Weeks 2 & 3 (5th Sept – 18th Sept)

Ok so I am really bad at keeping this up to date then.

So a couple of weeks ago, I signed up for the Sky bike ride of London, went out nice and early, picked up my free high vis. vest, and started biking with quite a few other people.  I managed to get as far as Westminster before I got my first puncher with my new bike.  Quite lucky for me it was the one day in London that was covered with Cycle repair tents and mobile repair units, so it did not take me long to replace the inner tube and set off for my breakfast in Putney again.

After breakfast re-joined the route (around lunchtime) and it was less of a cycle around London than a go really slow and try and avoid the little girl in front of you with a Barbie bike.  Lots of stopping and starting and loads of people.  I am guessing it is a really good way to see the sights of London, unless you cycle past them to work every morning, in which case it is just going really slowly.

This was a week of punchers, as I managed to get another one on Thursday night cycling home from work, which meant I had to walk from Mile End and was unable to cycle in on Monday.  Saturday morning I replaced the inner tube again, only to get another one about an hour later.  After being told quite categorically that I cannot take my bike on the tube (still really do not understand why) finally figured out the only way to get home, was to lock up the bike, take the wheel off and get a bus to the nearest cycle shop and get them to replace it.  Turns out I do not actually know how to repair a puncher as I was ‘pinching’ the inner tube with the tire.  However, the nice man in the cycle shop also managed to up sell me some new – more durable tires, which should help as well. (Fingers crossed no punchers since).

I had a charity bake sale at work, on Wednesday as well, where I asked people to volunteer to bake a cake, then had a competition as to who could raise the most money for their offering – asking people to pay what they believed the cake was worth, with prizes for first and last place, went down surprisingly well.  With tremendous effort on the baking and great support from the people buying.  Raising just under £330 towards my total.  Will put some photos up shortly.

The next plan to raise money is to ebay all the books I have around the flat and to run a pub quiz night – after that I am running very low on ideas, so still looking for good suggestions (or bad ones).  Not having much luck with my requests for signed copies of books to auction off.  V. nice email from Lance Armstrong’s people, wishing me luck, but outlining that in respect for Lances privacy they cannot give me a book (not sure I understand the connection between the two – but hey it was a bit of a punt anyway) nothing back from Stephen Fry.

My weekend cycle routes are starting to get a little easier, without me having to come home and collapse on the floor in pain for half an hour before I can move.  However, I am starting to get a little concerned that the warm weather is over and it is starting to get very chilly in the mornings.  Not sure how I am going to cope in the really cold weather.  Although, I have decided I do like riding in the torrential rain.

Last Sunday night I ended up in the pub with Ben, where we got a little obsessed playing the pub quiz game bejewelled, not only does our ability to play decrease in direct proportion to the amount that we have had to drink, but also cycling to work the next morning after a few pints is not fun.  This might be another area of my game I need more practise with.

Week One (29th Aug – 4th Sept.)

Stats :
Days Cycled to work : 4 days (Monday Bank Holiday)
BMF classes : 2 out of 3
Sponsorship : £520.

So not sure why this counts as week one, but it seems as good a place to start as anywhere.

I have found a new place to have breakfast on Sundays, I have decided that I have to work for my fry up (although they do call it a ‘Rowers breakfast’, which makes me feel better, rather than ‘Fat Boy Fry up’). I decided on Sunday to ride out to Kingston as it is quite nice by the river. However, on the way I found out there is a big hill by Wandsworth so decided to take a slight detour and ended up in Putney, a 26 mile round trip.

I also tried out one of Boris New Cycling superhighways in London, on Saturday, and jumped on near Limehouse and then went out towards Barking. It was only when I was half-way there, cycling through council estates and abandoned business parks, that I started to question why on earth anyone would actually want to go to Barking in the first place??? – Why not make them go to nice places? Also mental note that if I am going to do it at night, then in addition to lights, I would also need a can of Mace.

