Lands End to John O'Groats Bike Ride September 2010

Lying coats, deviant overshoes and Dragons Den

2010-09-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hello all

With the date of the ride speeding towards us i thought i would follow suit and blog recent events, so here goes.

Half of the team headed up to the picturesque village of Malham for Sues Birthday and some valuable hill training. A short 27 miler was planned which saw the cyclists turn right out of the accommodation straight into a 1 in 7 hill that lasted for 3 miles, Beautiful!

So after this valuable hill training it was back to work, and a slow down in the biking with less than 10 days before the start of the 'little ride' I thought that I would just keep my legs spinning until then. So after work I set off east on a route that I have done many times before, Pontefract, Darrington towards the A19 etc, a steady route with a few rolling hills and one climb that allows you to work a bit harder. The weather looked OK with a few dark clouds on the horizon towards Doncaster so I chucked a coat in and thought id give my recently purchased overshoes a whirl as well, which turned out to fit as snug as slippers and only fractionally less comfortable.

Now I am no expert in scales of rain, I'm not sure whether drizzle comes before spitting or after fine rain however I am certain that after 10 miles none of the above turned up they were clearly somewhere else and preoccupied wetting washing so they sent 'absolute monsoon hammer it down' rain instead. You would think at this point I would be grateful for my 'water proof' jacket and i would have been if my jacket wasn't a liar however I pedalled on thinking that my coat had let me down and it was teaming up with my overshoes in an attempt to drench me from head to toe.

I cracked on nearing Pontefract castle (i know i didn't believe it as well) rounding another bend i was met by a flooded road and another test of my resolve, it was here as John was frolicking like a happy seal through the 6 inch water i thought 'damn this ride is going to be hard'. But then something changed, my MP3 music clicked over and Tiesto's adagio for strings kicked in, as each pedal stroke splashed into the water i thought the reason why we are doing the ride is for Alfie who because of his condition will never be able to ride a bike, wear a wafer thin coat or whinge about the rain like i was doing just at this point! From here on i powered homeward bound pedalling up the hill like it was a no more than the camber of the road, the sun even came out and slightly dried me off.

So i will leave you with this thought inspired by Dragons Den's Duncan Bannatyne, I will be investing 100% of my effort into this business and wanting 100% equity of the route, that's why I'll let you know where i am. I'm absolutely ready for this bike ride!!

Soggy Rich says is that the best you can throw at me, I laugh in the face of bad weather, tweak the nose of adversity!

Race you to John O Groat.......................................Go!

17 days to go!

2010-09-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Not done a blog for quite a while so thought I would dust off the old blog writing cobwebs to fill you in on a bit of news.

First and foremost, it's only 17days to the big ride!! Monday 20th September, also known as D-DAY for the members of Alfie's Team, will see Rich, Elaine, Scott, Rich, Daz and myself setting off from Lands End, with our trusty support team; Sue, Tony and Emily! On the one hand, it feels like its been a long time in coming, but on the other it also feels like yesterday when me and Rich were sat in our parents living room coming up with this ridiculous plan.

The pre challenge nerves are kicking in with the team - 'Have I done enough training?', 'Will I be able to manage those hills?', Why can't I ride with my new pedals without falling off (only my concern I think!)?' But you get the gist of it!

Despite the nerves, we are all totally buzzing for the ride. Speaking purely from my own perspective, one of the main reasons for this is due to the amazing amount of money we have raised so far. We are so close to hitting £5800, which is incredible but I for one would like to make it to £6000 before we set off - ambitious I know but not if all of our friends donated just £1!

To make a donation go to www.justgiving.com/alfies-team and to keep up to date with more bike ride info go to www.alfiesteam.com

Thanks for your support guys and keep it coming!

Much love,

Helen and all of Alfie's Team

Now I can’t climb 600 feet, no I can’t climb 600 feet..nah nah na nah (a la proclaimers)

2010-08-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

So lads and lasses, gone was the MTB and in comes the new Road bike. Pictures later. At 9.4kg it’s 3 times lighter then my MTB and “made for speed, but with the big miles in mind”. It also came with a nice bell.

After some fiddling with the pedals I was ready to roll last weekend..here goes the tale.

Friday 30th
Distance covered: 6 miles
Theme: Rain
One word: disaster

Man did it rain, I was literally riding with shoes fall of water (coming in from underneath and above!). I can take being wet I have learnt, but not having water move forwards and backwards in your shoes on every pedal, no sir. So I came home, and put that one down to experience. I also bought myself some Seal Skinz (waterproof socks!) for a tenner on eBay! I’m going to do the bath test when they come, how exciting.

Saturday 31st
Distance covered: 33 miles
Theme: hills in the peaks
One word: gears

This was my usual route, done it about 5 times on the MTB, a nice round loop from my house to Kettleshulme and back around the bottom of Buxton. 10 miles in I’m sailing along until I drop down the gears on a climb and find the lever won’t budge. I’m in the lowest of the low already, but it’s still too tough to ride with any level of comfort. I crack on and get off the saddle, and as no one is around I get on with the old groans and do it. I carry on with this process one more time but only with the goal that I can stop when I get to the top and regain myself. 10 minutes later, I’m off again but with the 3rd and 4th such silly climb I had to walk. To add salt to the wounds, my brilliantly scary steep descent was stopped while sheep chattered on the road. A character building day, but we'll get there!

Sunday 1st
Distance covered: 49 miles
Theme: a new, flatter, route
One word: lies

I wanted a few more (flatter) miles today so I took the advice of using other peoples cycling routes in my local area, using Bikely.com I found a 50 miler and 1/10 difficulty level – brilliant, I’m riding on a snooker table let’s get some speed on! Now, either that route was submitted by “C.Boardman” or 1/10 is the default and they didn’t see it (I refuse to believe it was a normal person and I’m crap), I mean it was at least a 3 or 4! A few more hills, nothing as bad as the peaks mind, and I was done in 3 hours or so. Not bad, hey.

Monday
Distance covered: 0.2 miles, to the doctors
Theme: anti inflammatory tablets
One word: pace it you tool (sorry I needed 4)

So with the excitement of the new bike comes the reality that my bike DOES have enough gears to do LEJOG (as I’ve been advised several times) however clearly I DON’T! Perhaps that advice doesn’t work for the 3 month old cycler as I imagine it’s like fishing with a great big rod when you’ve only just mastered using a net, maybe not quite like that.. but you get my drift.
So with some tablets and 5 to 10 days of advised rest I plan to “rest up well” until next Friday, and then have another crack at the flat 50 miler….maybe followed by the peaks on Sunday where I will refuse to walk up any hill... With practice we will get there.

Cycling, hey!
Daz x

Important PS blog readers:
http://www.justgiving.com/alfies-team
Spread the word, momentum is growing..! Its now just 48 days till we start on Monday Sept 20th!!

Next week we will have our official 12 day route published - so supporters/cyclers if we are coming to a town near you, you can join us for as long as you can stand it!

FINALLY, if anyone has any connections with Coventry, Liverpool or Middlesbrough based companies please let me know. Why, we need local sponsorship and locations close to the 3 Zoe's Place Hospices would work best. It costs £500/person to fund the two weeks, and so far we've got that down to £300 through some cracking sponsorship deals, so with one last push i'd like to think £200 is achievable.

