Upcoming Charity Ride
Long time no see. I know. No time for frequent posts, really. So since the last post, Froome won the Tour de France as I predicted, the Vuelta came and is now gone (I am always on holidays during La Vuelta so I never manage to follow it), Cav is out of the Worlds (get well soon Mark) and after the Worlds the cycling season is slowly winding down.
Wrong! I am going to cycle from Brussels to Paris for the Carers Trust. I know it’s not as big as the Tour or the Worlds, but if you know me, I am quite big myself (the fat bastard on the left of the photo). This makes it a serious challenge. I haven’t trained enough for this, so I will suffer. If that’s not enough I have set a goal of doing it on a bike of my vintage. Not a 41 year old bike but a bike that I really liked and wanted since the days I was racing during my teenage years. I will do it on an 80’s Benotto. The bike is not ready yet; I have to move most of the parts (wheels, handlebar, saddle, brakes, etc.) from my existing bike. So, that’s another challenge.
Then I need to get the sponsorship required (that’s where you guys get involved). So please go to the JustGiving page to donate (please mention my name in the message box). This ride is organised by Olswang, the company I work for. Olswang will pay for all the trip (accommodation, food, support vehicles, etc.) and will match your donations. So for every £1 you donate, £2 will go to the Carers Trust. We will be 19 cyclists (we are not racing) and most of us are colleagues (there are a couple of riders from other firms).
The ride will start from Brussels on Thursday 15 October and we will ride 89.7 miles (143 km) to Cambrai. We will spend the night there and following day we will ride 67 miles (107 km) to Soissons. Then on Saturday we will ride 75.2 miles (121 km) to finish in Paris.
I will be keeping you up to date through this blog and/or social media. I haven’t used it lately but I used to have an App for my Blackberry that was showing my position in real-time. I will try to set it up. I might even try to use the Periscope App, during the ride and/or the stops.
As a first update, here is a photo of the vintage bike frame I will be riding.
