9 WEEKS TO THE OFF

the penny drops,Julie said the other night "Ur actually going to do this arnt you"
yes was my reply, its always been my intention to complete.then this morning dad phoned to say he had been telling Aldo the barber about my intentions and to drop a poster and sponsor form in.so of i went to see Aldo,hair cut while there,back down the hill to the cafe where Julie works and she didn't even notice id had it cut.every where i go now I'm gathering sponsors and i am really gratefully for the interest and signatures

world of super heroes

my cover is blown,

Steve from world of super heroes.com,sent a message with one of my customers, stating that if i was to wear a super heroes emblem on my shirt and get photos along the way he would sponsor my event.

so i jumped in the car and went to visit,sat in his office you are surrounded with super heroes,pics and models.

his offer of a generous sponser was to include getting my cycling shirts printed with my st Luke's details and his logos.all i have to do is get photos along the way,so it will be a double take at john o'roats as iv already promised a photo with my scotish whisky society cycling shirt.

on returning with the shirts he has also informed me that he has been in touch with the local paper and is intending to be in touch with local TV,so much for keeping it low profile,told you things were taking off

65 DAYS TO THE OFF

days are flying bye,things seam to be coming together,from people wanting to sponsor and the general interest in my plans,people just don't realise that one of the challenges i have set myself is to get from top to bottom unsupported,if things go wrong ill have to deal with it.but I'm hoping that iv planned for most miss apes only time will tell,
apart from a few securing straps i now have all my equipment,it will all fit on the trike without the need of the trailer so that's less weight to carry.
shirts i have a shirt to start and finish in.was looking yesterday at getting two or three printed cycling shirts as an advert to let people know what i will be doing,decathlon can produce a reasonable shirt printed to my design in the day so may go get a quote over the weekend as they will not quote over phone as they normally only print football shirts

good challenge 150 mile

with my mate Mr Blanchard been at his bungalow in between mablethorpe and louth a weekend jaunt seamed like a good idea.

Saturday morning 9am packed the panniers and in the drizzle set of for a testing 75 mile ride via dinnington,ranskill,gainsbrough,market raisen,louth and arriving at great carlton at 7pm,a welcome bath and out for dinner,the kings head rabbit stew (cream sauce)and a kind donation of £20 from the land lady plus a couple o quid from an old lady in the bar,every little helps,slept like a rock

Sunday morning breakfast done on the road for return trip,legs very tender would they last all the way home?tea and date cake at ludford cafe and feeling a little better,push on to market raisen legs stiffening but the wind prevailing did help up to caedby corner were i treat of a chip butty was in order.from here it was still 45 miles home and legs wanted to stay put,push on from what was to be my last stop.very little open at this time of year Sunday afternoons,legs just kept going plod plod plod.surprisingly just kept pushing the pedals thighs rock hard now and feet like ice,bawtry,tickhill,maltby home ground bawtry road was a welcome down hill tinsley and attercliff back to the yard 150 mile done .time for a nice hot bath dinner and bed.what a good result.

Monday morning i certainly do not feel any worse than i did Sunday morning

It must be 30 years since Ive done 70 plus miles back to back and that makes me feel brilliant and it may shut up the doubters out there jogle ready

10 weeks tommorow (71 days)

Counting down.since coming up with the idea 2yrs ago, time has flown bye.Now I'm getting daily reminders that its fast approaching,

I do keep tweaking my plans, thanks Pete for the advise of try and keep my route as flat as possible with being on a recumbent,

Although going from one end to the other there is bound to be a few inclines and despite what people think north to south ain't down hill,in fact in relation to the earth axis its pulling up hill away as you head toward the equator(rambling)

Dave(tosh) came round yesterday to remind me he would sponsor my overnight camping fees,so thank you to his company MAN METALS,SHEFFIELD

David dean has agreed to drive my van to John o'groats to drop me off then plan is for him to meet me at my first camp site bettyhill on Saturday night before him and Ann his wife returns to Sheffield,i had planned on getting dad to drop me off but sue my sister says it would be too much for him.

just for fun

more or less out on bike every night now and sat/sun this week,
legs getting stronger and stronger so just for the hell of it i went over Jenkin road from Brightside end,
all the way without stopping 315 ft of climbing 1 in 4 at the steepest part and about half mile long,and still had room for more,
stopped at the top to look at the new monuments to commemorate the Sheffield blitz and days gone bye, later end of the 19th century poems nice sculptures but bad positioning, as you are just over the brow of the hill when stopping to read them.and no mention of the iron age fort that once stood on top of Wincobank hill well disappointed it does not get a mention its as though Sheffield ignores this once prominent hill fort.