Over and out.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

2010-07-28T06:25:00.000-07:00

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Success at Charity Auction!

2010-07-26T11:28:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone, this is my first blog!

Well I can't believe it. The charity auction came and went so quick on Friday and was a blinding success! I for one am so chuffed at how much support we have already from friends and family! Thank you to everyone who came down and those who bidded and brought things! See the photos for how great the prizes looked and how much fun we had!

There were around 50 prizes on the night, many bargins were had and some crazily amazing bids were seen for the Donny Rovers and Del Piero shirts! I for one am glad that Neil Walkden won out on the rovers shirt against Daz! :)

Well done to the team as well for all the hard work put in getting the prizes, setting up and everything on the night. If we can do this for the auction, I know the riders can get over them hills and us support team will keep you going!!

Now get back to training! :)

Thunder thighs, Warwickshire Hills and cycling with the Richmond brothers

2010-07-12T01:23:00.001-07:00

Its been a while since I blogged, so thought I would get back into it with a write up of my cycling exploits this weekend. I moved down to Leamington just over a month ago; when I was cycling around Doncaster I thought I was doing quite well - making good time, becoming more confident on the bike, enjoying myself quite a bit. Get to Leamington and it's as though Brian McMassiveHill who likes to build large hills has been and decimated the entire Warwickshire countryside with steep climbs! (Obviously this is a slight exaggeration before people start piping up about the hills in Cornwall, or that mountain range we're cycling through in Scotland...)

The first major one I tackled took me about 5 attempts, and it felt as though I had been shot in the thighs. Since then I haven't been doing too well on the hills, stopping half way up. Luckily, my Fairhurst, and moth-like mentality means that I completely forget the bullet wound type feeling in my legs, and just keep going back for more!

After finally getting his bike last week, Tom from down the street, and his brother John, joined me out on the roads on Saturday. Like Rich and I were saying last week, its always much nicer to go out with someone, and these two were really encouraging and John even said at one stage 'You're not too bad...for a girl'. Brilliant. After almost killing myself again on what can only be described as a small mountain, John and Tom suggested that we swap bikes to see if it would make any difference as his has more gears than mine, thus making it much easier to climb. At first I was a bit dubious about someone else getting their hands on Joyce, but having almost had a small heart attack at the side of the road I was open to suggestions! So I hopped (/struggled to get on Tom's bike), and flew up this hill!

Towards the end of the ride, we hit another hill so swapped over the bikes again. My legs were getting pretty tired by this stage, and it was a total nightmare trying to get up there but I dug deep, and all the while remembered the phrase 'pain is weakness leaving the body!'. Tom and John were really encouraging, which helped so much...right up until the stage when John cycled passed me, pulling a wheely....I can't type the words that came out of my mouth but suffice to say, I was livid. Nevertheless, I made it to the top, all in one go! A first for me, and although only a small victory (again for anyone who wants to pipe up with comments about how hard the Pennines will be, or think about the distance you'll be doing on whatever day), I was pretty chuffed with myself!

Just another note, to say thanks to everyone for the sponsorship so far! Justgiving has seen a bit of a flurry of donations in the last couple of weeks and I for one am blown away! £1568.32 is our total so far, making us top fundraisers for Zoe's Liverpool! Keep the donations coming guys, it really means a lot to us all!

Watch out for the Alfie's Team Bike Ride website which is coming soon! And by soon, I mean this week!

The Giant Has Landed

2010-06-28T03:09:00.000-07:00

Hi guys

Elaine and I got our new bikes this last week and let me just say "WOW"

I decided to invest in a decent road bike through the Cycle 2 work scheme and picked the rather aptly named Giant Defy 2, It's so light that I now cant believe I managed to go so long with the Hybrid I bought earlier this year. The other advantage of course is that with it being lighter and more aero-dynamic than a normal bike it's much easier to hit high speeds and maintain them, thus cutting down the amount of time to cover longer distances and in fact cutting virtually 40mins off the time it took to do the run out to Clumber park and back that we had done only 3 weeks previous. It does mean however that you do reach some pant fillingly scary speeds too. I managed 29mph the other day and it felt like 60.

Doing the longer runs also does bring home another point too, Nutrition is key!!!

Having got the bike last wednesday I decided I'd christen it with a 50 miler with Scott "racing snake" clarke, Having been too excited to eat before going out it would be fair to say Scott was kicking my ass after 20 miles when I had finally depleted my energy reserves, Que a pub stop for food and drinks (Coke before you ask) This in turn led to indigestion too, supporting the point that you should always allow time for your food to go down boys and girls.

So when it came to saturday I made sure that I ate properly and loaded up with carbs and also took some energy gels with me too. Making the 60 miler much easier than the previous days 50 miler, and on tired legs might I add. I'm also pretty sure I heard Scott cry on one Hill too but i'll let him off on that one as it was a bitch of a hill.

On another completely different note i've mailed a load of sports clubs this week basically begging them for signed merchandise and stuff for the charity auction so fingers crossed we may get some more stuff for the do at the end of july. Elaine has also printed out 150 tickets which Gemma and Charlotte kindly cut out and numbered, So its time to get selling them ppl, message us with how many you need and we'll send them out to you, 150 between 6 of us works out at 25 to sell each which should be more than easy. So come on guys lets get on it!!!

Hope you are all well.

Go team!!!

Hairy Rich

Alfie's Team video

2010-06-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

Despite having put the link to our video at the top of the blog, it keeps coming up with some random videos. So if you want to check out our new promo video then follow this link, please please please watch it. It will give you a real sense of why we are doing what we are...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYo7zENU7A8

Thanks for watching guys!

Change to the block and mo money than miles

2010-06-21T04:01:00.001-07:00

Its been a while since I've blogged, what with uni commitments, raod tripping around Europe, moving house and starting a new job its been an insanely busy month. I thought it was time to update you on a couple of things.

As you can see, I have made the executive decision to jazz up the blog - mostly because of the fancy new template design offered by blog spot! Nice eh? Another big, I say big and mean enormous event, is that thanks to a flurry of donations on our justgiving site, we now have more money than miles! CHEEERCHING! This is really fantastic news for us all and we want to take this chance to thank everyone who has supported us so far and to everyone who is supporting us in the near future.

Next bit of business; we have a Charity Auction coming up in July, organised by Rich and Elaine, and we really need your help. If any of you know any celebrities, sports clubs etc. and can donate an item to be auctioned off then please get in touch with any one of us. I'm assuming you will have at least one contact number for someone in the team, if not who the hell are you and how have you heard about our blog? Also, if any of you would like to donate your services, i.e. promise of a day trip out somewhere, decorating services, it will all come in handy - but please keep it clean (Scott).

I will blog shortly with some photos of recent bike rides I've been on, just to pre-warn you don't adjust your monitors/phones or what ever you are using to access the blog, I am actually purple! As I have said to a couple of the others, after cycling up a small mountain in the Midlands it felt like I had been shot in the thighs.

Keep donating and have a good week!

Ain't no stopping the racing snake!

2010-06-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

Me and the troublesome right knee took ourselves to the hospital today. I had to brace myself for bad news but it ended up just about okay (phew!!!)

