We're off

Friday 31st July - 1 day to go

That’s it… We’re all packed and apparently ready to go. Six rather full panniers and 940 miles to go, plus the small matter of driving to the start tomorrow.

We are having a race, Top Gear style, starting from St Albans at 7am. Amanda and Hannah are going by train and Adam and I are going by car, together with Amanda’s parents (Barry and Pauline). If we continue the Clarkson-like analogy further, the car will break down a couple of times, but still miraculously get there ahead of the train, only to be met by a helmeted Stig who’s beaten us all. Early night – big day tomorrow… J

Thu 30th July - 2 days to go

Wow - great day for sponsorship! We're up to nearly £1900 across the three charities now. That's £2 a mile...
Major acheivement of the day was getting the tandem onto the roof of the car for the first time just to make sure it didn't fall off. With all fingers and toes crossed I think we might at least make it to the start.

Tuesday 28th July - 4 days to go

The pile of kit in the garage and in our bedroom looks bigger than the available pannier space…

Perhaps the just-in-case-this-bit-breaks tools will have to go…

…and the two bottles of suntan lotion (wishful thinking)…

…and the maps (surely you just drive to Land’s End and stop, then ask for directions to John O’Groats?

The true enormity of the task ahead of us dawned this morning when I spent the wee small hours lying awake thinking about all the things that could go wrong and what would we do if they did. The answer to the question “what happens if a wheel falls off the tandem when we are 30 miles from our overnight stop?” is still bugging me. Answers…?

1.       Phone for a big taxi

2.       Phone for a small taxi and ditch the tandem

3.       Phone a bike shop and ask them to send a wheel to us immediately

4.       Phone Amanda’s Dad and ask him to drop everything and come on a mercy mission

5.       Give up

Amanda's bike - yes, really, she is going to cycle 940 miles on it!

Sunday 26th July - 6 days to go

I think I have become LeJoG obsessive-compulsive. I spend every waking hour thinking about it and every sleeping hour having nightmares about it.
Did a good training cycle today until I got stung by a wasp which made the last half hour somewhat painful.
The afternoon was spent stripping down the tandem and cleaning it thoroughly in an attempt to make it go faster. It's got to be better than actually pedalling faster...

Saturday 25th July - 7 days to go

One week to go and we now have a gerry-built contraption on the top of the car to take our tandem down to the start and back from the end all being well…

Adam is prancing around in a pristine white cycling jersey and cool sunglasses – how long until the top is grey and covered in food stains (I give it a day).

People keep on asking me “how much training are you doing” – perhaps we’ll start tomorrow… J

 

Hopefully the blog is easier to comment on now I’ve worked out how to allow anonymous comments.

Glad to see we even have our first follower!

Monday 20th July - 12 days to go!

Weekend training went well – Adam and Hannah did a triathlon while Amanda and I stood around in the wind, rain and hailstorm. So we’ve all experienced something like it will be on the ride.

My chiropractor just laughs at me when I tell him I’m going to sit hunched on a bike for 17 days. I think he’s already totting up the fees to fix me when I get back.

Fundraising is going well – after launching on Friday we have about £400 online and another £200 from sponsor forms – 20% of the way to our £3000 target. First real goal is to get to £940, or a pound a mile…

16th July - 16 Days to go

Aaagh…

Only 2 weeks left and still loads to do. Training going reaaaally well – Manda’s knees are dodgy, my back is killing me and Hannah’s hurt her foot.

Justgiving pages are now live - see the links from the "Why we are doing this" box on the right.

I will try to blog every day from now, so keep looking!