Its Christmas!

106 miles! In the bag!

A full English, banana bread, wild blackcurrants, ham egg and chips, a few big climbs such as that into Brill and Chinnor Hill, cramp, energy bars, a few pints of real ale and we did it!  Our longest yet.

We almost followed the route below with a few detours, its a great ride, some beautiful scenery.

MapMyRide.com | View The 112 Standing Together in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Could this be a one day adventure in the very near future for Nick & Dick?

MapMyRide.com | View The 112 Standing Together in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Its been a while.

The adventure is long gone and Dick & Nick are still amazed at the generosity of their friends and family - over £2500 raised between them for three very good causes.  Thanks and well done to everyone, its really appreciated.

The boys were back in the saddle at 0600 this morning for a pre-work 'cobweb blow-out' view our trail here  . 28 miles a glorious morning, two punctures and a fall-off!.  Dick put in  some awesome bursts of power along the way to take the yellow jersey.  Nick is asking for a urine sample...

So what next?  Recreational riding and holidays beckon then the boys will be embarking on a wee adventure in September - 100 miles in a day but we're not sure where yet.

Have a great weekend!

C'est tres Grande!

time for a bit of culture. ....

It's 2130 English time

And Nick is asleep.....

. LIGHTWEIGHT!

The best beer ever!

220 miles we did it!

thunder & lightning

Its very very frightening. ....?.

Sorry about lack of posts no reception we about 30 miles from Paris rain has stopped as have we!

Bye. Bye

England - allez allez la Francais!

Its hard work

Crossing the channel!

Love to our beautiful wives and daughters - missing you heaps!

Day 2

Let battle commence!

Massive burgers

Were big not massive.  Okay pub grub but it won't win any Michelin stars... talk of one more then bed... we are getting old!

Nick saw the fish

So its Sussex MASSIVE ( that's what the menu says ) burgers all round. Although chef has a nose bleed (nice) sorry about the repeat blogs - dick needs to be more patient!

Trevor Arms

The barmaid was very interested in our shirts.  The Best is very good. Locally caught haddock & chips ordered. We've yet to meet Trevor....

B&B

Here showered chilled and starving!  No lunch! Where's those pies....

Day one done 77 miles. : 0)

now at bramley,

Disused railway to the coast! 28 degrees 21 miles and a warm reception from the community safety team at HOSE; 0)

Shoreham!

With Dicks sister!

Shoreham in 10 miles!

Stopped at pub - no food + boo hoo! Next pub 9 miles. ........

We're off!

But blog pics not working!

Let the adventure begin!

Full English courtesy of Nick's BBQ - HURRAH!

Let the adventure begin!

Full English courtesy of Nick's BBQ - HURRAH!

They're off!

At last

And the sponsorship keeps on coming!

Fantastic! With off-line donations we're nearing the £2000 mark between us.  Thank you for all of your sponsorship which we know has been well received by the charities.  If you've not yet given but can spare a few bob - there's still time! 

Sponsor Dick 
Sponsor Nick

We're just praying the weather holds, we have a fair wind and can manage all those miles in-between the pies and croissants ;0) ...

Allez!  Allez!

They've got the T-shirts

But they've not done it yet!  Big day tomorrow ;0)

This time next week

We will hopefully be sat unable to move, full of locally grown produce and sampling home made Calvados at
http://www.leclosduquesnay.fr/home.htm

50 miles this morning and a few hills.

And Dick's new forks resplendent in blue!  (pics to follow).

Forgot to mention Fantastic Local Bike Man!

Dick recently needed a new chain, sprocket and service and happened upon Tony at Retro Ride in Sunninghill.  Brilliant chap, very knowledgeable, very helpful and great, reasonable rates.  Check him out and his rather good retro bikes at:
http://www.retro-ride.co.uk/

Its been a while.

Sorry for the lack of postings over the last week or so.  Sadly Dick's father passed away on Friday 14th.  Life goes on though, as they say, and his dad was very supportive of the 'adventure' and Dick will be cycling with fond memories of him. 

Training continued yesterday with the boys back in the saddle with a 65 mile ride around the glorious countryside of Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

Where to put the pies?

Whilst in Brighton we stumbled upon a bit of a quandary.  Following our sumptuous Thai lunch we bumped into a pie stall and had no choice but to purchase two rather large but perfectly formed apple turnovers.  Now we all know a turnover is not the same without a mug of tea but there were no vendors of Britain's finest drink in sight, so the turnovers had to be stored while the search for a brew began.  That was the quandary - with panniers and bags full to the brim - what to do?