I turned up, ready for yet another telling off which believe me Hairy Rich has been at me for not doing strength work on the weights for the last year. Anyway I went in and the curtains were closed. I was then instructed to remove my trousers, socks and shoes. I felt very uncomfortable at this point not only did I look silly but I was wearing the worst mustard coloured Calvins known to man. A Dutch lady, quiet nice (looked like she was going to put me in a head lock at first) told me what I already knew... Patella Tendonitis! So what does that mean.... PAIN!!!

So what next, I said the bike ride... can I still do it? She said its my call and realistically I'm not going to solve a long term injury in 2 months. I'm going to have to manage this so carefully and judge it week by week.

So basically I'm going to continue!!!! Its put up and shut up from me and my stubborn head has prevailed. If I have to use my arms to pedal instead of my legs then I will!

Does anyone want to sponsor my knee for Zoe's and give it a name? suggestions would be great

Scott x

2010-06-12T04:14:00.000-07:00

Just a very quick one from me. A new member has been confirmed after the boys at www.northernleisure.co.uk have helped us out with a massive discount. I swiftly named it 'Basil' Basil will be the base and the hub of the ride where we can eat our 7000 calories a day and lean up against something nice and shiny (not me) when we need a good cry.

Meet Basil

Anyone know any shortcuts?

2010-06-03T23:57:00.000-07:00


Just a short one bloggers!

You'll be glad to know that i have recovered from the humiliation of 'trying' to keep up with Elaine and Shinny Rich over a 40 mile ride a couple of weeks back in Donny....unfortunately i was a panting wreck while they conversed happily ahead of me!  So yes, i took the challenge on and gone were those thick mountain bike tyres (2.25 yeah..?) and on go the semi slicks (1.75 apparently).  And yesterday i managed a ride of hill'onic (new word) proportions..

I faced the nearby Peaks, my nemesis, so often avoided on rides so far.  But at less than 7 miles from my house i really have no excuses.  I had my semi slicks and the sun on my back - i was ready!  I did a 34 miler, looping through the peaks and climbing 1900 feet according to my bike gadget! It was a great ride actually, even though I was wrecked and struggling at 4mph on several of the climbs! However what goes up must come down and those downhills were ace, the wind in your face is so strong you couldn't hear a lorry overtake you.  I even touched 35mph for the first time and that was with partial breaking (to stop myself going even whiter then I normally am - seriously 35mph feels fast when your sat on a cushion on a metal frame with wheels) ;)

However.... 30 seconds into getting home and declaring my happiness to Em she told me that while i was out she'd mapped 2 days of 12 of our LEJOG route on her topography web site and my enthusiam hit the floor.  I was told that we climb 1200 feet in 2 miles on those days. Holy crap, 1900 spread over 34 miles (with downhills in between) was tough.  I haven't even started have I?  I'll need to go back several times into those Peaks and go even deeper.. god help me.  One things for sure i'm taking my iPhone just in case.

Yours,

One scared Daz x

Ps 14 weeks till Day 1 on Sept 20th! ..or 12 weeks for me....(minus 1 for excessive drinking and partying at Glasto and another for some work training down south.)
This blog was brought to you by Team Alfie @ http://www.justgiving.com/alfies-team

2010-05-29T03:24:00.001-07:00

Hello People,

I thought Id open up with a well needed debut blog. So, where to start.......... (head scratching moment!)

Well how about with the last few days. After the last team meeting I felt disappointed that so far I was training on an old penny farthing bike with limited braking facilities and a relationship with Penny that wasn't particularly great, we did have a moment where I dropped her outside Norton stores because she was losing tyre pressure. She has served her initial purpose of getting me into cycling mode and I thank her for the times we spent together. But now as I enter Wiggins mode I set myself the challenge from Saturday of a 10 day limit to get a new bike and the safety gear to follow. (Kids, Always wear a helmet!)

I smashed that record! (by the way people I a big fan of challenges, numbers and beating records) with the help of Hairy Rich I'm all kitted out. Bike comes on Tuesday and she quite the sexy little thing too. Shes a Fuji (not a camera- Id like to see someone try and pedal a 10 mega pixel camera up a hill) who is named Penny-Jane. Choosing Penny-Jane was a difficult decision to make. I fell in love with a Ridley but she was a bit expensive, some bikes where like £8000! I sulked for ages and told everyone I wanted a Radley instead of a Ridley and people now think I like handbags with pretty dogs on them. Oh well!

Yesterday took myself and Rich to Sheffield to get equipment .I knew I would have to face my demons and try the Lycra shorts which seems a little kinky to me. I don't mind wearing short shorts and believe me I do! but Lycra makes me feel exposed. Rich put me at ease though. He decide to but a Lycra mask thing over his sunglasses and made himself look like a gay ninja or somewhat of a power ranger that was forgotten to be scripted in. That was it....... I went for it. I tried a full body suit first, oh it made my eyes sore and from a side view I did look a little like Brett the Hit man Hart (wrestler from WWF in the 90's) actually who am I kidding. I looked like a gay wrestler. That one was soon back on the shelf and i gingerly went for shorts ONLY! I'm still not comfortable with the idea but on this epic adventure comfort over looks is essential (now I sound like my grandad when he goes slipper shopping)

So that was the cycling shopping experience thankfully over and now its back to the serious stuff- training and most importantly fundraising. I'm still struggling with a knee injury at the moment which with Hairy Rich on my side, we are working on improving in the gym with strength work and keeping me on a lead! I take myself and my knee off to the hospital on the 15th to check out the damage.Ive covered 120 miles in the last 7 days which isn't too shabby really.

As for fundraising, Ive been a little slow but like on a bike, I soon catch up. Its time to really knock the smoke out of it. My mini mission at the moment is to push us over the £1000 mark, increase the awareness of Zoe's and the ride. Finally this is a big step but I'm going to try and get a mystery person involved in this for us, oh and tap up Sheffield Hallam Uni for some cash before the budget cuts!

Keep following the blog!

Scott

Dragging our heels on the blogging front

2010-05-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Thought it was about time someone got back on the blog to inform our followers what's been going on.... First things first, as you will have noticed and probably read from my announcement, Google have removed the AdSense link to the blog due to 'invalid clicks'. Apparently, raising money for a charity isn't deemed acceptable by Google, so instead I have sent them an email asking if instead they would like to make a contribution to our fundraising....I will start holding my breath....now! 'huuuuuuuuur'... (That's me taking one last breath...)

Secondly, Elaine and I, and not sure who else have been selling greetings cards, gift wrap etc. through Phoenix Trading, a company who sell greetings cards, stationary type stuff. The same kind of premise as Avon (not sure why I'm name dropping though, its not like we have an AdSense account or anything....). Elaine's friend got in touch with her about the catalogues and offered, 10% commission to Alfie's Team on all products we sell, which is incredibly generous.

Thirdly, I slacked off on the bike riding during a turbulent week of essay deadlines and dealing with some fairly serious housing issues, which I was presented with this week. I did managed to get out the other night though and made a fairly god effort at a 14 miler in just over an hour. I was fairly pleased with it, especially considering that I managed to do it fuelled on the rage I had over the housing situ.

We have changed our justgiving website now to accommodate the other members of the team. We are now @ www.justgiving.com/alfies-team so it doesn't look like me and Rich are claiming all the glory! In addition, I will be collecting some rather fetching Zoe's T shirts for our newest recruits, Daz and Emily along with some collection boxes when I visit Zoe's on Monday.

