The Last Post Before I Go

Now I really don’t know what to say! I am packed, my bike is ready but I don’t know if I am! I have a super new saddle, some slime filled inner tubes and Dave managed to fit the pump to my bike frame this evening. I have some sugary drinks; some energy bars and a high visibility vest so that when I am trippin’ my head off on glucose and fall in the river – I will at least be seen!

So, at about 10.30 tomorrow morning my mum, my dad, my sister and I will be on our way up the M4 east bound towards the smoke. I don’t know what to expect but I am, as I mentioned before completely petrified! I find the thought of sharing a room with a stranger for the first time in 13 years is really daunting! All I hope is that I will be sharing with someone who is as worried about the whole things and who will be as nervous about cycling 300 miles as I am!

All I know, is that I have done all that I could have to prepare for this challenge, whether it is enough or not will soon be known and I am sure that in 10 years time I will look back and think what a brillo time I had! Although I don’t think that will make the next 36 hours any easier! I am meeting up with a great mate tomorrow night – and that will defo be a good thing and I know that between her, her fiancée, my folks and my sister I will be made to laugh and the time will just fly! (In a good way!)

Well – here we are, my final post until it is all over and I really can’t think of anything interesting to say – no doubt I will want to finish the story when I get home and no doubt it probably won’t be for a few days – but I won’t hold myself to that – who knows, I might be on such a high that my fingers won’t keep up with my brain and I will have to get typing as soon as I get in! Whatever happens – it will be alright, won’t it?! We will see!

Until it is all over; take great care and don't forget our fundraising page www.justgiving.com/joandpenni (it's up to £3,879 now but we still need more!)
Loadsa love, Jx

72 Hours and (H)I’ll be Hon my Whey!

Can you believe it? I can’t!

It is 5pm, on Sunday, the 28th of June which actually means that it is less than 72 hours until I set off – but there is so much to do still! Like get thin, get fit, get a larger seat for my bike, get Dave to fix the water bottle holder to the frame (which I have just found out, doesn't fit!), get another bag for the frame of my bike – these things all take time and I just don’t have any now!

Still – I have been doing as was suggested in the information day – I have still been training this week but I have been very careful about it all! I am not planning on going at all tomorrow (Monday) and I won’t have a chance on Tuesday and then 6-6.30 on Wednesday is registration on Blackheath ready for a 7am at the latest set off!

I am having mixed feelings about the whole thing now – they range between complete panic and a relaxed state of c’est la vie but as Penni said, when I get there the feeling of being on the ceiling will probably be with me for ever more and “I rode a bike from London to Paris” will replace “I have more letters after my name than in it” as my favourite thing to say!

Today I have been to the gym and done another hour of resistance training and I am toying with the idea of going on the sun bed for a few minutes as we have been promised 30˚ heat next week I think I should try and give my skin a fighting chance – and if it rains, I will be very annoyed! Although I probably won’t be too unhappy as I am stopping off in M&S on the way home tomorrow to buy a waterproof packable jacket – watch me spend £15 on that at the weather forecast be completely right – but then again, we know what will happen if I don’t!

The online donation page is looking really very good and is up to £3,660 and I have £166 to send in with one more collection box still out collecting but we still need more! Please keep spreading the word and thanks to everyone for their support!

So, until the next time; take great care and don't forget our fundraising page www.justgiving.com/joandpenni
Loadsa love, Jx

7 days to the off!

Now I know I said that I would update the page every day until I go and I haven’t – I am realising now that it is probably a bit on the impossible side too! I can’t do it every day – I haven’t the time to do everything else that I am supposed to do including last minute training but I did go last night. Honest!

The training guide I had said that the furthest distance I must have done by the time I go is 60 miles – and I have done that! (62 if I am being pedantic!) I also feel that with proper breaks and a bit of company I could have gone on further – surely that has to be a good thing? It also said that in the week before the ride I should take training quite easy, well, I certainly don’t need much encouragement on that point! I have been training for the best part of a year but probably not as hard as I could (or dare I say, should have!) Anyway, this week I have decided to go for resistance rather than distance in the gym. I went for a proper strength workout Tuesday and if I go on Thursday and Sunday I should be OK and I will certainly feel ready – but I don’t know if I will be!

I think I will have a slightly less strenuous work out tonight and do 5 minutes on the sun bed. That should see me right! I did an hour last night but as I say, I went for resistance to make things tougher for the time that I was there! I did 15 minutes on level 10 on the exercise bike, 15 minutes on the treadmill at 13% gradient and 5.5km an hour, 15 minutes on the cross trainer at level 10, 8 minutes on the stepper machine at level 7 and 7 minutes on the arm exercise bike going down a level after every minute and finishing on level 2. All in all, only an hour gone out of the evening and a workout that was better than doing nothing, burned 398 calories and actually managed to get rid of the headache I had gone in with!