NIGHT RIDER OR UFO

fishing meeting last night so,of up to the acorn at burncross,nice leisurly ride up whiteley lane.when you think your the only daft bugger on an unlit country lane in the pitch black its comforting to see a bright light coming up behind as slow as you, ufo was my first thought,cant be some one on a bike at this time of night, the light he ommitted was imense made my led light look like a candle in a jar.as he overtook me,I stepped up my pace it was so nice to have the road iluminated ,want one will have to talk to my financier julie,top of the hill i was cast back into darkness as my leading light turned left and i turn right.

at the acorn a welcome drink and a sponser donation from judith thankyou very much.now that it getting down to weeks rather than months away its amazing how many people are actualy taking intrest or is it just my excitment showing through when they talk to me about it

cough cough cough

well that's another course of antibiotics done,i seem to be fine till i start riding the its cough cough cough.it don't seam so bother me its just annoying for any one round me,if i keep of the milk it does help keep the mucus production down.

new shoes are bedding in,wore them yesterday and they seam to be loosening up,mind i did smother them in dubbin sat night,might try dubbin on the saddle tried everything else and in the absence of a volunteer to break the saddle in desperate measures required

panniers back from being altered will have to try pack all luggage in trying to prevent taking trailer if poss save on weight,going to purchase a bar bag for the right hand side plus extra bottle carriers for tool buddy etc.

leather ouch

new saddle ouch

new shoes ouch

after Sundays ride went out on recumbent last night,the seat was lovely to sit on so just to prove i am a masochist i decide to put new shoes on(very nice shoes bought by julie and gemma for Christmas)let hope they break in quicker than the saddle

twas a bit drafty

Saturday saw me running round cycle shops looking for brooks prof hide,using road bike sunday and new saddle bought last year ain't no sofa,desperate measures,(it didn't help)

Sunday morning up with the lark and of to the meet at millhouses cafe,cheated thought took van as far as millhouses,after drinks of tea we all mounted and agreed to regroup at the top ,owler bar roundabout.we all set of at a nice steady pace climbing through totley but as we moved into open country,boy did it get hard legs were burning and the wind was in our face,nearing the top it got stronger and stronger,resulting in a couple of stumbles as the wind blew two riders from there saddles,lucky to get their feet down quick,at the top 4 of our party decided it was to dangerous to carry on and return down the hill,four of us battled on having to pedal down hill to baslow is wrong,cafe on the green was a welcome cuppa and a decision to re route as we had lost our leader(one of the returnees)it was a joint decision to head for grindleford and on to hathersage ,were we had another cafe stop.after refueling i decided to head up the surprise towards my van,the others carried on round to return vie moscar,
surprise certainly expecting a tail wind home it didn't materialise instead i found myself battling wind yet again until fox house were by i was blown all the way back to millhouses

but even though twas a bit drafty i still enjoyed my day out.quite proud of the fact i battle on rather than surrendering to the wind

pale rider

does this world revolve around me?

i remember headmaster edwards from hinde house in a morning assembly saying"you can only prove that you are real and every body else could be a figment of your imagination"

you think about something it happens!

i read somewhere that pale rider was fast becoming someones favorate drink(never heard of it before),then today at work we got into a conversation about real ale pubs and low and behold we are talking about pale rider!
is it in my head or is it real?

at the begining of 2011 didnt feel like celabrating the new year,so am i just having a crap year because thats what im imagining,
so if i think of happy joyful things will it get better.do i control my destoney as edwards hinted.

i dream of winning the lotto, but only on weeks when i dont buy a ticket. is this were im going wrong,should i be planning my dreams

drival am i getting good at it,who knows, who cares,i think the only people who read my drival are the people who know and care for me anyway,or should i have carers and a sleeveless jacket,dreams do keep coming back lately,perhaps i should try not dreaming

so thanks for looking one day it may actualy get intresting.

bye for now all my imaginary followers

a ctc welcome for a slow climber

after best part of 25 years yesterday i thought it time to try a proper club ride,over the past 18 months i have rode with other cyclists but not with a club,so i used to ride with the sheffield da ctc,so found out they were meeting meadow head

so 9.30 on time to be welcomed with the gift of thier latest magazine,thankyou.

a familiar face in pat wilson,and the rest of the crowd welcomed me with coments that they had never had a recumbent trike ride with them before and over the day i found out why,recumbent and road bikes dont mix with hills ,recumbent was far too slow up hill,but credit due they waited (regulaly)for me to catch up at the top.

ctc still means cafe to cafe glad to see, with 3 cafe stops things havent altered that much,realy enjoyed myself,but as the afternoon wore on i decided to let the bunch go ahead and i opted for the main roads home.(thanks for the concerns over my welfare but i honestley felt fine just needed to let you lads and lasses get on rather than waiting for me on every hill)

up the a61 may sound a bad choice of roads but on the trike i do find traffic does not bother me even climbing dronfield by pass i was not alarmed,arriving at the top to catch a glance of two of the riders on a side track that i had left earlier so im glad i let them get off without me.i arrived back at meadow head just before dark,fine result.although riding in the dark doesnt bother me as most of my cycling is done after work in the dark.

once again if anyone from the sheffield ctc is reading thanks for the day out.