Lastly, we just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated so far. If you haven't had chance to checkthe justgiving page, then please do even if it is just to see how we are doing. We have managed to raise just short of £800 purely from donations alone and we are blown away by this generosity!

A 30 miler and a very nosey horse

2010-05-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys

Hope all is well and that the first week of training hasn't killed everyone. Firstly Just to let everyone know I have today fired off a contact to www.myprotein.co.uk basically to see if they can help us with the supply of supplemets to aid us on our rather insane trip, though as it's a sunday I dont expect to get a reply today.

Next onto the real business, Elaine and I went out to day and did a 32 miler in just over 2 hrs, the speed seems to be coming along and as soon as our bike to work scheme opens in a weeks time we're also going to be getting road bikes so I'm sure the speeds will increase further. As it was a nice day we decided to hit the country lanes around Burghwallis and through to Askern, and then over through Sykehouse and back, I was rather a nice ride out to be honest and not too taxing as it was relativly flat, but that did mean more opportunities to get down in the saddle and pick up some real speed and feel like a real cyclist for once as opposed to a sunday rider.

This may come as a dissapointment to Rich and Daz but I only saw one bit of road kill today and that was a bird, so it seems we must have quicker hedgepigs in Donny, but then again out and about around Adwick and Skellow they have to be fast I guess else they would get eaten.

After about 12 miles in nature called and I had to stop in a gateway to a field to answer the call, the road up to then had been quiet but im sure the cars had just been hiding to take a look at me having a pee as from the moment I sidled up to the fence it got a whole lot bussier. Then I happened to notice that the horse in the field was watching me and I must say he looked rather jealous, and had a rather seductive look in his eye, sufficed to say I soon was back on my bike and allowing Elaine to lead so I could draft.

I'd like to say thank you to todays ride sponsor Bolands Fig Rolls. Without you I couldn't have done it, and if you fancy doing the same route as it is rather nice then have a look at the picture also attached.

Cheers

A little less Hairy Rich

The Long and Winding Road

2010-05-08T11:13:00.001-07:00

As 'Shinny Rich' highlighted – thank you to Aldi for this weeks bargain basement cycling releases. To add to this I got slightly carried away in Decathlon this morning and instead of leaving with just the intended purchase of a high Calorie drinks mixer (to supplement our growing training plan) I picked up a cracking set of ‘bib style’ shorts which extend over the shoulders, kind of like braces if you were as clueless as me. Hopefully a photo never gets out with me in them, I look atrocious, but once you throw a cycling T on your cycling public is non the wiser. Thanks to Redmond for the advice on this being the NUMBER ONE clothing purchase for our challenge. This was delivered with the supplementary advice that they are like £100 expensive to get a decent one! With this in mind I jumped all over the Decathlon £60 reduced to £35 shorts. They had one Medium left on the rail, a clear sign that they are good right? It was also cold outside and they had long legs to keep me warm on the planned afternoon ride. Purchase made! Hopefully there not too cheap to function at our level of miles, only time and miles in the saddle will tell!

So, to today’s ride….

I've just come back from the attempted 50 mile ride (15 above the training schedule!) however “your cycling eyes are bigger than your cycling legs” here did just 20 miles, and that was at a push! Yes I may of opted for the fantastic option of joining JP, my cycling guru mate down the road, on the Trans Pennine Trail towards Woodhead…..however it was flawed as we increasingly became separated by my apparent lack of pace. To allow JP to break sweat (and to stop myself from panting between every word) I called it a day after just 5 miles and went back home to cycle randomly until the speedometer hit 20 and I could again show my face on here.

However I have solid excuses Blog readers..

- the Manchester 10km is a week tomorrow, so mixing training (like drinks) is obviously a deadly mix (what about Triathlon athletes – shusssssss!)

- I started my first ‘Hairy Richs Weights and Circuits routine’ on Thursday, and it hurt then and it hurts now. Having never done many of those exercises before I guess its like anything my immunity needs building up. As proof, Friday afternoon’s 10km felt slightly like I was running in lead boots. So as proven today I’m still not over that.

- Two little girls had left their bikes on my cycle trail while they played pat-a-cake near the river. I had to stop suddenly and start again, that was unexpected.

- I forgot I had energy packed Haribo in my bag and thus ran dangerously low on Kcals

I’m all out....Ok pathetic excuses I know, I’m crap is the simple fact. It’s Week 1 of 20 and boy do I know it!

Ok, that’s where I am. Just wanted to share the challenge with you, and let you know how tough this will be for me.

Please feel free to support us with kind words, free (high end) bib shorts, Haribo or even better a Zoe’s Place donation at www.justgiving.com/helenandrich. After an excellent start we’ve slowed down of late as I know lots are waiting for nearer the day itself on September 20^th. But we all like snow, so lets start that snowball effect today and sponsor us before Britain’s Got Talent comes on. Come on you non Donny mates, show us how tight we Yorkshire lot really are. Donny mates, come on now cockers, lets show the other side how we love to throw our money about.

Cheers,

Daz x

Hedgehogs, wine gums and raiding Aldi

2010-05-07T01:36:00.000-07:00

Its only a short one today folks and folkessess, pushed myself on a decent training run the other day learnt a few more things

1) We kill a lot of animals on our roads (we as the British nation, not just Alfie's team) i was up to a hedgehog a mile at one point, surely not good for Britain's indigenous hedgey hog population! also more pheasants than you can shake a road bike at and i was sure i saw a dog at one point. It turned out to be a bag!

2) The best thing about Maltby is the road on the way out! thats not just a joke as well! slightly down hill and meanders through the countryside and most importantly its going away from Maltby.

3) I have developed a motto that certainly kept me going 'Failure is not an option' it does have the capacity to have things added to it, such as 'but it will hurt a lot'

All in all a good ride 72.9 miles my longest yet, i still need to master eating more i don't think i can get 1051mile on 2 kellogg's elevenses bars and half a bag of Co-op wine gums.

The supermarket chain ALDI have been hit hard my Alfies team as people flocked into stock up on everything from gloves to bike pumps for threepence ha'penny!

The training plan 'hairy Rich' has put together looks ruthless and as such i am starting it next week, the ride i did this week has thrown up an injury on my knee that is the result of years and years of kicking people. This is something i am looking into and if i am honest blatantly ignoring, it will be fine!

What's all the fuss about???

2010-05-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you what its all about. That bloody training plan I have devised, yes Dazzler you were right to look worried.

After having done 30 miles on the bike yesterday as scheduled I thought I had better do the strength and circuits session tonight, my god my ass and legs are in bits. I have successfully managed to obliterate them in a single 1 hour gym session.

I trust everyone who has tried it felt the same? if not then you obviously didn't work hard enough, and of course if you haven't tried it yet then im only joking it was easy ;-). On a more serious note regarding the training, if we stick at it as prescribed it will work guys so keep at it.

I'm off to crawl up the stairs to bed now, with a faint glimmer of hope that I'll be able to walk in the morning, Think copious amounts of Lucozade and Deep Heat are required, And possibly some kind of protein recovery shake from Myprotein.co.uk.

Night all.

What a difference a week makes

2010-05-03T14:32:00.001-07:00

Firstly hello one and all. I’m the latest nutter to thrown my hat whole heartily into this epic but great adventure to raise money in support of the fabulous work done at Zoe’s.