So, a week today and I will be on my way – I am thinking to myself that if I can get through the Wednesday, I will have done the longest day and that I should be OK after that – but I am worried about getting to Dover in time – it is a long way and I am not the kind of person who thrives under pressure – I avoid it at all costs if I am honest! Still, we can but try!

So, until the next time; take great care and don't forget our fundraising page www.justgiving.com/joandpenni
Loadsa love, Jx

11 Days ‘Till the Off!

Well I was planning to update my blog every day until I go but I am very aware that I didn’t do it yesterday. There were a few reasons for this, I didn’t have anything to say really (I know, that hasn’t stopped me in the past!) but I didn’t go training, I only went on the sun bed and I don’t think that counts and, if I’m honest - I did forget! Well, Penni and Andrew came home for the weekend and so it was a bit too exciting to show Penni photos of the flowers I have chosen for my wedding and admire her beginning to show bump!

Today (Saturday) I have more than made up for not training yesterday – well, I think so! I was in the gym this morning by about 9.30 and there I stayed until about 1.30 – I am not exactly sure of the time but whichever way – I wasn’t there less than 4 or more than 5 hours and in that time, I did, among other things like the treadmill up hill and quite quickly for 10 minutes and the cross trainer for 10 minutes and the arm bike for 10 minutes 100km of cycling! 100km which I think makes it about 62 miles and all on a bowl of sugar puffs! If I had done another 45km I would have done 90 miles and I would have done the first day of the challenge! I don't mind admitting that I am feeling positive in my ability to do that as well! Especially after this morning in the gym!

The training schedule that I was sent a few months ago suggested that the longest training cycle I do should be 60 miles, having done that I am feeling more positive but I am still not sure! It seems to have come around so quickly – I know it has been the best part of a year that I have been planning this, but the last 3 months have really crept up on me and now I am off in 11 days and it is all a bit sudden! Ah well – I hope I am right in thinking that as Paris is south from London – it will be down hill all the way. I think I am probably very wrong on that one but there is always hope – isn’t there?

So, until the next time; take great care and don't forget our fundraising page www.justgiving.com/joandpenni
Loadsa love, Jx

And that ain’t no lie!

It took me an hour and a half to get home tonight – mostly because of the second Take That concert in two days but also because of a break down/ fire on the M4. A good job I had already decided not to go to the gym or out on the bike and only go for a sun bed instead!

The weather was something of a mixed bad anyway, nice sunshine by the end of the day but rain galore throughout which made the road wet and huge puddles everywhere and that was not something I wanted to be involved in! After my time on the tanning bed I am not quite brown but at least my skin is getting a bit weathered and should be able to stand a little bit more of the elements than it would otherwise!

Dave suggested that on Saturday we put the bikes in the car and go off and find somewhere to have a bit of a burn. (My words not his!) I think that if the weather is nice this could be a really nice thing to do! Getting ready for the great outdoors but as I say, I am only going if the weather is nice! I wonder if I could use this thought for the bike ride as a whole – I’m only going if the weather is nice!? Something to think about!

So, tonight – as long as there are no hold ups on the motorway, people dancing in the carriageway of the A470 or chickens dancing the birdie song on the Port Road I should be home at a reasonable time. Be able to get changed PDQ and get up to the gym by 5.30! (This would be cutting it very fine but there is always a slim chance!) The plan this evening is to do 50km/ 30 miles and be back by 4 for tea and buns with the chaps in the mess! (Or a cup of tea and a biscuit with my granddad as he’s not very well!) Will let chas know how I go tomorrow -

So, until the next time; take great care and don't forget our fundraising page www.justgiving.com/joandpenni
Loadsa love, Jx

Take That have sooo much to answer for!

Well, I left work with all good intentions of going straight to the gym, I had my training shoes, trousers and shirt with me but two things I didn’t have were my membership card and TGS key! I couldn’t go in without them and so thought that I would change at home but I would still go.

I left work at quarter past 6 expecting a clear run home as rush hour should be over by that time but something I wasn’t counting on was the traffic going into Cardiff to see Take That. So, after spending 40 minutes to travel a distance that should have taken about 10 – I wasn’t in the mood for the gym. Not content to do nothing I did go out on the real bike.

This was quite good because it was the longest I have been on the road for ages and it was the first time out on my own. Every other time I have been with David or Penni but last night I was alone! I left at about 7.10 and was back having done 6 and a half miles by 7.40. Did the old route that Penni and I used to do (left out of my street, over and around the island, back along the Parade, down to the Knap, along the prom, up the bas*ard hill in front of Romily Park, over the top into the one way system, down the down hill and back over the island to repeat the route) done twice this makes 6.5 miles. I was quite pleased with my performance – didn’t need to stop at all on the way around (even to blow the old hooter!) and the new tyres certainly made peddling easier – although there is not so much comfort in them and you definitely feel every single bump! Had it not been so late in the day I would have stayed out longer, but the evening was beginning to draw in and as it was my first time out on my own I didn’t want to push it!

