Famous?!

As we get closer to departure the fundraising efforts are starting to build, plenty of emails have been crossing the ether between Sarah at the CMA and myself, she's in charge of 'shouting' about this event to all that she thinks will listen in the hope of maximising our fundraising efforts.

The first step to publicise our ride has been to put the event and a picture of Lee and me on both the CMA website and their latest newsletter, so we're now famous, looks like Andy Warhol was right all along.

It's all felt a little like we've been playing at it until now, rides like this are the things 'other' people do, strangers in the local paper that I see from time to time, not me, except now i'm one of those strangers, and in a couple of weeks i'll be packing my bags and gear ready to head north to load the 'Moggy'.


Next stop, the local papers we hope, that will be one for the scrapbook/fridge door!

The reality is sinking in

Right ok folks, just checking my diary and the reality of the bike ride is starting to sink in. I have 6 days off between now and 22nd of July when we drive in the Moggy up to Glen Coe. 5 of those days are this week so I really need to get on my bike sharpish. In the mean time I'll be taking my gym gear to jobs just in case there is an opportunity to use the hotel facilities (not likely but let's be optimistic). I'll soon be ordering some new padded cycling shorts and waterproof trousers so nearly there with kit. I'm meeting Stu and Granville on Friday to look over the Moggy (I'll be just looking, Granville will be working). Me and stu will then be sitting down to fine tune kit lists to take with us...it's nearly here :)

'Moggy' passes MOT!

There was a huge sigh of relief yesterday when a text arrived from Mom saying 'Moggy passed MOT with flying colours'.


The car still had a valid MOT until just after the bike ride was due to finish, but Granville (our mechanic) decided it prudent to get it MOT'd to make sure there were no serious problems with it before he started work on it (and so that if there were any problems, he'd know where to focus his attentions).


As the post subject already gives away, there were no problems, and in fact the 'Moggy' passed without a single advisory - thanks mainly to Phil (long-time friend of Dad's and the family's) having replaced the wiper blades and a mysterious bolt that dad had left a note on the windscreen about. So THANKS Phil, for a huge help in getting the Moggy one step closer to being mission-ready.


This is great news, as taking Dad's old Morris Minor on the trip was always an important part of the plan - it now seems like it's perfectly feasible, though we'll wait until next weekend once Granville has taken his tools to it and given it the thumbs-up before we get too carried away with the next stage of the plan: working out how on earth we're going to carry the bikes on the car.


This news is a huge step forward though, and great news in terms of our original plan. However, it's now just dawning on me that the drive from Birmingham to Glencoe in the little 'Moggy' could be an ordeal all of its own! I'm sure it'll all add to the fun of it, so long as it makes the journey - we must set out nice and early on the Sunday morning to ensure that we arrive in plenty of time to honour the effort our send-off party has made to be in Glencoe to wave us off with dinner that evening.

'Send-off' party gets bigger

Had a text a couple of days ago from Granville, our pre-ride mechanic, announcing that he'd booked a hotel in Glencoe to coincide with our start date on the 23rd July. Granville will be bringing along his wife, Marie, and their pug, Nero, for a little holiday and they'll be there to wave us off at the start of our ordeal - not to mention for dinner and a couple of beers the evening before we hope (only a couple mind).

Thanks for going to such lengths to give us some extra support Mr & Mrs Smith (and Nero).

Moral support

As the newest Mrs Smith in the family, I've decided I ought to lend some moral support to my husband and brother-in-law and will be cycling with them for the last three days of the bike ride. It hardly matches up to the amount of effort the boys will be putting in, but hopefully it will help motivate them to push for the finish (rather than them hating me for being full of energy when they are running on empty!).

I would have liked to have done more of the route with them, but with already having taken three weeks out of work for a wedding and a honeymoon, time off is in short supply (it's a good excuse to miss out on some of those tough Scottish/Yorkshire hills anyway...) :-)

The routes!!

Well, here they are in all of their glory, the ride broken down into 12 days, complete with hotels we're staying at and bike shops en route, just in case we get into real trouble.


