Friday, 3 July 2009
Day 7 Chorley to Carlisle 98 miles (557 so far)
Started off around half eight as planned, our initial route taking us through Preston in the rush hour - nice. Today’s route more or less followed the A6 all the way. We went through the 500 mile mark just before Kendall where we stopped to eat some Kendall Mint Cake, which we brought from home, to give us the energy to climb Shap – at 1400 feet the highest and probably the hardest climb of the trip. It drizzled from the second tea stop around 11 am until just after our last one around 4:30 pm. This made the day hard work and meant that we abandoned our plans for a pub lunch so that we kept moving in order to stay warm. Crossed from Lancashire into Cumbria, our last county in England. We finished the day around 6 pm and it only took Kieron three hours to clean his bike.
Stewart’s Garmin measures lots of different statistics including the calorie count. So far we have each burned 34,800 calories in seven days of riding. Quite incredible when you think that none of us have lost any weight!
The mishaps today were Adam almost cycling into a hedge whilst trying to look behind, David who had a puncture less than a mile from the hotel and Mike for stopping on a grass verge at a junction again instead of the layby 200 yards beforehand. The winner of the day, yet again, is Ian for falling off his bike, whilst stationary at 542 miles.
We have forgotten to mention that Stewart and Vince have jointly sponsored Brian £100 to shave off his beard on the last night. Having had a beard for over 50 years neither he nor his wife are keen to lose it but until the offer of sponsorship is bettered the bet stands.
Stewart has a dilemma that he needs some help with. He has been invited to Ascot for the day on the 11th July, the day after we get back. This was brought up by Ian in front of Stewart’s wife on the day we left. She is obviously not keen on him disappearing again so soon after getting back and she has just left it with Stewart to do the right thing. The difficulty is that Stewart is not sure what the right thing is so he needs your help. Post a comment on our blog to advise Stewart what you think he should do. The majority wins…..
Having reached the half way stage and with six days cycling left we thought it appropriate to get a comment from some of the team members.
Bloody Hell, only half way, David.
Without doubt the hardest physical and mental challenge that I have ever undertaken. However, I have nine fantastic guys with me, including my son, and the support, help and humour that they provide is invaluable. Vince.
I wish Ian would give us back the spanner. Stewart.
Only 443 miles before I throw my bike into the sea. Fantastic support from the chuckle brothers, Brian, Michael and Vic. Riding with a great set of blokes to achieve our aim of raising £10k for MacMillan. Please sponsor us if you have not already. Ian.
This trip should have been called 1000 Piles for MacMillan. Adam.
The Incredible Seven get fitter every day. This is probably only due to the care and attention they are receiving from the three stooges. Vic.
As a support driver I have enjoyed the first seven days along with the friendship of the team and am very much looking forward to the remainder of the trip. Michael.
Although I am only half way up the Country I am more than half way to getting a baboon’s arse. Andrew.
I am so pleased that I can spend three hours cleaning my bike every night without any complaints from my wife. Kieron.
I am glad that Murray lost today as we will not have any Scots gloating at us now! Stewart you should stand up for yourself and go to Ascot. Brian.
Carry on sending us texts and messages of support, they make a real difference. We are getting very close to our target so if you have not yet been able to sponsor us then now is the time. www.justgiving.com/1000milesformacmillan
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Day 6 Stone to Chorley 80 miles (459 so far)
Very good day’s riding. We seemed to have sorted ourselves out in terms of a warm up then how to stick together better to get better speed and to help each other. A very hot day but not so hilly so it seemed cooler with the breeze. We passed into Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
David is updating his twitter – FatDaveonaBike so check it out on twitter.com. David managed to miss the two County signs today because he was so far ahead of the rest of us.
The mishap mile today involved Vince who lost a screw on one of his cleats, Vic and Brian who missed our last water stop and Mike who decided that our lunch stop should be taken on a grass verge on a blind bend on the wrong side of the road. Kieron also broke his mudguard shortly before lunch and has had to visit the local bike shop to sort his gears out. The winner is Vince at 418 miles where Adam swapped shoes with his Dad who found them more comfortable than his own and did not want to give them back.
