Cyclathon and Celebrations! Any last minute nerves?

What a tremendous couple of weeks this has been!!

First, I have been heart warmed by a couple of generous people who have made a significant donation to the charities. We are reaching the target to "balance t

he books" which means raise more than the cost of the trip. Fantastic! I havn't even set off yet! Guys keep the donations coming in, even if its just a pound. A pound buys a cancer sufferer a much needed cup of tea!

Gibraltar to Yorkshire was always something that I was going to do in the future. Now its almost here! In fact, its this Saturday!! Arrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Excitement and nerves are just stirring around inside me now. Just knowing that this time next week I'll be on day 2. It is just last minute loose end preparations now. The bike is going in for service tomorrow. A big thanks to Carl for that! Remember, I'm

setting off from Casemates square at 10am this Saturday! Pop down, the TV are going to be there too!!

I celebrated my 29th birthday on a bike! We did a charity cyclathon this Friday outside B Beautiful in Ocean Village for the Gibraltar Cancer Relief charity. Thank you to the Gibraltar Fire service for supplying the bikes at short notice. Thank you for the girls at B Beautiful who were bringing out cups of water on demand!

Thank you also to Vanessa Palmero Haywood at the Gibrlatar Society for Cancer Relief fo

r the birthday cake and arranging the whole thing. Lots of thanks there, but it was a good success, with people coming up to us wondering what on earth we were doing and throwing money into the buckets. We also had a charity bingo at the St Minver summer ball to raise money for the charity. Would like to thank Jonathan Fortunato aka DJ Jona for organising that.

Media interest is still growing, with a page 3 spread in the Gibraltar Chronicle. GBC Television have also been down to see me. Radio interviews

with Rother FM and Talk Radio Europe. Absolutely fantastic!

This weekend has been one of celebrations for my birthday and the fact its the last weekend before I set off. Have had far too much in terms of alcohol! So some last minute training this week should get rid of all that, and ensure I'm at peak fitness ready to embark on this journey!

That countdown clock on the front of this site, is getting rather close to zero!!

Test runs

Over the last month, I have now completed two Gibraltar to Yorkshire test cycles. Dress re-hersals if you want to call it that! Tho obviously nothing on the scale of what Gibraltar to Yorkshire will be.

But i've got out on the bike to do a multi day tour making use of all the equipment that will be used on the actual ride.

The first ride took from Torreguadiaro up to Jimena, Ubrique, Ronda, Gaucin, Ubrique to Torreguadiaro again. 240km of mountains! Enduring temperatures hitting the high 40s. Most importantly wild camping in hidden spots away from the road.

The second ride took me to unknown territory. Driving north to Puerto Serrano, and then cycling across the Via Verde to Olvera, then continuing onto Almargen. Then North to Ecija. Down to Marchena and to Puerto Serrano. Covering 240km in two days also.

Start and finish line of the second ride.

Both rides were amazing in their own way. Both full of ups and downs.

Finding wilcamping spaces can be somewhat difficult. In the mountains, theres a lot of protected wildlife reserve areas. Which means a lot of fences. On the relatively flat areas between Almargen and Ecija.. Its farmland, with farm houses and little places to hide. However on both occasions I did do a succesful wildcamp without being detected or disturbed. Well except I was informed the next morning I was in a military zone just outside Osuna! Ooops! "Have you been camping?" "Me??? Camping??? nooooooo!! I just went down to take a picture of the lake!"

A lovely sunrise all to myself in the middle of nowhere in my own camping spot.

One amusing highlight, I was cycling through a small town. It was feria season. (party time) I cycled down a road that was actually closed off to cars, as they had stalls up and burger stands etc. There were a load of kids washing the streets down with hosepipes and buckets of water. Being a cyclist.. I'm an obvious target for their fun!! Being hosed down and having buckets of water thrown on me was actually very very nice considering it was 41c!! "Bueno! Bueno!!" I shouted! :) They thought it was great! Ahh it gave me a great smile, and a much needed cool off! Tho they guy throwing the bucket needs to improve his aim!!

Climbing back up to Puerto Serrano. Its hot, its extremely muggy, away from the coast, there is no air. Once again its 42c. But at least it was cloudy. Then i felt it.. spots of rain! OMG Rain!! Those spots felt good... I shouted up to the heavens "RAIN!!! you B**stard!! RAIN!!!"

