Thank You!!!

All that time spent writing begging letters has really paid off handsomely. Thanks must go to a number of companies for taking the total committed to over £1,100 and a number of others promising to contribute but to date have not given me a committed sum if we keep going at this rate we should hopefully exceed the overall target by the end of next year.

It would be remiss of me not to mention them all now. Firstly CNet Training has been very generous with a donation of £500 closely followed by FineLine Labelling Ltd who came up with £300 JNC projects have committed £100. Then outside the IT industry. The helmet manufacturer ARAI through their UK distributor Phoenix have offered a significantly discounted price for a new helmet and on this basis I will therefore commit the difference to the Charity. I won’t give the exact cost of this, however let’s just say that ARAI are not only the best they don’t come cheap.



This last couple of weeks hasn’t seen as much work done as I had planned however time is moving on rapidly, it is only a couple of week away from a couple of the Santa Runs I am planning to attend on the bike. I’ve fitted some extra parts to the panniers, these are water bo9ttle carriers and an emergency fuel can, this could be vital as I have a habit of pushing my luck as far as fuel is concerned. This 2litre Plastic Can will give me an additional 10-15 miles.

I’ve got a load of stickers to put on the bike this coming weekend, the weather doesn’t sound that good but I’ll get the heater on in the garage and get stuck in (no pun intended).

One thing I have done and it may sound a bit crazy and ahead of the game, but I do intend to start camping out as soon as possible. I spent the weekend going through my camping gear, sorting out my stoves, cooking gear. Washing my sleeping bag, sorting out the blow up mattress, yes at my age I do need one of these and although they can be a bit bulky and weigh more than a roll up foam mattress, I believe a good night’s sleep will be vital.

One of the reasons why the preparations have slowed down, is quite simple. WORK. I was away all last week from Sunday evening through to Friday Night on a course at CNet Training This week I am on the road with meetings in the North of England, so once again I am writing this from my hotel room. One of the benefits of being away on a course last week was the hotel I was staying at had both a gym and a swimming pool. A real bonus and it allowed me to really work hard on my fittest levels. I feel a lot better for it and I worked really hard and have been dieting on top of that, but I haven’t seen the weight come down but I do feel a lot trimmer and the old belt to tighten by one more notch.

One of the next elements I need to achieve is to plan my first ride from Calshot Castle, I am hoping to do it over the weekend after New Year, but given the probability of bad weather or at least wet weather. I am planning to stay at a Youth Hostel, I just need to work out which one will be best. I( have done a bit of a test run last year along this section and I reckon I will reach somewhere around the Bournemouth/Poole area so I will be looking for one around there and hope it is open.

With a bit of luck I am planning to get quite a bit done in the coming week, I will have too, when I think about it I am only 5 weeks away from starting this endeavour and time has really flown by in the preparation, out of that 5 weeks, there is Christmas and at least one weekend when I will be riding up for one of the Santa Runs at least. Therefore I only have 2-3 weekends to get things completed. I though I had absolutely loads of time, now I’m thinking I won’t have everything lined up before I start and will need to play catch-up, it should be okay, given the first few sections are relatively close to home but not the way I really wanted it.

Take care and as Mick says ‘Don’t panic, just get on with it!’