Latest fundraising amount

we had lots of donations made on the weekend of the ride and the figure is now up to an astonishing £2,911 !!!!!

 

I’m still accepting donations throughout the summer so you’ve still got time to donate if you haven’t done so already.

 

Once again many, many thanks to everyone who donated.

sponsored cycle jerseys

Our latest corporate sponsor is the cyclejersey.com, they are the country’s leading producers of bespoke cycling tops for clubs and bike events.

normally you need to have a minimum order requirement of 20 jerseys however Brian at cyclejersey.com very kindly agreed to do a special run of just 2 jerseys for Darren and myself.

they are based on the team t-shirts design but with some additional colouring…

 

team jerseys

unfortunately due to the bank holiday they didn’t arrive till after we had left for Whitehaven and we couldn’t wear them on the ride however with the weather being what it was we had jackets on for the majority of the ride so they would not have been seen anyway!

They will however be worn for a couple of photo shoots with the hospital so they will get used.

Many thanks to Brian and everyone at cyclejersey.com

Ride write up (at last!)

I’ve finally had chance to write up a brief review of the ride, it’s on a separate page entitled “The Ride” (see top of website).  Unfortunately we didn’t stop for that many photos so you’ll have to excuse the lack of David Bailey quality snaps.

It’ll take a few weeks before we get the final fundraising amount in but I’m still accepting donations over the course of the summer.

You can access the review via the “The Ride” tab at the top of the page.

Please feel free to leave a comment or message on the page, thanks.

No review yet

Unfortunately poor Nell has been struck down with a particularly nasty bout of chicken pox.  Although I’m trying to put together a review of the ride and a small photo gallery its not exactly top priority at the moment.

 

I hope to get something on the web site within the next day or so.

17 hours of misery, 1 hour of torture !

My legs were quite sore and achy after Saturdays exploits so earlier in the week I had a sports massage.

Unbelievable pain !!!!!!!!!  I think I would rather do the ride again than have another one.

Still my legs feel a lot better now and I’m looking forward to getting back out on a bike soon.

DONE IT !!!!!

One hell of a day but we managed it.

 

We left Whitehaven at 6:20 a.m. and despite a strong headwind for most of the journey we made it toSunderlandat 23:19 so we were just a fraction under 17 hours.  Our target was 18 hours (to finish before midnight) so we’re well chuffed with that.

 

I’ll give a proper report tomorrow with a few pics but here’s a few stats from the ride…

 

Start: 06:20

Finish: 23:19

Distance: 228.54 km

Ascent: 3,762m

Av Speed:  17.6 kph

Max Speed:  56.5 kph

Well the bags are packed and everything’s ready.

We’re leaving for Whitehaven tomorrow morning, I’ll be going for a ride in the afternoon to stretch my legs and also to refresh myself with the start of the route which can be a bit tricky (especially at 6 a.m. when I’ll still be half asleep).  Booked into a nice Italian for a bit of carb loading in the evening and then it’s an early night.

 

No going back now !!!

More messages of support…

Our fundraising manager Emma is a bit of a sports fan (and dedicated Aston Villa nut) and decided to approach a number of sports stars she follows on Twitter to see if they could send some messages of support for the ride this weekend.

 

We’re slightly shocked, and thrilled by messages of support received from two former Aston Villa legends – Ian Taylor and Paul McGrath.

 

two legends of the game!

 

Paul messaged – “respect lads, good luck and well done……Paul”

 

Ian messaged – “all the best guys, UTV” (which translates to Up The Villa so I’m told!)

 

Thanks for the messages of support guys.

Two & Half Thousand Pounds !!!!

As the ride is now only days away I’m pleased to announce the latest fundraising total is an astonishing £2,502.50.  We’ve still got a few people left to donate so that total might rise even more before we set off.  Once again a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who has supported us.

training – last week and a bit

With just over a week to go I’ve entered the tapering phase of my training, from last weekend onwards rides have been restricted to a more gentle distance of about 50-60 miles (although Darren doesn’t agree with it and will still be doing a couple of century rides this weekend no doubt).

I’ll also be winding down my turbo trainer sessions as well to more gentle efforts.  Not sure riding for an hour at 110+ cadence will do my dodgy hamstring any good!