Day 1 (23rd July) - Glencoe to Balloch
Day 2 (24th July) - Balloch to Ayr (part 1) (part 2)
Day 3 (25th July) - Ayr to Annan
Day 4 (26th July) - Annan to Middleton-in-Teesdale
Day 5 (27th July) - Middleton-in-Teesdale to Threshfield
Day 6 (28th July) - Threshfield to Holmfirth
Day 7 (29th July) - Holmfirth to Tutbury near Burton
Day 8 (30th July) - Tutbury to Shrawley near Droitwich
Day 9 (31st July) - Shrawley to Stow-on-the-wold
Day 10 (1st Aug) - Stow to Ogborne St George near Marlborough
Day 11 (2nd Aug) - Ogborne St George to Hindon near Shaftesbury
Day 12 (3rd Aug) - Hindon to Boscombe (FINISH)


So that's it...a SINCH! 

4 weeks today!!

Well, 4 weeks today at around this time we should have just finished off a substantial breakfast at the Clachaig Inn and be getting ready to head up to Glencoe to the official start. We'll meet Mom who, along with Jean & Dave Boucher, will make up our small but welcome send-off party.

The first job will be to find somewhere suitable for the first of dad's 'sprinklings' and then we'll head off south into the hills - staring the full 750 miles and 12 days in the face.

Now, at this point, I expect not to be daunted by the task ahead - it will, I'm sure, dawn on us at some point early on, but I can't decide if it will be that morning or a couple of days in (by which time I'm sure the aches getting out of bed will kill any enthusiasm we may have had for the day's ride ahead!).

In preparation for the Scottish summer weather I had something of an impromptu training ride this weekend. Although it was only a couple of miles long in the rain, it gave me an idea of how miserable this could become if for some reason the weather is anything but glorious, wind-free sunshine. Encouragingly, I wasn't beaten by this downpour, although a whole day's worth of it (or more!) may be a different prospect.

'Moggy' maintenance

At a car show with his pride and joy!

Dad's beloved 1956 split screen Morris Minor 1000, a.k.a. 'moggy', is going for an MOT this Saturday, courtesy of Phil, an old friend of Dad's and a good friend of the family.

He's got to replace a wiper blade and fit a bolt that is missing from somewhere (Dad left a note on the windscreen to remind him to do it this spring before he started using it again - it doesn't see daylight during the winter months) before dropping it off its jacks and getting it started. Having tried it last week without too much difficulty (after many months) it shouldn't be a problem, so we're hoping there is nothing much wrong with it - nothing that can't be easily fixed anyway.

We have made arrangements to meet with Granville (our self-appointed mechanic and Mini enthusiast) at Mom's on the 6th & 7th of July to make any repairs needed and service it ready for its 1500+ mile journey...GULP!

tights with science!

While doing a bit of shopping for some cycle gear recently i had a browse on the 'skins' website as my wife had bought some skins leggings for running in and thinks they're brilliant, so in the hunt for a pair of leggings myself for the colder days i'd take a look and see if skins did a cycle range of clothing, they did!

For those not familiar with skins or compression tights (I wasn't either until very recently) they are supposedly stitched in a way that increases blood flow, getting more oxygen to the muscles which helps performance and improves recovery.

Now i'm a little bit of a sceptic but love science so after diving into the many reviews across the net and seeing people like tri-athletes, runners and cyclists swear by them I couldn't help but try some (fortunately it was my birthday very soon after this discovery and my wife duly obliged), so i'm now the proud owner of both a pair of compression leggings for wearing during cycling and also some dedicated recovery tights for wearing during sleeping after exercise.

While i haven't yet tried the cycling tights i have on numerous occasions used the recovery versions and they DO WORK! The morning after a spinning class i'd normally be aching considerably but after wearing the tights, the aching is reduced to almost nothing, no idea how these work despite the science bit on the website but I'm glad I have them and they'll be the first thing to go into my bag in a few weeks.