Having known Rich since he had hair and was known as Fairy, yes that long, I knew as soon as the words bike ride, Lands End, John O’Groats and Zoes Place was mentioned I was severely tempted. And so I’ve eventually made the jump several weeks later and here we are!

Firstly I’m sans a Road Bike until at least late July (when my cycle to work scheme opens) so Rich as agreed to lend me his shinny, fast, lighter then a pack of cards road bike on alternate months.

Get off the floor rich, only joking. So not ideal, as I’d prefer to get as many miles on the “real bike” as soon as poss prior to the big day in Lands End on September 20^th…especially as I’ve never ridden a road bike and after trying Rich’s bike up and down the street it was a fun but they definetly ride and feel different to your standard mountain bike. However the good news is a few weeks before Rich uttered the mad words of bike rides I purchased a discounted mountain bike off a friend’s recommendation (cheers Sonic). So I’ll be training on that till the new road bike arrives! And i’m learning lots already! Apparently I get some slicks on that and I should see some extra mph on the road! Also if we stick close to each other the savings we make in wind resistance means the last person just needs to put his/her feet up and have a brew while we collectively suck them along.

So, having committed last Sunday to the big event I started with a wee 14 miler on Wednesday and on the very slight hill back I thought I saw a dead dog on the path. However as I started to slow I realised I was delusional from the ride as it was quite clearly a black bin bag. That didn’t stop me though and yesterday (Sunday) I almost drove Emily mad by inviting her on a leisurely (read severely underestimated) bike ride (read severe hill training camp) over 35 miles fromBritain’s highest town in Buxton (which is no longer news to me!). Still it was great to hit my first wall and if a £1 swear jar existed on that last 10 miles (which was flat) I would of easily of made a large dent in the £5,000 target!

In saying all of that, its still fun and the charity side is a great thing to aim for! As the great Sir John Ryan said “onwards and upwards” and when has Sir John ever been wrong? Never!

Biker Till I Die (literally it could be!)

Daz

PS – attached is my attempted "shock face"on opening Hairy Rich’s newly polished group training schedule ;D

Cycling comradeship, doubting Nana and a ham sandwich

2010-05-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

So today was the first day I've been out on a proper bike ride and I loved it! Setting off about half 7 this morning was a chore, I cycled around my village before heading back home to fashion some Fagin style gloves as the wind was ruining my hands. Setting back off I rode past a fellow cyclist going in the opposite direction...a wink and a cheery 'Good Moooaning' and we were both on our way. He was sporting a similar jacket to mine, both red X-Cellerate wind proof jackets, his had clearly aged though due to experience and as I cycled perkily into the distance I could tell he was looking at me with envy thinking 'Its not enough she's got a totally sick set of wheels but the jacket to go with it, jeez when am I going to catch a break?'

I managed to cover 11 miles this morning. Not quite the 30+ miles the others have managed but for my first time out on the road I was chuffed to mint balls. I managed to tackle the three big hills - Kenty's, Toll Bar and of course the one near Adwick train station. Coming from Toll Bar, I was cycling up the hill like a trooper whilst having flash backs to my driving lessons and almost burning my instructor's clutch out in an attempt to get up Carr Hill in Balby. As I was pushing it up I just kept thinking 'Stay Green, Stay Green, for the love of all things purple stay green'. No such luck and I had to do a hill start with an immediate left turn... In true Alfie's Team fashion though I trooped on through...

By the time I got to Jossey hill I was flying, but also needed the toilet so thought I know...I'll make my annual trip to see Nan. Called off in Scawthorpe to be greeted my Nan who was chowing down on her Muesli. I half expected a superstar welcome, A. For being up and at it so early. B. For cycling like a trojan and C. Because I've always considered myself the favourite grandchild. Reality hit in when as soon as I sat down Nan starting chirping up about how many miles Rich had been putting in, and oh Rich is doing well, followed by a 'Do you think you'll manage it? Its a long way you' to which I replied 'Nana, please. Anything Rich can do I can do harder, faster, better and with a great deal more style'. I cracked on and left her to it and made it home in time for the last bit of Jez Kyle, which I watched over a ham sandwich Morrisons of course. Booyar!

Cracking little ride and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Couple of things I noticed though were firstly gloves, its deceptively cold when you're riding so I need to get myself a pair of biking gloves and some uber padded Lycra trousers. The gel seat cover does the job but I definitely need some extra padding....think Lada Gaga's shoulders circa December 2009 and you're about close....

A bike ride leads to a job

2010-05-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well not quite as misleading as the title of the blog suggests, I still had to put a lot of graft in and wow the interviewers with my skills, but last week I was offered a job working as a fund-raiser for the new Zoe's Place hospice opening in Coventry! Who'd have thought when we started this it would lead to a job and a whole change of a life eh?! After talking tirelessly about the bike ride, I think the interviewers liked the insanity flavoured milkshake I was bringing to the yard! I signed up for a house this week and will be moving down at the end of May to start the job in June.

Right personal glories aside its time to fill you in on this weeks activities. After roping in Dazlar and Emily last week for the bike ride and support team, we've allocated jobs for the next couple of weeks. We're going to be getting in touch with supermarkets such as Morrisons, Asda and Tesco to see if we can get an food parcels; Emily has been kind enough to map the topography of the bike ride which has opened our eyes to the enormity of this challenge; Elaine is tapping up Lucazade to see if they can offer any freebies or vouchers for all the energy drinks we will plough through; Hairy Rich has put together the sickest training plan I've ever set my eyes on and the less sensible amongst us have set about getting in touch with the likes of John Parr, Tony Christy, Brian Blessed, Jeremy Clarkson, Ian Beale (obviously Adam Woodyatt - bit of a team in joke there), Katie Price, Russell Howard and of course Ant and Dec for fundraising and to try and get them involved in the bike ride.

Not sure how much more there is to fill you in on for the time being but be sure to keep coming back and checking what we're getting up to. Thanks again to everyone who has donated this week, we've managed to reach 10% Now...lets see if we can make it to 15% by next week?!?

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW

Hills? There's gonna be hills???

2010-05-01T04:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we knew there would be a few little hillocks along the way but seeing them on a topography map kinda brings it home a bit doesn't it!

It was great to meet the rest of the team the other day, and we thought nobody else would be stupid enough to do something like this.

Having decided that I am adding several other events to my summer of fundraising I have gone ahead and attempted to draw up a proper, grown up, training plan. I even went to TWO spin classes this week! Having done Sheffield Half Marathon last Sunday, I am now doing Askern 10k run in a couple of weeks, Hatfield Triathlon at end of July and Great Yorkshire Run 10k in September.

Got a Tri Club ride this afternoon, back out on the bike at some stage tomorrow, then me and Rich are heading out Bank Hol Monday for the day - going to head over to the peaks I think and see if we can find a slope or two to ride up and down. I have stocked up on Jacobs Fig Rolls and Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles to keep us going, and Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, Asda Bread Rolls, Tesco Ham, Philadelphia Cheese and Morrison Pasta Salad for lunch. So with a good breakfast of Kelloggs Weetabix inside us we should be good to go!

Still waiting to hear from LUCOZADE about sponsorship but does look like we're going to get a bit of a feature in DMBC's staff magazine.