One of the most difficult aspects of cycling alone, is confidence. I'm in my prime when im sat peddling on the bike. But I know I also have to converse with other people. Never easy as it is with language barriers. I also, have to ensure that I eat food. Plenty of it. Which is difficult for two reasons. The first being general self consciousness sitting in a bar by myself. I have never been good at doing that. The second being. After so much excersise, its difficult to actually eat. On trip 2. I had stopped at a petrol station, grabbed a sandwich and really struggled to eat it. Feeling extremely sick afterwards for forcing it down.

Keeping the food intake going, is perhaps the most important aspect of a long distance cycle tour. Just as ensuring your car has fuel. I am the engine to the bike. I just dont like sitting in bars and restaurants by myself. The amount of decent take away food available in Spain is very minimal. To have a meal, you have to go to a bar.

Everything is important. Even sleeping. Working to actually sleep well helps recharge the batteries better ready for another full day in the saddle.

Having only had time to do two multi day trips, which only involved cycling 2 consecutive days means that I will be setting off for Yorkshire, with absolutely no experience of cycling 5, 10, 15, or 20 days in a row day after day. I have absolutely no idea how mind and body will cope with that, until I actually do it.

The publicity this event has got, has given me the drive and determination to succeed no matter what. Failure is not an option. It is not a consideration. But obviously knowing that many eyes are on me, watching this, is of course is stressful. I couldnt bare the embarassment of failing. But thats a good thing. That and just imagining the thought of joy of succeeding will get me to Yorkshire.

After those two day trips. Even during the tough parts. I had no negative feelings towards this event. I am nervous, but that is buried deep under a hell of a lot of excitement!

A long road awaits....

One month to go!

Gibrlatar to Yorkshire has always seemed like something "Im going to in the future"
Today is the 4th August, which marks the fact that Gibraltar to Yorkshire is now something I'm going to do VERY SOON!

I just know this last month is going to whizz by, and its a real stress! Have I prepared enough? Have I got everything I need? Am I fit enough yet? Am I ready to take on this challenge? Do I have time to do everything I need to do? Juggling training, promotion and a full time job is definatley a difficult thing to do.

Finding corporate sponsorship for this event is proving to be a real struggle. I must say, I'm really dissapointed at a number of large companies in Gibraltar who really don't seem to care that I'm doing this for a local Gibraltar charity and their own policies such as "We dont support individual challeneges" and "We dont sponsor our own employees and their children", and generally "Sorry we're not interested" are they are the ones that replied! You probably noticed, one of those is my own employer! Its a little dis-heartening to say the least.

So this means that I am personally footing the bill for the whole trip including equipment, hotels, food, ferry crossingsm unpaid leave from work etc. I dont mind this, as long as the total raised to the charities is more than the cost of the trip.

I am doing my best not to let all this side of it distract me from what is really important! That is, to cycle a fully loaded push bike all the way from Gibraltar up to Yorkshire, England!!! This has always been about a personal achievement. But a large part of the achievement and what will help drive me is knowing I have the support of people in Gibraltar and Yorkshire and raising a lot of money for something I, and I know many of you are passionate about. That is to benefit those people with Cancer.

Sponsorship forms are now online to download and print off. If you are around the Gibraltar area. Print one off, go see your friends and family, get them to sponsor, and then drop the form off with the money in one of the 3 places in Gibraltar designated for it.
Come down to B Beautiful in Ocean Village on August 27th (Coincides with my 29th Birthday!) and meet me, and the Gibrlatar charity and pledge a donation there.

You can also support the Yorkshire based Jane Tomlinson charity, it does not matter where you are, you can support either or both. Click the logo to the left and pledge a donation securely online via Just Giving.

If you have a business in Gibraltar or even on the Coast, no matter how small it is. Put a donation into the charity, and you can be seen to be supporting a great local cause.
If you have a business in the Yorkshire area, your logo could be crossing the finishing line with me and will be part of the success that is Gibraltar to Yorkshire. Click the "Your Ad here" links and contact me now!

So one month to go! Really is final preparation time!