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ROAD SAFETY &
CYCLE TRAINING |
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DIARY March .. is coming on us fast and Milli and I are doing whatever training we have the opportunity to do as well as my getting all my assignments into my respective lecturers prior to leaving ... my daughter is about to head off to Haiti to join Patch and the guys on a clowning trip there, in fact by the time we leave on 10th she will already be out there. There is a plan afoot to have a blessing at the Newlyn Lifeboat Station, mental note to self, must get hold of Tamsin and Harry to get it set up! February 2008 ~ Milli came over for half term to work with me in Newquay and Penzance whilst also working out our last minute preparations/logistics etc. ... We also hope to be working with the press as we come homeward in April ....... oh and the JustGiving webby for the RNLI and CHSW campaigns are also set up, together with the link to the Gesundheit Institute. Training wise we are getting out more now the weather is better but still looking for corporate sponsorship to help with costs as we are both students as well as instructors so really don't have too much money! January 2008 ~ Training took a bit of a back seat over the Christmas/New Year break due to various bugs going around, however we are now back in training and building up our strength again!! A couple of days ago I also received an invitation to speak at a Cycle Training and Education Conference on the 25th March at the Guildhall in Bath about the work that is going on in Cornwall. My initial reaction of course was to decline because I'd be en route back to Lands End from John O'Groats but then I sat down and worked out the mileage based on an average of 50 miles per day. It may be that we leave a day ot two earlier and could get within range of Chepstow by the night of 24th March so plan on doing it, all things being equal! This is a first and the Guildhall isn't exactly small - I've never spoken publicly like this before and will happily admit that I am terrified at the prospect however, it is a subject close to my heart so in for a penny, I guess then I have to be in for a pound too! Talking of which, it's a golden opportunity to make everyone aware of the purpose of our E2E as a parting shot, might even generate the odd additional donation or two! At the same time, the funding through the YST has been confirmed so now we are all going full tilt to train the 2000 Year 6 children in Cornwall before the end of the summer term too., it never rains but it pours but what the heck, life is for living and it will all pan out in the end!
September 2007
~ The planning is advancing with various things finally
falling into place, including the schedule for the last 3 days when
people from this
neck of the woods are planning to come and join us ... hopefully
that will include several if not all of my peers [and our
tutor]
on the Sports Science Access Course at Truro College too.,
so Plan A. We should be leaving
Barnstable [where we'll have stopped on 1st April] on
Wednesday and cycle to Camelford which will be our
overnight layover that night. Then on Thursday we
will continue on towards Lands End via Newquay stopping at Truro
College just down the road from Chiverton Roundabout. Next morning
then linking up with my peers from Truro College for the big one
.... One falsehood I'll dispense with right now ... don't think that come the big day we will be slowing down at all .... I cycled out and bought a friend back in after 10 gruelling days of 100 miles a day give or take, carrying all his own gear, no support, no nothing apart from a tent which just got damper as time went on., mistakenly thinking that he'd be slowing down by then totally exhausted ....... He might just have cycled over 1,000 miles but he left me standing to put it mildly, he was so fit by that point!! Having said that, the last mile or so when we hook up with the children I've taught, yes, then we will slow down but only then!
August 2007 ~ Although we are very much looking forward to doing this, there is also a sense of nervousness - 'can we, can't we' kind of a thing - the answer of course being 'yes, of course we can' ... the average age of the cyclists will be around 50ish but 50 is the new 40 and since Pat Smith, one of the End2End Girls completed it in May 2006, I no longer have a valid excuse to wriggle out of it! The good thing is that not being over confident is actually healthy - Milly recycles bikes and knows his way around them - in fact, 'Dr Bike' should be his middle name., I'm a professional cycling instructor but even so, I've never done anything like this before either so this will be a learning curve for both of us and we can only prepare so much although pray God, it will be a safe but wonderful experience, which is why we have chosen our route very carefully and discounted a couple of options that were open to us although as we review the route travelling up to John O'Groats, depending on what we find, that may be revised yet again! So now training begins in earnest., we've had some very helpful advice from cycling coaches who have worked out training timetables for other End 2 Enders which have been extremely helpful with regard to pacing ourselves and spinning training will also be an integral part of preparation especially given when most of our training will be through the winter. We are also fortunate enough to have contact with at least 5 other experienced End 2 Enders who both live and work locally here in Cornwall, who are happy to act as our advisers on the subject. There is one thing that no amount of training will prepare us for or avoid., we are reliably informed that days 2,3 and 4 onwards until about days 6 or 7 if we are really unlucky, we will be seriously saddle sore although by persevering, we will get past it so a decent saddle is an absolute must, ditto getting the bike serviced prior to heading up north!
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