Now if we don't get a few links from that lot something's wrong! Hope you're all clicking on the links that come up!

Popadom, a binding contract!

2010-04-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

Well its been a few days since i last posted so thought i would up date people. Things are ticking on nicely Alfies team decided to have a 'meeting' over popadoms and a few beers to discuss plans. Two more team members attended under the premise that if they walked through the 'Aagrah'door it was legally binding and they were in the team. So as Daz and Emily tucked into a some mango chutney there were now officially 6 riders. Daz and Emily are good friends of Rich and Sues and fit the bill nicely, Emily brings a sensible approach, loads of ideas and twiddles her hair alot and Daz is rather more excentric and lacks a bike! perfect.

This was also the first time the team had got together so ideas were flowing, the first big decision was flipping of the route, we are now going south to north. This would mean that we hit Liverpool and a planned party on the Friday evening, and pick up Lisa from Real radio North east on monday morning.

Notice our official mascot Big Ted

Im sure there is plenty more news, charity fund raising night planned for approx the 17th of July in Doncaster, more details to follow.

Competitive fundraising, bear costumes and radio presenters

2010-04-22T14:40:00.001-07:00

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has donated on just giving so far this week. We managed to hit our three donation target so why not get on there now and drop us a cheeky one? Lets get to the big 10% by Sunday! *Cheesy quavers* We're a tenner off being in the top 6 fundraisers, which would be incredible to say this is money raised from sponsors. As soon as we bring out the big guns with our team of fundraisers, you lads at the top may as well kiss your titles goodbye!

Secondly, I met up with Vicki Partridge (Appeals Director) and Richard Whateley (National Director) of Zoe's Place today. Both were really impressed with our efforts and have offered us the loan of a life sized bear costume to take with us on the ride! Enter Doubting Thomas.....

As you might remember, we got in touch with Real Radio North East a couple of weeks ago hoping they would get involved with publicising the event. *Shoe horn* Well they've gone one better than that! Lisa Shaw, one of the stations breakfast presenters is carry out ten challenges this year for Zoe's Place Middlesbrough, our Bike Ride being one of them! Lisa and her colleague will be joining around Middlesbrough and will be cycling to the hospice with us. In the typical fashion there is a twist....they will be doing it on a tandem! BOOM BABY. The kind of 'get as much money as possible by doing the most ridiculous thing imaginable' mentality we here at Alfie's Team thrive on. So welcome to the team!

Finally, I managed to get the email address of The Secret Millionaire, David Jamilly (potentially spelt that one wrong so apologies in advance any Secret Millionaire enthusiasts amongst the followers and readers of the blog!). *Branston pickle* I pinged him an email last week and to my surprise he pinged me one back on Monday. He has offered to endorse the bike ride and hopefully some of the events we are doing to fundraise. I will be getting in touch with him at the beginning of next week once to discuss some further plans we have. Massive thanks to David for replying so quickly - restores your faith in your fellow man!

Points for anyone who spotted my blatant attempt at getting random products in the ad sense adverts...

(DISCLAIMER: The comments that appears on this blog is have no malicious intent and are not intended to offend anyone) This is before some killjoy comes along and misconstrues of harmless style of banter as anything more than it actually is and attempts to sue us blind.

We're on Twitter...not that I know how to use it

2010-04-18T14:36:00.001-07:00

I promise to learn how to use the bloody thing so apologies if its a bit dull at first. I'll get it up to the blog quality in no time!

From two idiots on push bikes to a team of 'professional athletes'...

2010-04-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Firstly, welcome to the blog, Rich and Elaine. Its great to have someone else's thoughts on here apart from mine and Rich's! Secondly, perhaps this is the best place to introduce the names we have come up with the differentiate between the two Richards. So how do people feel about Hairy Rich (Smith) and Shiny Rich (Fairhurst)?

So as I mentioned in my previous post this has been one hell of a week. Since Rich, Elaine and Scott have joined the team we've gone from two idiots on bikes to a professional team - just the kind of thing we need! Scott has been using his contacts from his university to get some advice regarding the marketing and PR of our fundraising and of the actual bike ride. He's had some really handy advice so hopefully Scott can fill you in when he starts blogging...

As the teams grown, we've decided it would be a good idea to get a bonding exercise organised and Sue has suggested we try Go Ape, fitting seen as though we're all absolutely mental. Hopefully we will get this organised for late May when Scott and I have both finished with our uni deadlines. We've also decided to divide the responsibilities up by allocating official titles and what not. Elaine has offered to be treasurer for the team, I've been allocated the role as Communications person, Scott is the official spreadsheet maker, Hairy Rich and Shiny Rich are our Chief blaggers as they are both good with the banter and Sue, as well as coming up with some solid ideas about fundraising is our support team and will be finding out about medical treatment etc. Sadly for Sue, she also has the task of maintaining Rich and making sure he doesn't eat anything with red food colouring in to prevent him from having an episode this morning where I thought she was going to throttle him...

I managed to get out on Joyce last night, just up to the crossings in my village and back in order to get used to the bike. I know this will get me a lot of stick so I'm just waiting for the comments to roll in. We've some how managed to get a group of 50 cyclists to join us around Durham so our team for the overall event is growing by the day which is great news for Zoe's Place and with raising the profile of the charity.

We're about £60 off being in the 6 highest fundraisers on justgiving for Zoe's Liverpool so after you've read tonight's posts then why not pop across to this link and drop a donation on? Ideally we'd like to wipe the floor with Kelly Pilling who is their current top fundraiser at the moment with who raised just over a grand running the Blackpool Marathon. Good effort, Kel but you're playing with the big boys now and your days at the top are numbered...not that this is a competition or anything.... *COUGH COUGH* SPONSOR US www.justgiving.com/helenandrich *COUGH*

Rich and I decided today to drop as many random products and companies into our posts from now on so we can try and get adverts in the ad sense links at the bottom. Not sure if you noticed but in the last one Rich put on he mentioned kit kats and Halfords. So, my not so subtle effort for today is......Coca Cola, Lucazade, mr kipling french fancies, scholl athletes foot powder and a life sized cut out of Brian Blessed. Its just a bit of harmless fun on our behalf but everytime you click on one of the adverts we earn money for it! This money will then be donated back onto justgiving so you may as well give them a click each time you read the blog.

And finally, I just wanted to welcome the new followers to the blog. Thanks very much to Bec and Dave for joining. This was off the back of some shameless advertising I did at a university workshop I recently organised.

Have a good week and for all members of Alfie's Team lets try to make the target this week to get the training in and get 3 online donations by next Sunday. Do you think we can manage it???

Items to be added to shopping list - SUNCREAM!

2010-04-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

Well , they reeled me and I agreed to jump on board with this little venture. And being the type of person that thinks "if you're gonna do something, do it properly!" I decided that training would start this weekend.

I turned down the offer of a train ride to York for a shopping trip, with lunch thrown in, in favour of a nice little bike ride in the glorious sunshine. 63 miles later... I have knees that don't move anymore, a tail bone that really doesn't know what the hell happened, and a rather severe case of sunburn!!!

Despite all that I did actually really enjoy being out there on the bike, but definitely need to plan ahead a bit more with things like suncream.

Having a rest day today, but once I get Sheffield Half Marathon out of the way next Sunday, I will be cranking up the training and increasing the number of times I go out on the bike. My biggest fear about this venture at the moment is that I will end up with the thighs of a Russian Shotputter!