I also attended two BMF courses, Weds evening and Saturday morning, missing Monday night, as decided to go for a couple of beers instead, well it was a bank holiday. Despite nearly blacking out half way through on Weds, I was actually able to walk on Thursday, without having to make pain noises every step (a regular cause of amusement in the office). Thanks largely to rediscovering the benefits of deepheat, although the flat now smells like some kind of 1950s a hospital ward, well obviously I have never been to a 1950s hospital ward, but I have a picture in my head.
This week I also sorted out my sponsorship page, this blog and sending out a few emails asking people for ideas for sponsorship events to help raise money. As always, I am amazed by people generosity, in that I raised just over £500 in 24 hours, so a big thank-you to everyone who took time to sponsor me, I really do not expect anyone to, so it is always very nice when people do.

I do like reading people comments; Yes Jo I can now ride without stabilisers and in return for your sarcasm I am going to try and blag a free nights board, when I get to the stage I can cycle home and then back to London the next day (provided do not hit any hills on the way). Don’t worry it is not going to be anytime soon.
A lot of people have also sent positive comments through email, which are nice. I am not sure it counts as a positive comments, but thanks Simon for sending through the link through to the Mexican Killing Fields article outlining the status of the latest drug wars in Mexico, for those interested http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/03/mexico-drug-war-killing-fields Mum please do not read.

Also one of the things I am planning to do to raise money is scrounge free stuff and then auction it off. So to this end I popped out a quick email to Stephen Fry and Lance Armstrong (I know interesting combination) asking them to donate signed copies of the books. I do not hold out much expectation as I am sure they get hundreds of requests. However, they both seem like nice people so you never know.

Right enough for this week, I have just signed up for SkyBike tour, where they have closed off half of central London for people to mess around on bikes – also free stuff !!! so am off there.

Training Overview

Although I have a few months to get into tip top physical shape for this, this is going to be a real challenge, esp. since before starting my nickname around the office was Doughnut (both for my love of Krispy Kreams – but also the shape I was taking )


I have made a good start; I went out and bought a bike (the first one I have owned since school) and I can feel the good karma flowing, esp. when I walked into the bike shop, told the assistant, "I would like a bike and accessories but I know nothing about bikes – here is my credit card", he looked overjoyed.
I have started cycling to work every day, through central London, where the biggest challenges seem to be buses, however, I have figured out they are jealous as they are big, fat and slow – hence the reason they try and kill me every morning. Also I am lucky that where I am working is cycle friendly, well they have showers, which is probably actually more co-worker friendly.

I have made a further commitment to Jill, to never wear Lycra cycling shorts, and if I do need the bum padding, then to ensure they are worn under normal shorts at all times.
In an effort to increase my general fitness as well, I have signed up for British Military fitness (http://www.britmilfit.com/). Basically, paying ex-squadies to run a school games lesson in Victoria Park 3 times a week. Which is surprisingly really good fun, esp. in the rain. Although, I am currently in the old, fat, slow people group I think the technical term is beginners.

Background info.

I have started this blog to keep track ostensibly of my training for a sponsored bike ride across Mexico for Macmillan. But probably more realistically for a chance for me to ramble on about things, semi related.

If you have not already been, please check out my Just giving page (http://www.justgiving.com/Philip-Palmer) & Just give...


The Challenge :

Between the 26th March & 7th April 2011, I will be joining about 50 people in cycling from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Coast for Macmillan Cancer Support. I will be cycling for 8 consecutive days just over 680km in total.

They promise it to be “an extremely testing physical challenge” (which I now find a bit worrying), cycling over undulating countryside and in all weathers. Including, day 5 starting at 250 meters above sea level, ending the day at 3,000 meters. i.e. one really big hill (did not read that bit until after I had signed up).

For more details about the actual challenge please follow this link. http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Fundraising/Bikingevents/MexicoCoastToCoastCyclingChallenge/MexicoCoastToCoastCyclingChallenge.aspx


The Cause :

Each and every day 739 people in the UK are told they have Cancer. More than 2 million people in UK today have had a cancer diagnosis, and more than one in three will be diagnosed at some time in their life. I actually did not know that before starting this 1 in 3 !!!

Macmillan are shaping the future of cancer care. Their increasing range of services, including Macmillan nurses, doctors and other health and social care professionals, cancer care centres, a range of cancer information, practical help at home and help with money, is funded entirely through the generosity of their supporters.

More information about the great work they do can be found here. www.macmillan.org.uk