Hello to everyone who has been reading these blogs as I’ve been going through my training. Apologies for not posting anything up here in the past few days; we’ve all been pretty busy making sure everything is ready for the off on Saturday morning. What started as a wild idea is now just two days away from starting – that’s not very long at all!
During this final week I have dramatically reduced the level of cycling that I’ve been doing. I have tried to limit myself to just 90 minutes per day, although getting off the bike after such a short period of time has been quite a challenge. I have been joined by support crew members, Tony Solon and Will Collins for many of these rides and what with punctures, loose seat posts and lop-sided handlebars, we’ve not been riding at any great intensity. One of the rides through the Cotswolds even saw me walking door-to-door in search of an allen key for Tony to fine tune his vintage fixie. Fortunately we were able to flag down a passing mountain biker who kindly sorted us out, and we were soon on our way again. That has pretty much been the theme for the rest week so far – entertaining events on these easy, slow rides. I am not certain they are accidental – we don’t usually get so many issues on a ride!
I have spent a lot of time on the massage table with the team from Reviva Fitness who have been working on my ‘rested’ legs and back in preparation for their six day undertaking. I am fairly certain that I will want to be back on that table pretty soon at the end of those six days.
All the staff at the Bicycle Chain have been very busy with my endless phone calls and visits. All the bikes which I am planning to take with me on this attempt have now been through their final checks and are ready for the undertaking. I have been armed with numerous spares and replacement parts, enough to start my own bike shop, but most of these are coming on the journey ’just in case’. I think Will, the designated bike mechanic, is hoping for a pretty quiet trip - what with the number of bikes which will be loaded into the van, I expect his workload might be fairly light.
As is the case with lots of big projects, there are many aspects which fall into place at the last minute and make points of previous concern something to look back and laugh at. Well thanks to the Vestey Foods Group, all of the support crew are now going to be well fed with quite a selection of food on the travelling menu. The meals on offer include spaghetti bolognese, steak and vegetables, chicken chili & pilau rice and beef stroganoff amongst many other options. I am fairly certain that such a menu wont be passed out the van windows to me, but I will be grateful for my bland, repetitive meals, and be satisfied with just the reports of how the steak and spaghetti bolognese tasted.
Plenty of people have been asking how I’m feeling about the ride being so close. I think I have given fairly consistent answers, but it is something which changes throughout the day! Handling the nerves is something which is being made so much easier with the help of this fantastic support crew. All the people involved are working hard on organising everything, from the bikes to the baking, from the motorhome to the music, and the packing to the poking fun at exactly what I’ve let myself in for (Will Collins). I think apprehensive is the right word to describe how I feel right now, but I think that is about right… It is wonderful to receive so many messages of support and encouragement, and it would be wonderful to hear from as many people as possible while I am out on the bike over the course of the six days. I can’t promise the most agile of conversations after the first few days, but it would be wonderful for people to talk at me.
By the time Saturday morning arrives, the support crew will be responsible for updating this section of the website with reports of how the ride is going. It will also be possible for those who are interested in following the route, to watch an updated map every ten minutes, detailing everything about the ride to that point.
I will make sure I post something on here a few more times before we set out on Saturday morning – with a few photos of the travelling circus as it gets loaded and shipped down to the bottom of England.
One final thank you to all those people who have kindly been donating through this website. It means a great deal to everyone involved in this attempt, so please spread the word and let as many people as possible know what is going on.
Thank you
Ben
Was hoping to catch you on our way home to Clayhidon, but you were too fast!! (and we were on the Exe Valley route!). Well done, Ben, on amazing progress so far. Keep up the good work! Love, M & M x
Good luck Ben! Thinking of you.
All the best! Hopefully will see you on saturday along the A38