Will keep you posted on Progress.

Bonjour from the Le Monde II

2010-04-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hi guys

Thought it was about time I introduced myself. I'm Rich Smith the apparent fitness fanatic. It is true that I am a fitness instructor and a personal trainer but I'm no way, never a fitness fanatic. I am however a complete loon for agreeing to do this I think.

Having recently joined the local Tri club I thought it would be a good idea the use the advanced spin cycle sessions to help get me up to speed. But tonight's session was a complete killer starting with a 20min seated hill climb session (basically ramp up the resistance to the max and keep pedaling until your quads scream and explode). Followed by a 25min interval sprint session where whats left of your quads and indeed the rest of your legs are supposed to go as fast as they can for short sustained periods (which feel like an eternity).

Still though Elaine Scott and myself all managed the full session, though one of us wimped out on the last sprint (mentioning no names). And as we waved goodbye to Scott after the session he reliably informed us that he was "going into the gym now to do 10k on the rower" All I can say to this is that the lads got heart...........And is borderline psychotic.

Funnily enough Helen managed to get conveniently stuck in Wakefield (clever girl, wish I had too). Still I'm sure we'll all be fine when we get to the mountains in Scotland followed by the Pennines (i think it might just kill me lol)

Hope you are all well.

Rich Smith

Glitter and a lorry, what a strange party

2010-04-15T06:00:00.001-07:00

Well well as Helen has mentioned what a busy week. From visits to Zoe's, consumer test with mixed results new team member radio interest and more.

First of all Sue and Rich went over to Zoe's to visit Alfie, who now has a team named after him. It was the first time we had been upstairs to see him whilst he had been there. The staff were sound and made us welcome. Slightly crackers may also be a good way of describing them as one was covered in glue playing with the kids, she stopped shy of rolling herself in glitter and calling her self a Christmas card.

They are revamping the hospice, so its even more important that people dig deep and chuck the team some pennies, it all counts.

I have also bagged another long run this time 37 miles in 2 hours 15 which i thought was good. I also carried out my first consumer test of a Topeak saddle bag. The results are as follows, if you require a saddle bag that will fit a tool kit, mobile phone a waterproof and a Doncaster Rovers season ticket in then buy this. However it WILL fall off and it WILL get run over by a lorry!!!!!!

If you want a mobile phone that can still work after falling off a bike, being run over by a lorry before coming to rest in the bottom of a ditch then NOKIA is the brand for you! every cloud!

Welcome to the new team members Elaine, Rich and Scott who are bringing a mountain of new ideas, a wealth of fund raising experience and not to mention an air of organisation and professionalism, just what we needed as we were thinking of winging the whole event.

Final piece of news is that a presenter from a well know north east radio station will be joining us for a leg of the event. More details will follow we are sure that this will help raise the profile of the ride and Zoe's place. Keep clicking on the adverts we get cash

Helen's finally off stabilizers...

2010-04-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention in my earlier post but I have finally got my very own bike! She's not much to look at and granted she needs a bit of work, but I think you'll agree Joyce is an absolute pearler...

Fitness plans, rich teas and camper vans

2010-04-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since the last time we blogged, almost too much for me to be bothered to write in fact! But fear not, I'll battle through...

After a week of deliberating we've recruited three more mentalists on the bike ride. Rich Smith, Elaine Minty and Scott Clark will be joining us on the bike ride and in raising money for Zoe's Place. Hopefully they will be members of the blog shortly so they can fill you in on how we suckered them into get involved!

Rich is a fitness/gym/health freak so he's brining some really valuable contributions to the team with nutritional and fitness plans and suggestions. Elaine, Rich's fiancée, is bringing a great level of determination and level headedness to the team - something we need in bucket loads! Elaine is a marathon and half marathon runner and has recently joined a triathlon club. Scott is another marathon runner and all round mentalist! Scott is bringing brains to the team with his insanely detailed spreadsheets and training charts.

We met for the first time tonight as a team, minus Sue and Rich as they were teaching one of there many taekwondo classes. When we first started to talk about the idea there were some '50/50s', 'might do half of it' and some 'whoops Mrs Miggins you're sitting on my artichokes' bantered around. After a cup of coffee and some of Rich and Elaine's french fancies and chocolate cookies I managed to reel them in and the rest as they say is history! They didn't need much persuading though given that Elaine had already put in for her annual leave!

Due to the influx in team members, we've changed our name to 'Alfie's Team'. We thought it would be a good way to remind people about why we are attempting this challenge.

There is plenty more to update you on but I think this is enough for tonight. Keep checking the blog though and thank you to everyone who has sponsored us so far. We're now at 6% of our target!

If you wish to sponsor us then just visit www.justgiving.com/helenandrich Although, the team has grown we have used this site on our merchandise so if you are supporting either Rich, Elaine or Scott don't be put off by the name!

Slip streamed someone, bobbed out and powered past him. Boom I'm a road cyclist

2010-04-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Another little ride this time I went up to Emley Moor mast (that huge pointy thing you can see for miles). On the way I encountered some 'Fellow cyclists' and as the blog title suggest i did one of them. It was no blur of lycra though folks, he was no Chris Boardman he was riding a BMX, they all count. I had to resist going Neeeeeeaaaaaoooommm as i went past him. Sue met me at the top of the moor with a brew and i biked back down hill at what felt like 400 miles an hour.

Went spinning tonight it was pretty poor ran by a lad with bumfluff, and a "I love Carling" tshirt on, i think he may have been on work experience, I am now on Ebay bidding on a spinning bike so i can sit at home and train (whilst watching tv). For a split second Sue was nearly bumped from support team to 3rd cyclist, this was until she went purple and nearly fell off a static bike!!!

On a serious note we are chuffed with the amount of support people are giving us. Brilliant

Zoe's Place Middlesbrough; The Secret Millionaire

2010-04-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

Not sure if you will have had chance to see it, but Zoe's Place Baby Hospice in Middlesbrough appeared on the Secret Millionaire last week. Please check out the link below to get an insight into why we are taking on this challenge. The children and families seen in this video are our inspiration for what we are doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUz2ro06Ze0&has_verified=1

More rain, Soggy trousers and miles under the belt

2010-04-03T03:37:00.000-07:00

Well well Helens got a bike what a turn up for the plus fours!

I too have broadened my cycling attire, including the worlds tightest tshirt. I have also been looking into diets, it looks like combination of oats and lucozade sport should do it!

Went out on the first little (bigish) ride to see what it was all about from Waki to Donny and back a shade under fotty miles, so thinking that the fotty mile mark was a good barrier to break i decided to go round and round the round about near our house just to push it over the mark. Not too bad and did it in 3 hours. It hammered it down for a change and i discover the trousers i bought that were well advertised as "water proof" struggled to live up to their name.

The support team are in training as well Tony is shaking his "doubting Thomas" tag and did well making the brews and pointing out shiny things on the bike. Sue on returning to Waki was much more polished holding a towel and offering supportive words such as dont get the kitchen floor dirty i've just cleaned it.

Oh, what's that, Helen's now got a bike?! SWISH

2010-04-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the generosity of a good friend of mine and rival charity - you might have heard of them, Help for Heroes or something along those lines, I've heard they're quite big - I have managed to secure myself a top of the line road bike for our trek. My good friend Louisa has kindly offered me her bike and of course I bit her little southern arm off!

