Very busy again... Updates coming soon

Very busy couple of weeks... Proper blog updates coming real soon
Sorry!

Doctors of The World - London 2 Paris

Well we are barely back for a week or so and I'm about to embark on my next trip. This weekend sees me back on a London to Paris ride, as a support driver/mechanic.
This time the participants are all raising money for  www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/ formerly known as 'Medicins du monde' 

We set off early on Thursday morning on our usual route from SE London to Dover. My trip begins tomorrow evening with dinner and team briefing, in the hotel. Looking forward to this one, as we are scheduled to be in Paris around the same time as the Tour de France should finish, exciting times.

Tour De Force 2

Tour De Force 2

The Final Week

Well it’ll be quite obvious now that as usual my blog wasn't updated regularly during my time in France, even though the blog is now fixed and I would have been able to.

The problem was, I had hardly anytime to do it. The workload and timings involved were unbelievably hectic. I was surviving on 3 or 4 hours sleep a night. This was one of the busiest support roles that I’ve worked on, quite similar in many ways to the RAAM.

If anyone is interested in reading the official website for this superb challenge, here is the link; www.tourdeforce.org.uk there is a superb blog on the site.

For me as usual my role was in support of the riders. I provided my usual level of mechanical repair & service, and covered many hundreds of miles of support vehicle driving. During which I met some fantastic people, both riders and other support staff. Namely Andy Norris, Becky Wood, Holger the doctor and Jo Gough whom I look forward to working with hopefully in the future.

During the three weeks of the Tour De Force there were in excess of 100 participants coming and going at all times. Some of whom only completed one or two stages, others far more. However I want to hold my hand up to the twelve guys and one girl that completed the whole route. This was a fantastic achievement and its safe to say that most cyclists will probably never ride such distances over a three week period, ever in their lives!

For those wishing to, well here is a link to a friend of mine Phil Deeker who arranges extreme cycling trips & challenges in the Alps & Pyrenees; www.centcolschallenge.com 

Why not sign up to one of these, you never know you may even see me driving a van or fixing your bikes on one of these trips!

Well just before I sign off from the Tour De Force, I’d like to mention the Wates family. This charming family through their own personal tragedy, have managed to bring together a fantastic bunch of people all with the purpose of raising funds for their own charity, set up in memory of their beloved William. In doing so, I could clearly see that there was some special bond with these participants and needless to say some lifelong friendships have developed.

I was in awe of the amount of family support involved from this wonderful family, and ages ranging from around 5 or 6 years old to Andrew Wates, a fine senior family member still cycling in his 71st year.

I was extremely proud to provide my services to ‘The William Wates Memorial Trust’ www.wwmt.org and I can safely say that if this event is organised again in the future, I will not be providing my support services. Why, because I’ll be participating with the intention of riding the whole route!!

Bye for now.

Tour De Force 1

Tour De Force

Day 1

Dinner in Stansted, nice & and met up with Holger the Doctor and Becky from the tour company.

Up at 3.45 for airport run. Flight was bang on time, shame the Ryan Air cabin crew couldn’t put one smile together between them throughout the whole flight! Nevermind, they got us to Pau safely and on schedule. 

We are staying at the Gramont Hotel here in Pau www.hotelgramont.com which is being used in two weeks time by the Quickstep team when they are here for their Pau stages of the actual Tour De France. 

Had brekky and met the group... seems manic here and I’m just about to start servicing and preparing the bikes for tomorrow’s Col De Tourmalet day.

Lets hope the riders make the most of today’s day being one of rest for them as they have been on the go for some two and a half weeks.

Keep in touch.  

Tour De Force

News of my next event, leaving 5th July for the 'Tour De Force'

Intro - William Wates Memorial Trust  www.wwmt.org 

The William Wates Memorial Trust is a registered charity set up in 1998 with a mission to help disadvantaged young people fulfill their potential, and stay away from a life of crime, using the medium of sports, arts and education.

On Saturday 19th June 2010, the Tour De Force riders left Rotterdam in Holland and began riding the 2010 route of the Tour De France. They are staying a fortnight ahead of the professional riders and will arrive in Paris on Saturday 10th July.

The Tour De Force riders can do as many or as few stages as they wish. Each of them raising money for the charity. At this stage I cannot confirm how many will ride each stage, or even if any intend to do the whole route.

My participation in the event will be as mechanic and no doubt as a driver/navigator. Duties that I’m now all too familiar with, in various parts of the world.

My journey begins on 5th July, when I fly to Pau in the Pyrenees to join the group near the Col Du Tourmalet. I’ll be providing my services from here until the end of the tour in Paris

Hope to update regularly now that I'm loaded up with modern mobile communication technology!

Adios.

RAAM - The Race

Race Across America (RAAM)

Well first of all apologies for the recent lack of updates to my blog. As previously mentioned the blog is now fixed and my intentions are to keep it updated.

The RAAM was one of the most exciting and personally rewarding projects that I’ve ever been involved in. The whole journey since being asked to join the team in October 2009 has been an epic one. It is now over and who knows, maybe one day we can do it again? I want to be a rider next time though!!

The easiest way to follow what happened is to look at our official team website www.sharp4prostate.org where other blogs can be read. Also make sure you check out the photos by clicking on the the flickr photos icon. Here some truly amazing photographs of our part in the race can also be found.

Likewise facebook is another area to look at the teams success.

My role once the race began was as team mechanic and navigator. I was paired with Anna  Kerr and we were to be a night crew. We worked constantly through each night of seven, plotting our way through the carefully planned time stations all the way from Oceanside, Los Angeles to Annapolis, Maryland. Each night shift consisted of anything from 14 to 16 hours. After which I would see to any bike maintenance and cleaning that was required, before I grabbed 3 or 4 hours sleep on the tour bus.

No I didn’t see much of America. What I did see was mostly darkness and clearly moonlit skies. Too tired and suffering from sleep depravation during the daytimes meant that I never saw much during those times either.

Did it matter, NO I didn’t come to the RAAM for a holiday and to go sightseeing, I came to be part of a successful race team riding in the hardest non-professional cycling endurance race in the world!

Successful, OH YES! 

Sharp4Prostate came third in the overall 4 man open competition, out of 20+ teams. In a time of 6days, 15hours, 7minutes. The results can be found on the official www.raceacrossamerica.org website. Please note that on there it shows us as coming fourth. The team that officially is counted as coming third were on recumbents and really should have been in a separate category, but being the only ones on such machines they were kept in the main 4 man category.

It’s been a privilege working with this team and I now have some very fond memories. The team list is below;

Crew Chief                                           Mark ‘El Burgo’ Burgin

Rider 1                                                  Paul Molyneux

Rider 2                                                  Adam Denton

Rider 3                                                  Dan Broom

Rider 4                                                  Karl Chandler

Mechanic/Navigator                              Richie Mitchell

Driver/Training Camp Accommodator   Anna Kerr

Navigator/Comms                                 Glyn Hughes

Driver/Project Manager                         Hugo Roche

Driver/Project Manager                         Chris Mothersdale

Phsyio/Nutritionist                                  Andrew Evans

Admin/Logistics/Planning                      Noelle Casemore

Assistant/Helper                                    Graham McMullen

Tour Bus Drivers                                    Costa & Eddie

Team Sharp4Prostate

Blog now fixed!

I've had major problems with my blog ever since RAAM minus 3 days. These problems have now been resolved thanks to my good friend and soon to be charity cyclist... Kim.
So I'll update with all the RAAM news and more, real soon!
Chow 4 now.