Monday 1st September
Just over 1 week to go....
Managed another 139 miles this week which tipped the total cycling mileage for 2008 YTD over the 3,000 mile mark....Went to Chester collecting the items in my Kit List...found no shortage of advice here in what I should or should not be taking?
As regards the trip.....I'm raring to go and hoping the weather stays kind. Half the battle is overcoming the mental side of keeping going for long periods. I plan to start off earlyish and cycle to say 3pm with only one Tea shop/Pub lunch break. Hoping I will get fitter on the ride so will start off at a steady pace as I'm starting from Lands End and Cornwall and Devon are considered the hardest part. I also find cycling much easier when I don't know what's round the corner, cycling around at home can actually feel much harder. Wind direction and weather will have a big part to play....if its a prevailing South Westerly or the tail end of Hurricane Gustav then I could be challenging Chris Hoy......
So, the LEJOG training is at an end, but has it been enough to get me from End to End? For this last week I will tail down the mileage considerably and concentrate on fund raising for Breast Cancer Care. Posters in the village Pub(s) and shops ...mithering Disco Dave in the Rising Sun and Texas Phil in Tarporley DIY ;-)
The response from family friends and colleagues has been tremendous. As of today we stand at over £1300 and our target is now £2,500.
Tuesday 26th August:
Just over 2 weeks to go....
Bank Holiday weekend and over 100 miles completed after riding from Tarporley to Wem (Shropshire) and Wrenbury. Took the opportunity to rebuild my chainset and install a larger rear cog (27T) to help with the hills in Cornwall and Devon, repair my saddle and replace the pedals. Bike has now been almost completely rebuilt but pleased that these things are going wrong now rather than when I'm on the ride itself. Plan is to ride to work and back (30 miles) each day from now until 4 days to go which is Sep 6th...and then rest up.
Thursday 21st August:
Bike Problems:
Well the good news is: I still have a bike and the LEJOG ride is still on....Last week I was cleaning (don't mention this word in front of Sharon) my bike and to my horror discovered that a crack had appeared in the frame by the seat post. Now this is not the first time I have had this problem and so was immediately on the M6 to Condor Cycles who are based in London. I explained the situation and my bike was rebuilt within 24 hours with a replacement frame plus a few freebies thrown in. Condor put the problem down to a bad frame batch from Italy where the re-enforcing steel seat post insert was not long enough which caused the cracking of the frame. Could of been very nasty and dare I say it quite a surprise!! if the seat had sheared off from the seat post whilst I was out on a ride...Lucky!....
Anyway I'm BACK ON THE ROAD AND READY TO GO AGAIN.....