In addition, I have managed to get in touch with a couple of companies and organisations regarding sponsorship and so far the response has been quite positive. Like Rich says, I don't want to go name dropping just yet in case the sponsorship doesn't pay off, in which case we may be forced to go on some obviously legal slandering of said companies. Hopefully by the weekend I should be able to start name dropping!

As Rich says we've now hit the big 1% of our fundraising target so please visit www.justgiving.com/helenandrich to show your appreciation for our outright insanity!

First wet weather testing, verdict.................WET

2010-03-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

Went out tonight in what i thought was a break in the clouds, turns out the sky was just saving its really wet rain until i was miles from home!!!!

When i got home i decided to run a bath and get in in order to dry off a bit.

Mondeo's, bell's but no whistles

2010-03-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since I last blogged where do I start? I now have a helmet Sue brought it up when it was delivered and wanted a picture of me wearing it whilst I was sat in bed 'don’t be ridiculas, it would clash with the curtains'

An even bigger bit of news I now have my BIKE!!!! And what a bobby dazzler it is its got wheels, pedals and bell BING BING! Sue caught me practicing my streamlining the other day, which on its own isnt a bad thing however I was driving the mondeo at the time driving past the hospital, remember elbows tucked in I said!

We managed to get our Zoes place t-shirts printed for cheap and have been wearing them shamelessly already, first outing was a Taekwondo comp we were at at the weekend and we managed to get £22 sponsorship due to them. (and me taking bets on my own fights)

We have a few sneaky bits of sponsorship in the pipe line from a couple of companies but I wouldn’t want to peak too soon and reveal names incase they don’t come off.

First runs of the bike were a roaring success, rode home from picking it up, Sue was tad worried so waited at the top of the first hill (which was hardly the Cairngorms) to cheer me on, I powered on and reached home in a pretty pleasing time and without dying on the bypass but Sue wasn’t there! 10 minutes later she arrived and she lets me know that she had flooded the engine and had to wait before starting the car! Lets hope she doesn’t do that on the run itself.

Our dad the other trusty support team member remains sceptical, however Helen has told him its not us he needs to worry about it’s the excess on the motor home as she has seen him park the Vectra that he drives now.

Final pieces of news, we have broken the big 1% mark on justgiving, it all counts

Helen still hasn’t got a bike!!!

What a week...and its only Wednesday!

2010-03-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

Its only been two days since we updated you on what we were doing but je-hee-sus they've been a productive two days!

First up, I've managed to get myself a road bike helmet, which will come in a treat when I'm sat at my desk pretending to cycle given that I still don't have a bike.....until tomorrow that is-boom!

Secondly, thanks to Sue, some wonky cut plywood and a shed load of AA road maps we've now completing the mapping of our route. It's a bit longer than me and Rich originally anticipated so now the training is on! Miraculously, our ever supportive Dad is still doubting that we're going to make it past Bude (Bood) and to this all we have to say is....would you like your words served sauté or fricassé?

Rich has managed to get some great offers from companies which I will let him tell you about and I am getting in touch with some local and national football clubs to see if they can offer us any support or sponsorship. Its all go!

Just Giving page now set up!

2010-03-22T03:46:00.001-07:00

This morning we have set up a just giving page so you can start sponsoring us. Just follow the link http://www.justgiving.com/helenandrich. We will be grateful for whatever you can donate, so let's get the ball rolling!

We have a chariot! still no bikes but a big map and some t-shirts.

2010-03-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well where are we up to, Liverpool's Zoes place got in touch and offered us some tshirts for the journey and are fully behind our effort. Further developments lead to a 'planning meeting' being called the venue was picked and mum made the brews.

We have being offered the use of a motor home at a hugely discounted rate thanks to the kind people at www.northernleisure.co.uk this could turn out to be a master stroke and has shown that people are willing to help us out in our quest for tired legs, a sore arse and a shed load of cash for Zoe's.

This stroke of luck on the motorhome has thrown up another fund raiser, the sponsored 'Sues going to be spending 2 solid weeks in a motorhome with our dad' a task that ranks up there with the cycling. Good luck on that one Sue get practising that eye spy you two! something beginning with 'B' ........Bike!

We are currently in discussions with leading supermarkets about the possibility of food and drink vouchers for our trip. After all we don't know if there is an off licence north of Inverness.

In our 'planning meeting' it was decided huge maps would be the order of the day and it showed one thing, its a long way from the page 2 to page 58 in the AA atlas. This allowed our support driver to step in with such comments like ' If you make it past Newquay ill be amazed' 'I'm not worried you wont do it' Thanks again its kind words such as them that will help us through, Dad! Looks a doddle to me and the photo shows i gave it one and a half thumbs up!

We had a grown up session of planning our route and it will be fine as long as there is a massive blue line on the road. Notice the pictures of me driving the route with the aid of a very specialised piece of road bike equipment I had to pluck it from Sam's toy box. It is a cracking toy car though.

If people click on the adverts at the bottom we get cash so click your self senseless.

Just so people know we really haven't got bikes yet!

Its just like riding a bike...

2010-03-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

So after deciding to take on this challenge I realised that not only hadn't I been on a bike for almost 15 years but that I never actually fully made it off stabilizers... Following Rich's lead I decided I needed to sort this out and our sister-in-law, Claire, has kindly lent me her mountain bike so I can get back in the saddle! Luckily, I've managed to find these puppies to keep me steady until I'm brave enough to go it alone....

I'll let you know how I get on when I have my first ride out...hopefully I wont manage to fall off at the first attempt!

Bikes, hob nobs and odd named bikes

2010-03-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

On a rather average Sunday evening, in fact its was Mothers day mum had just received a well thought out, greatly considered 'garden clock' from Rich. The conversation moved away from mocking the clock and meandered along, skiting between talking the piss out of Tony (our Dad aka 'doubting Thomas') and being told how intelligent Sam is (Ian's 2 year old nipper) until we got onto talking about Eddie Izzard's run around Britain. It was at this point and following Tony's fifth mildly related anecdote about something or other that the notion of a bike ride cropped up. "That could be an idea" was murmered over a hob nob swiftly followed by 'Doubting Thomas' saying "No chance" the challenge was on!

Within days Zoes places's had been contacted, routes looked at, pubs found, nights outs penned in. and the wheels are well and truly turning. Helen will be setting up a justgiving site soon and so on and so on.

There are just a couple of minor details that need ironing out, small creases that need addressing nothing to worry about honest.

1) The last time Helen rode a bike it was decorated in Barbie colours and had stabilisers.

2) The last bike Rich rode was Helen's pink Barbie bike.

3) Neither own a bike

4) Its a very long way!!!

5) Eating healthy means having salad on by 2am Kebab.

Things have changed I have addressed point 3 and here she is in all her colours, I found it stood up pristinely in the back garden, as if delivered by the cycle fairies. Ok I know what people may think and I completely agree its in need of some air in that front tire, the breaks need tightening, racing tires need adding, the hose pipe needs moving and yes our window sills need repainting
The real 'Steed' will be on its way in the next week, I need to name it when I get it, I am thinking of calling it John Ryan!!!!

Bring on those hills