A200 compression tights

RY 400 recovery tights

Official start of the start tomorrow

Got back from Italy yesterday after nearly 3 weeks off! Next thing in my sights is the bike ride, just over a month now until set off from Scotland on the 23rd July so plenty of training to try and cram in now, no idea how much pre-holiday/wedding fitness i've lost over the last 3 weeks but i'm sure i'll find out at 6:45 in the morning at spinning.

Lee has developed a small hernia recently so high hopes that it's not going to cause us any issues but think he's off to see the doctor very soon.

Phil (Friend of my Dad's) has been to inspect the Morris Minor today, gave the battery a bit of charge as it hasn't been turned over for many months now and would you believe it started straight away!! Very encouraging indeed, was starting to get an ominous feeling about the car but that news from Mom has helped give me confidence, Phil's taking it for an MOT this week as per Granville's (our official team mechanic) instructions, just to make sure nothing serious is going on under the paintwork, so next is to get a date to meet him in Birmingham with his tools so he can fix any problems highlighted on the MOT and give it a good service.

Lee and I also need a photo in our CMA T-shirts for publicity so that needs doing ASAP so the CMA can start whipping up a media frenzy!

Day 2 route map

So here's the elevation data and the route map for day 2 which takes us from Balloch house at the foot of Loch Lomond to the Leslie Ann Guest House in Ayr. Only a little over 50 miles here but it was a sensible stopover for accommodation. 

You'll notice there are two maps for day 2, reason being that we may not be able to cycle across the erskine bridge. The cycling site we used to map this out wouldn't allow us to cross the bridge so we had to break the route into two parts, if when we roll up to the bridge we're not able to cross it on two wheels we'll have to strap both bikes to the car and drive this small section as the next option involves adding a lot more unnecessary miles to cross the water.

Day 1 route map

Well here's the first of 12!

We start at Glencoe on the 23rd of July for day one of the ride after a night at the Clachaig inn and 68.5 miles later will arrive at the bottom of Loch Lomond for a night at Balloch House on the 24th.

Here's the chart depicting the climbs involved on day 1:

and we'll have the map on Google maps soon for those that are interested but here's a screenshot for now.

on-line presence sorted

Now that the route is planned and most of the accommodation is booked we've been concentrating our efforts on setting up some on-line pages so that people can donate on-line, check our training progress, nose at photos or our route - activity on these will be busier the closer we get, but spread the word!!

• Fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/cmabikeride
• Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/stuartandleesbikeride
• Blog: You're on it!!

Another training ride....but flatter!

Lee made a trip down to Oxfordshire last weekend with his bike on board, he arrived late Saturday morning so we immediately changed into suitable amounts of lycra and headed off into the Oxfordshire countryside.

We'd mapped out a 26 mile loop from home which we started with gusto, the weather was quite chilly but dry thankfully, the only way to keep warm though was with plenty of effort on the pedals.

16 miles and over half way in, we decided upon a refreshment break in Cumnor at the Bear and Ragged Staff. One hastily despatched pint later (wine for Helen) and we were off again to finish off the last 10 miles, feeling very cold after stopping and pedalling like we'd stolen the bikes in order to warm up. We headed down a 5 or so mile gradual decline towards Sunningwell and then home only to arrive in Radley - a mile away from our intended finish - feeling like we had plenty in the tank so added a trip into town to the end of the route. Once in town we had only a couple of miles back to a warm shower and the comfort of baggy clothing so decided on another pint or two at the Anchor to celebrate having almost finished another suitably long ride.

Upon arriving home the cycle computer registered over 29 miles! A training ride record! So onwards and upwards from here, though we're conscious that 30 miles in Oxfordshire will be somewhat different to 30 miles in the Scottish Highlands or Yorkshire Dales. The only comfort I can find in that fact is that if it's hilly, I'll be standing on my pedals more, thus giving my reliably sore rear a break from the saddle.

A new saddle is my next purchase!