They ended up stuffed into Nick's camelback - not ideal - turnovers became 'driven overs' or that's what they looked like.  So do we face a future of mashed pies and crushed croissants?

No Dick has found the solution!...  a top pannier with expanding side panniers fit for a dozen, pies.... or beer,  wine, croissants, pain au chocolat, garlic....
. 

and a  bargain too!

Still no sign.....

Poor photo but you get the picture!  Baynards Station

Dick is happy

Job done, pint of doombar, pub garden sunshine happy days

Lunch at Brighton

Thai green curry come on!

BEES!

Lovely

Bramley for breakfast!

17 miles down next Jenny's place!

All Carb loaded and ready to go - or are we?

Tonight we feasted upon Nick & Sue's famous seafood lasagne -mmmarvellous!  So we've carbo loaded, packed the saddlebags but Dick has some concerns - have we forgot something?  Is this the missing element?

Big day in the morning!

Its the trial run - Ascot to Peacehaven with our panniers, pants and plimsolls.  Just hope our moustaches hold out...

Dick's calves are looking particularly impressive!

Today we cycled to the coast before breakfast!

Drove with the bikes just south of Guildford then cycled to Shoreham-on-sea and back.  The breakfast bap in Shoreham tasted sublime!  72 miles - our furthest yet the legs will be aching in the morning. 

Next week we do Ascot to Peacehaven trial run.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?client=firefox-a&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&num=200&start=7&msa=0&msid=105664569071857184176.000484fec533a8b1e0c12&ll=50.99604,-0.294571&spn=0.223857,0.617294&z=11&iwloc=000484fed12b4630b19d4

Where's Jenny?

Nick was a wee bit disconsolate today as we passed by the station that the Railway Children was filmed at. He just couldn't understand why Jenny Agutter wasn't there... bless.

The Biggest Yet!

62 miles on Saturday morning - hurrah! Unfortunately the sat nav tracker thing didn't work so we can't post a link. But have a look at the last one and add twenty miles to the west of Henley. We were well chuffed! Particularly as we were both carrying a few extra pounds of easter chocolate and cake.

We now await the emergence of Nick's new road bike :o)

Out of sorts

Up at six this morn for a pre-work ride. 32 miles 2 punctures and Dick falling off twice we got back. Dick was having an off-day!

Saturdays ride

Click on the link below for a map of what we got up to on Sat morning.  Click on the end point on the map for a list of stats - 42 miles and a couple of hills to!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?client=firefox-a&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=105664569071857184176.0004811f60c29e8245906&z=11&iwloc=0004811f6142037803296

Ok so it was a daft Idea!

Dick's wise wife on seeing the 'trailer' eventually stopped laughing and exclaimed "but you're only away for three nights!"  Fair point - its gone to a good home with small children as we couldn't persuade our teenage daughters to get in it.... and Dick was so looking forward to customising it.

Thanks to Brent for the loan of his cycle panniers - awesome!  :0)

Oh and here's a photo!

See

we'll train anywhere!

Today at ascot racecourse cycling from ascot to south Africa (virtually of course) to raise money for charters sports 2010 tour

Our luggage problems solved?

Here it is - an ebay bargain - watch this space to see if it gets modded.

Its out with the thick tights again!

 this weeks cold snap!


Location :home

Dick's finally done it - SPD pedals arrived today.

How many times will he fall off that's the question!

Not sure if I'm going to let Nick navigate....

went for a spin this saturday - this is the scenic route apparently!!

Let the planning commence..

Looking forward to an "essential strategy meeting" tomorrow night with our wives. If all goes to plan we should be carrying out some rudimentary testing on the effects of some fairly robust vin rouge and a hearty three course meal on a few hours in the saddle on Saturday morning!

Its all part of the conditioning one has to go through... ;0)

Or alternatively rather than spending money on chambres d'hotes, roadside cafes, bistros and bars we could take it all with us!?

So here it is

A blog which will hopefully help us raise some money for a few worthwhile charities (details to follow) and give you a few laughs along the way.

Look out for our training updates and pontifications on all sorts.

The first question we will be asking - cycle trailer or panniers? What a quandary!

Alternatively shall we build our own?

http://www.carryfreedom.com/bamboo.html