Pub Fund Raising NIght (Damo)

Well it happened and we raised a bucket load of money....the Pub fund raising was not only a huge success in raising money it also was a huge success in terms of managing to give a me a stonking headache this morning :).

What a great night we had, there was singing courtesy of the pubs local 'international' entertainer Anton...and he was great...supported by the legendary 'Bob on Geetar'. We had a raffle whereby it was more like a 'hook a duck' as there were more prizes than people ..."everyones a winner" this went down great and I am sure Bob the Butcher will love his bat and ball set and his botanics lotions!!..we had an auction where Jaimie and Dave managed to buy back our stuff...have you not spent enough money on the trip...mind you it was all alcohol they bought....not sure they will want it this morning mind you.... not if their head is banging like mine. We had an impromptu game of Cards Bingo whereby Anton duped everybody into buying into the game on the basis they could win half the money and the other half goes to our charity only to be told ...well bullied really into donating all the proceeds to us when he had got the money off everyone....well done Anton a great tactic. I finally left at about 12:30 this morning leaving them to carry on with the old amber nectar.

It was a hugely successful night probably raising in the region of £400-£500.

Not that many of any of those in the pub will read this blog but I will take the opportunity anyway to thank the landlords of the The Plough for allowing us to hold the event in their pub, a big thank you to Anton and Bob for providing excellent entertainment throughout the whole night and it was still going when I left. Finally a huge thank you to all the very generous people of Norwell for making the night so successful. Well done and thank you to all...I am now off to see how I do 50 miles with an headache and 4 hours sleep...this is going to be interesting!!!. Damo

Dave and Jen's progress

Well Dave and I have no kids to share our time with, and we're still not doing so well. We managed 34 on Monday and 40 on Tuesday, but we've been to a retirement do tonight, and will be seeing respective relatives in hospital tomorrow night. So we'll be cycling to Nottingham and back on Friday - 50 miles.
Friday night sees our fund raising night down the pub, then up early (ish) to do a 50 on Saturday before going to another fund raising do on Saturday afternoon - breast cancer this time!
Sunday we'll hopefully be doing another long ish ride in the morning before going to see the Sugababes at night ..... hardly the routine of finely tuned training machines - bike, beer, bike, beer!
Of course al training could go by the by if there's the odd drop of rain or wind stronger than a few mph!

Training This Week - Oh Hum!!! (Damo)

Training this week is not going too well due to work and family commitments...did manage to get out on Monday night and do 41 miles in the lovely sunshine...really enjoyed it and found some new roads which always makes the ride on your own that little bit better. My next time geting out this week will be Thursday evening and I will try again around the 40-50 mile circuit. Mudguards and other kit arrived this week inluding the energy powders etc so things are staring to come together. I still need to buy quite a few bits and bobs such as a tent light and more bib shorts but I am not far off and once I'm there I can pack it and relax....well relax and train hard!!!. Only a short one today as I have got to go as the children are wanting me. bye bye.

Daddys Day and 5 Weeks to Go (Damo's B-log)

Its Daddy's day today and I have been up in the night with the youngest, woke up early by the eldest and given two beautiful smiles and a present this morning...all that and the sun is shining..what else do you need?

Rode to work and back on Friday which was 60 miles and then rode another 21 miles on saturday morning..was going to do longer but I forgot my pump and was thinking about going to the shops to buy some gear for the ride...which for the record ....5 weeks today we will be at the start, having our photo taken and getting ready to ride the first days ride of 88 miles...its all very exciting and becoming very real now.

I will of course be spending Daddy's day with the kids..but I am hoping to get out on the bike today if only for 15 mile to keep the momentum of cycling daily (or as often as possible) up. I will also be writing my packing list and ensuring I have everything I need or know what is left to buy.

It did rain for most of my ride back from work on Friday and I did realise that I am not really that well geared up for when it rains...so I have added some very good quality rain gear and some mudguards (regardless of how they may look on my trek madone) as I don't fancy a wet spongy behind each day. If anybody has any recommendations for really good quality wet weather gear then please let me know.

As mentioned earlier I went to the camping shop yesterday and spent some hard earned cash on a sleeping bag, mat, stove etc which all helped with the excitment that this is now going to happen soon and we really are doing it.

I have 4 weeks now of hard training with the last week being a bit of a rest week....so the countdown begins.

Dave and I have just done a whole 10 miles!!! Well there was a pub involved as well.... so training going well then!!

Photos - This is Us

This is us....left to right . Steve "Cock Leg" (its the way he rides) Ball, Damo "I'm really not competitive...honest" Kirk, Jen "Running Man" Gathercole and Dave "I like to wear dresses" Gathercole.