£25 was raised in an auction of lost items at this evening’s tour meeting.
Ian has retained the spanner, the wobbly wig and his WKD wig. Ian almost caused a pile up due to unscheduled gear changes on an incline causing almost all of us to nearly fall off. Ian feels that he world is against him at the moment so we will try to keep that feeling up as long as possible!
Andrew and Michael are both very relaxed and have slipped into tour mode. Kieron has been very quiet all day having returned to the tour after his exploits at home although he did do a good job getting the washing done although Brian complained that his underpants had not been ironed properly.
Stewart bought a new map bag (£40) for his bike which works as we only went wrong twice, a much better record than the Garmin at £400.
Generally spirits are high and we are looking forward to hitting the half way stage tomorrow. As long as we can get a connection we will update the blog with a brief review from each team member tomorrow.
Our thanks to all the staff at the Brook House Hotel for making us feel very welcome and also doing some of our laundry. Thanks also to the other guests who have donated generously to our fund.
Day 6 Stone to Chorley 80 miles (459 so far)
Very good day’s riding. We seemed to have sorted ourselves out in terms of a warm up then how to stick together better to get better speed and to help each other. A very hot day but not so hilly so it seemed cooler with the breeze. We passed into Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
David is updating his twitter – FatDaveonaBike so check it out on twitter.com. David managed to miss the two County signs today because he was so far ahead of the rest of us.
The mishap mile today involved Vince who lost a screw on one of his cleats, Vic and Brian who missed our last water stop and Mike who decided that our lunch stop should be taken on a grass verge on a blind bend on the wrong side of the road. Kieron also broke his mudguard shortly before lunch and has had to visit the local bike shop to sort his gears out. The winner is Vince at 418 miles where Adam swapped shoes with his Dad who found them more comfortable than his own and did not want to give them back.
£25 was raised in an auction of lost items at this evening’s tour meeting.
Ian has retained the spanner, the wobbly wig and his WKD wig. Ian almost caused a pile up due to unscheduled gear changes on an incline causing almost all of us to nearly fall off. Ian feels that he world is against him at the moment so we will try to keep that feeling up as long as possible!
Andrew and Michael are both very relaxed and have slipped into tour mode. Kieron has been very quiet all day having returned to the tour after his exploits at home although he did do a good job getting the washing done although Brian complained that his underpants had not been ironed properly.
Stewart bought a new map bag (£40) for his bike which works as we only went wrong twice, a much better record than the Garmin at £400.
Generally spirits are high and we are looking forward to hitting the half way stage tomorrow. As long as we can get a connection we will update the blog with a brief review from each team member tomorrow.
Our thanks to all the staff at the Brook House Hotel for making us feel very welcome and also doing some of our laundry. Thanks also to the other guests who have donated generously to our fund.
David is updating his twitter – FatDaveonaBike so check it out on twitter.com. David managed to miss the two County signs today because he was so far ahead of the rest of us.
The mishap mile today involved Vince who lost a screw on one of his cleats, Vic and Brian who missed our last water stop and Mike who decided that our lunch stop should be taken on a grass verge on a blind bend on the wrong side of the road. Kieron also broke his mudguard shortly before lunch and has had to visit the local bike shop to sort his gears out. The winner is Vince at 418 miles where Adam swapped shoes with his Dad who found them more comfortable than his own and did not want to give them back.
£25 was raised in an auction of lost items at this evening’s tour meeting.
Ian has retained the spanner, the wobbly wig and his WKD wig. Ian almost caused a pile up due to unscheduled gear changes on an incline causing almost all of us to nearly fall off. Ian feels that he world is against him at the moment so we will try to keep that feeling up as long as possible!
Andrew and Michael are both very relaxed and have slipped into tour mode. Kieron has been very quiet all day having returned to the tour after his exploits at home although he did do a good job getting the washing done although Brian complained that his underpants had not been ironed properly.
