Here We Go!!

Everything is sorted and packed, I am good to go!!

Heres all the crap I'm taking:


I am amazed it packs down to this!!


Have you noticed I found a website that cools up my photos? It is very possible I have been going overboard.

So, what of tomorrow? Where does D-Day end? To paraphrase Craig (Of Craigs tune-up shop) I have decided to remove my Vagina and to try to get all the way down to Portsmouth tomorrow (125miles)

We'll see how that goes!

If you're interested, here's a rough version of the Euro part of the route in 2 parts:

Part 1 (click)

Part 2 (click)

So there we go.

GIANT thanks to Gem today for helping me get all the last minute stuff done - I'll hopefully see some of you tomorrow. 0845, rememberance day gates, Rugby.

BOOM

Bike Geek Blog

This is what everyones been waiting for, I know how everyone loves it when the bike geeks get chatting in the pub *white noise*

The bike is finally sorted!! Look how pretty it is :)



Its my trusty Bianchi via nirone thats been on all my adventures thus far - Alu frame, carbon forks, 105 groupset.

I changed the front wheel to a Planet X model B and got Leisure Lakes in Daventry to build me a rear wheel. 32 spokes, Mavic A319 rim and a Shimano 105 hub, should be nice and strong. It needs to be!

I had the Planet X rear wheel too after some forum reccommendations, a spoke went on its 1st ride!! So sacked that right off - especially as they had no spare spokes!! -20 points to them.

To be self sufficient I fitted a Top peak Super tourist Pannier rack to the rear, and some Ortleib back roller Panniers for all my stufff and mounted the tent on the top of the rack (Quechua ultralight T2 Pro)

Its heavy!! 23KG so far, more liek 25 once its fully loaded up!! That means that any gradient over 2/3% becomes a ballache - Craigs upgrade shop fitted a SRAM 12-32 cassette on the rear which means I almost have a 1:1 ratio possible to get up steep hills, slowly but painlessly. I had to steal a deraillieur from a mountain bike to accomodate the dinner plate of a rear cog, still its 105 so I'm happy.

The lovely people at Leisure Lakes Daventry not only built my wheel and gave me a 15% discount on anything i needed bt they also serviced my bike - It was clunking a lot and wasn't smooth at all until now! Its like i'm riding a cloud, loves it!

The ferry finally got booked today after waiting and waiting for a response from Brittany ferries abotu some sort of charitable discount, which did not happen. Swines.

0815 Portsmouth - Caen, it means day 2 needs to start at 430am - Can't wait for that!

T minus 5 days!!

Custom jersey and Fundraising stuff

BOOKA

1 WEEK TO GO!!! AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH


Its ok, I am in control.


promise.

So I got my jersey through! Well happy with it! Big thanks go to Gem for buying iot for me, and my bro for the help in designing it - Check it out!!


At least now en route people will know whats going down. I did however put it on very excitedly like a small child at xmas and spilt dinner down it. Standard


In other news, the LOVELY and SEXY guys at THE VAULT the new home of metal heads and Grebs in Rugby have offered to help with some fundraising.

They have a new drink in, a Cinnamon Whiskey called 'Fireball' - Its BLOODY GORGEOUS and the club have said "100% of the profit from this drink will go to support the blackbull run".

AWESOME - That means you can get leathered AND support a good cause!! WIN WIN
So if you see this behind the bar, GET SOME:


Not only that, they are putting some collection boxes on the bar. What lovely people!

Make sure you come along to Next weeks Full metal Racket At Vault (click here) as that is in aid of the ride too.

MASSIVE THANKS to Callum and Mike and all at Vault for their support.

RESPEC!

Equipment test run - Rugby to Hull

YO!

I just got back from a weekend in Hull with some mates - I cycled there and they brought me home. They are the same mates who are meeting me in Germany when I finish so it worked well as a test to make sure all the stuff goes in a car and the bike is ok on the back of a car. Sterling work Matthew, and Ms Cooper.

The plan was to leave friday afternoon as I had to work in the morning, do 80ish miles, camp somewhere and do the rest of the distance to Hull on saturday to make sure a: the kit is ok b: my legs are ok and c: I don't go mental on my own.

C: will be the biggest issue it appears :)

I packed up my panniers strapped on the tent set up the Garmin and left. The bike is so heavy!! I haven't weighed it yet but I suspect its between 20-25kg!! Slightly unpleasant uphills but thanks to Craig Mckee's upgrade shop, I have a giant cog (32!!) on the back to get me up the hills slowly but with no major drama.

82 miles went by pretty uneventfully apart from a horrifically scary section of the A1 (I think) and I arrived in Welton, just North of Lincoln feeling strong still. After getting bent over to the tune of £14 for a 2 man tent a a camp site, I grabbed a shower and went about setting up my shizz for the very first time.

Not a bad view to wake up to


The tent is awesome - Only 2Kg and plenty of room for me and the monsters I will undoubtedly wake up to in the middle of the night somewhere in Europe. Its a Quechua ultralight T2 pro if you're interested, which you probably aren't. in fact I'd be suprised if you're still reading!

More bending over ensued when I got dinner at the campsite which I didn't eat due to it being pretty rank. I decided instead of a dinner of kings, 3 Guiness and 2 packs of pork scratchings. WINNER.



Turns out a night on your own in a field is pretty boring, must address this. Maybe a harmonica, or something inflatable - WINK

Woke up to pissing rain, put off leaving as long a possible then just got wet, really, really wet. Once you are soaked though, all is ok. You can't get more wet so its ok, as long as you're moving. Legs felt good again and made it to Hull (53 miles) before 1pm - with the weather I was pleased with that. Here's me just getting to my bro's ringing out my gloves


note to self: get waterproof gloves.

I LIKE RIDING MY BIKE

Launch Day

There's me, looking like a bit of a douche outside the entrance to Galanos House on Veterans day which was fittingly used as the launch of the ride. Not the start you understand, just the launch of the fundrasiing campaign and a giant step towards making sure 100% that it happens!

It was great to meet all the cool old guys over there, people who had served their country very proudly, people akin to my grandparents. There was a service, some songs from the choir and a demonstration from these guys:


Very kindly, these guys offered to help promote the ride and to mention it to thier various re-enactment chapters throughout my route. Fingers crossed Ill get a hot meal or a bed out of some of their mates!

I tried to make my excuses and leave for the ride back home during the entertainment but got acosted by the 'singer' entertaining the residents and made to stand up in front of the populus and sing a wartime song dressed as an RAF officer - Standard.

Twas a good jape, good to meet the residents and staff and good to get it all kicked off. I was also pleased with averaging 19mph over 25 miles on a fully loaded bike - The fitness is coming, WITNESS

BULLS ON PARADE!!

He'd still bust you up