Start date set

We've finally pinned the tail on the donkey. The start date for the ride will be the 23rd of July. We'll travel up to Glencoe on the 22nd and head south the next morning, we're planning on the trip which currently stands at 730 miles, taking us twelve days, arriving at the finish line in boscombe on the 3rd of August. I'm sure a sore head will be on the cards for the drive home the following morning. Next challenge is to book the accommodation for the entire route.

First joint training ride

We finally managed to find a slot in both our diaries to get together for a bit of bike ride today, we had a family party to attend Saturday night so stuart and Helen took their bikes to Birmingham so that the three of us could go out and get a few miles under our belt. So with map in hand we set off from Mom's house and headed out into wast hills, from there to hockley Heath and back to Mom 's again via earlswood, making a total of 26 miles. Generally. Went well, highlighted a few things that need attention on Lee's new bike so very useful on that front and introduced Lee to his first lengthy bike ride for more than 15 years.

Another weekend without a ride

My bike is still out of action after a disastrous ride two weekends ago, four miles in we took a byway from Steventon to Appleford along the back of the power station, all the heavy plant machinery from the gravel pits had destroyed the path and in a poor effort to repair the damage had appeared to throw down a combination of sand and gravel, all this did was make the mud really sticky, so we soon ended up off the bikes and pushing, the clods of earth that had built up in the brakes, gear mechs and around the frame and forks meant that the wheels weren't turning. Once we we're clear with the help of sticks, cleared the worst of the muck and released the brake cables on my bike, we managed to limp the seven miles home.  needles to say, I spent to rest of the day and a chunk of Sunday dismantling Helen's bike, washing it and putting it back together, didn't quite get the job finished so it was back to the car for the commute to work. Due to dark winter evenings no work happened on the bikes until the following weekend where another Saturday was spent on bike maintenance, Helen's back in working order except for a small gear alignment issue but usable for to work commute so stripped mine down, washed it and realised I'd need new brake blocks and chain link pins for the shimano chain. Almost a week on and the bike's still in bits and my order from wiggle has gone missing so looks like this weekend will be the third in row without a ride, very very frustrating! Glad I'm now spinning twice a week to keep me ticking over.

CMA contact.

After a week of Celia trying to contact me with no avail (been working in a signaless village in north Oxfordshire) we finally got to talk on Tuesday, chatted fairly briefly but discussed dates and online fundraising options. Agreed to let her know a more detailed plan of the ride once we've nailed it down a little tighter in the hope that they'll see some opportunities in the plan for publicising it. Info pack in the post on it's way from her to me, see what useful bits are in there next week. After mentioning our difficulties on trying to secure sponsorship from both a bike manufacturer and a bike shop, she confirmed my suspicions in not so many words that we shouldn't count on much if any help in the way of equipment, no big blow to plans as we both have bikes now and Ian steadily building up a comprehensive tool kit.

Back on two wheels after 20 years!

Lee finally picked up his shiny new bike Yesterday,he went for a hybrid in the end after some deliberation, I think it's probably the wisest solution all things considered. He managed to get out on it today despite very stiff winds so now has his first few miles on two wheels under his belt for about twenty years! I remember getting back on a bike after a long time without owning one only a few years back,I still remember the anxiety so I'm sure he's very happy to have that first ride behind him. He tested the imapmyride app at the same time as we're considering using it to log the big bike ride, early results seem encouraging so we'll both continue using it over the coming months to fully get to grips with it. First bike ride together is planned for the end of February in Birmingham.

Saddle worries

Got out on the bike between Christmas and new year, only managed 26 miles due to lack of light, didn't start until well after lunch. Good route, quite hilly so a good workout nonetheless. However! Quite a bit of saddle soreness, bit of a worry as we're hoping to do about twice the mileage a day on the big bike ride and day after day. After some research it seems that I may need a narrower saddle than the one supplied with my bike, it's not a problem you can throw money at to fix though apparently, some saddles work for some and not for others, hoping I don't have to buy and try too many before I get one that I'm happy to commit to...gulp!