Stewart bought a new map bag (£40) for his bike which works as we only went wrong twice, a much better record than the Garmin at £400.
Generally spirits are high and we are looking forward to hitting the half way stage tomorrow. As long as we can get a connection we will update the blog with a brief review from each team member tomorrow.
Our thanks to all the staff at the Brook House Hotel for making us feel very welcome and also doing some of our laundry. Thanks also to the other guests who have donated generously to our fund.
Day 5 Worcester to Stone 64 miles (379 so far)
We all felt a little tired after yesterday’s exploits. By the time we had breakfast and drove to Worcester for the start we did not get going until 10:30. A very hot day making it hard work for us all. We crossed into Shropshire and Stafforshire following the Severn River Valley to start with. We arrived at Stone later than planned due to the terrain and the amount of times we needed to stop for drinks in the heat.
A pleasant evening was had at a local Indian Restaurant with three of Locky’s daughters. His daughter Sarah announced that she was getting engaged to Paddy, Ian responded by ordering another beer.
The Spanner passed from Vic to Locky for him taking the wrong route after he shot off in front in his desperate rush to get home to see his Mum. Ian was also awarded a WKD Wobble hat after moaning all day about the slow pace. He topped it off by getting the wobble wig – the first full house of the trip so far. Kieron came close to the spanner for deserting the ride early (to spend the night at home with his wife) although sentence is suspended as he took all our washing!
The mishap mile today was a bumble bee stinging Ian (it really was his day yesterday) on the forehead at 324 miles. Ian is fine but the bee has died of alcohol poisoning.
Some pictures will be uploaded shortly.
We are grateful to all those following our progress and their messages of support. Please keep all the texts and voice mail messages coming - it really does help us to keep going.
If you have donated already then thank you, we are edging ever nearer our target of £10k. If you have not had time to yet then visit our website www.justgiving.com/1000milesformacmillan
Day 4 Brean Sands to Worcester 100 miles (305 so far)
A very long day! 76 miles to our overnight stop at Hartpury near Gloucester. Having arrived around four we decided to push on for another 24 miles to hit the target of having at least one day where we did 100 miles. Fairly flat today in comparison to the West Country and not too hot. We crossed into three counties – Avon, Gloucester and Worcester.
Although a long day we all felt euphoric when we reached the 100 mile mark. It did help that there was a pub at the finish line!
Our Support Team continue to do us proud providing sustenance on demand.
The mishap was at 283 miles when the cyclists took a different route to that planned and failed to meet up with the Support Team. A frank discussion over whose fault it was took place at the pub at the finish line resulting in Brian and David both being awarded a WKD Wobble Hat – theirs for the remainder of the tour.
The Spanner has passed from David to Vic for numerous reasons!
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Day 3 Barnstaple to Brean Sands - 78 miles
Good day’s cycling. Quite hot and quite hilly to start with but flattened out as we got near to Taunton. We took the coward’s way out and skirted around Exmoor rather than go over it. Adam says that he thinks he had Exmoor when he was little and some cream cleared it up. We crossed from Devon into Somerset. David bonked after 15 miles – the result of going too fast too soon. Some energy drinks and food soon sorted him out. We managed to pretty much stick together and arrived at Brean Sands around half five.
We stayed at the Old Rectory Motel and ate at the Beachcomer pub just up the road. Our thanks go to the staff who allowed us to walk around with our collecting tins and the customers were very generous.. Thanks also to the staff at the Old Rectory for making us feel very welcome.
The spanner has passed from Vince to David (for his aforementioned bonk). The wobble wig continues to change hands frequently. The staff at the pub gave us some Magners and WKD hats so we now have a WKD wobble hat awarded to team members for the worst wobble of the day. The first award went to Stewart whose bike had fallen in the stinging nettles at one of our stops and he kept dropping his phone as he tried to retrieve it. We all left him alone for some time!
The mishap for today involved Andrew who had a broken spoke as we started - 127 miles. The winner will be announced shortly. No other serious mishaps to report.
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