The Christmas Cracker Draws Near

Last year I was persuaded to do the Epic Events Cumbria Christmas Cracker Cycle Sportive – 60-odd miles of country lanes in South Lakeland in the middle of December. The weather was bitterly cold (and boy do I feel the cold) – so bad in fact that the first section over Red Bank at Grasmere was cancelled due to ice and the ride re-routed through Ambleside. Having arrived at the start all warm and toasty, the hour’s delay left me frozen to the bone and it wasn’t until I’d been going ten miles that I began to feel my fingers again. I don’t think I felt my toes all day. So this year I’m doing it again (I’m suffering from a severe lack of brain cells – or was it the promise of free Christmas Pudding at the finish?) It’s on Sunday December 5th and starts at Grasmere Village Hall, and joining me from Clitheroe will be Richard Dugdale, Mick Bryan, Steve Hollingsworth and Alan Taylor. Of the 500+ entrants, only 25 will be older than me, although two of those will be Richard and Steve! Then we’ll see if the recent gym training has done any good… Somehow I doubt it – not that Steve at Lee Carter has been doing anything wrong, but, as the saying goes, you can’t make silk purse of a sow’s ear. My body seems to be built for long, slow plods and doesn’t appear to want to change! Meanwhile I’ll be putting some information about Cancer Research UK on the Blog soon, and I had a flutter of excitement last week when Chloe from Motorhomes and Motor Caravans Magazine emailed me sounding very positive about the Round Britain Ride and optimistic that we might find a motor home somewhere. I’m now waiting for news from her Editor, so keep your fingers crossed!

Getting down to work

Now I’m back home for the rest of the year and need to make some real progress in several areas. Firstly, to flesh out more details of the route. This hasn’t been helped by the fact that I seem to have lost the section of route from Newport, South Wales, back to the finish! That’s the problem with using a PC and a laptop at the same time – I must have overwritten the newer file with an older one. Never mind, that won’t take long to rectify. Then there’s publicity. So far I haven’t made progress with BBC's Inside Out or the One Show, but I’ll keep trying. I might have more success if I concentrate on the regional BBC News and Radio programmes. I’ve definitely decided that I will be raising funds for Cancer Research UK and yesterday I met their Area Volunteer Manager supporting local fundraising, Sarah McPhee. She couldn’t be more enthusiastic, which is brilliant. She will be my main link with CRUK and hopefully between us we should be able to maximise the amount raised by the bike ride. She couldn’t promise to find a motorhome but I’ll keep working on that!! Finally I need to get myself fitter. Vicky Lee from Clitheroe’s Lee Carter Health Studio kindly promised that Steve Backhouse will knock me into shape. I met him this morning so that he could put me through my paces and realise what a big job he has!! Suitably inspired I went out and did a fast 26 miles in this afternoon’s fantastic weather. Tomorrow morning (weather forecast dire) will see me in the gym trying to remember all the squats, lunges and what-have-you that Steve (not realising the short-term memory loss of a 58-year old brain) tried to show me this morning. There's going to be some blood sweat and tears...

An Alpine Break

I had a great weekend break in Switzerland last month courtesy of James & Jill Alpe (they really are called Alpe!). Day one was gorgeous, with blue skies above and the white tops of clouds below: a tough climb up to the Greppon Blanc at 2,700m followed by a great ridge walk. Day two was in snow and included the phenomenal Ancien Bisse de Cherve, a narrow path clinging to the mountainside with some pretty long drops off, and day three was a pleasant valley walk. Now I’m back home for the rest of the year... - see the next article!

Autumn and Winter Training

When autumn arrives and the weather gets cold and wet, it's hard to find any motivation to go out on the bike. This year will have to be different - I need to keep up my fitness so that I'm not struggling to regain it come spring time.

Val bought me some good wet weather gear for my birthday last month, but that doesn't get over the problem of cold hands and feet. Big gloves are usually enough for the hands providing I don't stop for long, but my feet - aagghh! Even with Sealskins socks, then cycle shoes, then Neoprene overshoes, and an old pair of hiking socks over the top of that lot, making me look like the Abonimable Snowman on two wheels, they are still like two blocks of ice after an hour. If anyone knows the secret of warm feet, please post a comment!

Trying to keep warm on last year's freezing 'Christmas Cracker', with Richard Dugdale

I've covered over 2,000 miles on the bike so far this year, but no matter how much I do, my leg muscles don't seem to want to get any bigger. Everyone else seems to go up hills faster than me. Do muscles refuse to increase in size at age 58 or do I need to do some strength training? Again, if you know the answer, post a comment.

I'm off to Switzerland on Thursday for two days' walking. That's three trips away in five weeks, so I'll have some serious grovelling to do when I get back, before I start some serious work looking for sponsors - food, clothing, cycle spares, accommodation, and anything else I can think of.

Hang on lads, I've got a great idea...

A few weeks ago I was enjoying a relaxing evening at home, when a thought popped into my head. ‘Liverpool to Goole 2001, Land’s End to John o’Groats 2003, Rotterdam to Lemvig 2005, British Cycle Sportive 2007, All 214 Wainwrights 2009…’ Every other year. And 2011 will be here before you know it, so am I going to break the pattern? Suppose not. On each occasion I’ve raised money for various charities – The Christie Hospital (£9,000 in total), Multiple Sclerosis (£5,000), Rosemere Cancer Foundation (over £10,000). Time to raise some more, probably for Cancer again. I got out a few books and maps. El Camino de Santiago de Compostela? Gibraltar to John o’Groats by bike? (that still has a certain appeal). Round the coast of Great Britain? How far is that then? I’d read Josie Dew’s account of cycling round GB, but she cut out Scotland (nearly half of the whole thing!), carried about 50 kilos of luggage, and camped. So whilst she’s pretty exceptional, it’s not my style - I’d prefer to travel light, in a bit more comfort (of which more later) and do the whole thing – England, Scotland, Wales. There’s scope for confusion here: to be pedantic (heaven forbid) Great Britain is the main island of the archipelago that is the British Isles. There are hundreds, thousands, of smaller islands, from the Isle of Wight and Anglesey down to tiny specks, but they can wait for another time. Maps out again. A few evenings looking at possibilities. Keep as close to the coast as one reasonably can and use ferries across estuaries where they exist – Felixstowe, Tamar, Dart, etc. A rough estimate puts the distance at just over 4,000 miles. At 80 miles a day that’s 50 days, plus rest days (at least two per week please) plus other delays, so at a best estimate it will take around 10 weeks. Booking accommodation is impractical and expensive. For LEJoG we had the use of a motorhome, on loan from a friend of a friend who was undergoing cancer treatment (I was raising money for The Christie). It would be nice to use a motorhome again. The bigger the ride the more money one would hope to raise. Publicity required. When I walked all 214 Wainwrights I got very little at the time, even though I was close to breaking records. This time, especially as the ride covers the whole country, I must make sure we get better coverage. I’ve contacted the BBC but progress is naturally slow. Not sure if a long ride fits well with national newspapers. I still have to decide who to raise money for. If I can get donations on a national basis then it seems right that the recipient should be a national organisation rather than a local one. Cancer Research UK and McMillan Nurses spring to mind but their may be others. I need to look into this some more. That’s enough thinking. I’m keeping my diary free for May – July next year: now to get back to the maps and update the blog again when I have more news. In the meantime if anyone knows where there might be a motorhome availabe for 10 – 12 weeks next Spring / Summer, please let me know!