The biggest worry I have now is that my bike may be too small after all! I really hope that we can find a way of putting my seat a bit higher because I couldn’t stretch my leg fully on the pedals yesterday and it was not the most comfortable thing I have ever known! I tried standing up and leaning forward to try and stretch my legs a bit, as I would do on the bikes in the gym but this proved to be a very bad idea! Balance is usually a problem for me and this showed that it would be a bad balance thing!

On another positive, I found that cycling wearing contact lenses is a lot easier than wearing glasses! I found that when I am cycling, to relieve tensions in various areas I lean forward but look up and this often meant that I was looking over my glasses, not the best thing to do when I need to see where I am going, what is coming towards me etc, but with the lenses this isn’t a problem! I think they are fantastic and although I don’t think I will wear them every day – they are perhaps the best £75 I have spent in a long time!

Although I am really starting to worry and hope to goodness that the training I have been doing will be enough, I am not planning on going to the gym or out on the bike tonight – instead I am going to have a few minutes on the sun bed! The other thing that has been worrying me a bit is the possibility of getting so burned that the pain from the cycling is the last thing on my mind! I burn so easily that I really think I need to give my body a fighting chance and hope that a couple of 3 minute sessions on the sun bed will be enough to help avoid this! If only I had given this much thought to the rest of it! Ah well – something to tell the grandkids hey!?

So, until the next time; take great care and don't forget our fundraising page www.justgiving.com/joandpenni
Loadsa love, Jx

2 Weeks or 13 Full Days and 14 Sleeps to go!

You don’t need to say it – I know what you’re thinking! You’re thinking will she be ready to go in 13 days 14 sleeps and the answer is an unequivocal, yes of course I will what a thing to say! (eek!)

OH I JUST DON’T KNOW! I feel a little happier about a lot of things – I have now spent a king’s ransom on padded shorts and bum bags for the trip – I even managed to come away from one shop paying £7 less than I thought I would have to – it’s only seven quid but ‘every little helps’ and when you are spending a load of cash £7 can go one of 2 ways – either think to yourself it’s only £7 and what is that against £100 or as I am spending £100 I am pleased that I was able to spend £93 and save £7 – whichever way you look at it, it’s a bit of a bonus!

I am also reasonably happy with the training. On Sunday I did 50 miles/ 80 kilometres in the gym. I got there at just after 9.15 and I left about 12.40 so I was there for the best part of 4 hours but I also did some time on the cross trainer in between my 2 sessions of 40km. The thinking was that if I ask the bike to let me ride for 80km straight it might seem like a never ending task and I find the exercise bike boring enough as it is – 80km might have seen me giving up and thinking ‘to hell with it!’ 40km x 2 was difficult enough. While in stage 2, I was pleased to bump into a girl that I was at school with as I wasn’t doing so well when I saw her, I couldn’t get comfortable on my bike, there was not much left in my legs, I had filled my water bottle up twice and was still like a prune and things were not going my way at all! But chatting to Heledd gave me a boost at the right time and sometimes a bit of company and conversation can be the best thing. I think that is what I will miss most without Penni – besides the looking out for each other thing that would have happened, conversation with someone you know can really be a lifesaver – especially as it can be so boring when you don’t know anyone and you know you have a huge hill to climb or, in my case try and ride your bike up! I know there will be other people on the ride and so I won’t be alone and I used to be able to make friends quite quickly and I generally find it easy to speak to people – I just hope that everyone is as chatty as I am (because, let’s face it, I don’t shut up) and I hope that I can find someone in the same situation as me. I have a feeling that most of the folks will be!

I am off to the gym from work tonight – have my tracky bums, trainers and tee to get changed and go straight, it is too hard to go to the gym if I have been home first! Too easy to sit down and watch Neighbours or Diagnosis Murder on the Hallmark channel and think ‘tomorrow, I’ll go tomorrow’. Tomorrow has its own set of tasks and chores and things to do that you again end up thinking to yourself, ‘tomorrow’, what I need to do is remember that I will be just as bone idle tomorrow as I am today, so better go now while I think about it!

The one bonus of doing long stints in the gym like the one I did on Sunday is that it gets you ready for long days on the bike and now that I have done 50 miles in under 4 hours I know I can do it again, because I have already done it! Albeit in the gym and not on the road – I know that it is going to be very different, but I am doing more training than I would be doing if I was relying only on the open road! Penni said ages ago that dad had offered to pay for us to use the gym, although he never mentioned it to me I wish we had taken him up on his offer and that I had been doing this for longer – still, every little helps hey and I am certainly glad that I am going, can you imagine if I wasn’t? Doesn’t bear thinking about really does it?! I do know that when I had done the 40 miles the other week, I really felt like I had worked my legs and they were, I don’t mind admitting it – rather tender! This time when I had done 50 – I felt completely fine and after a bit of a break and a change of scenery I think I could have carried on for a while! That has to be a good sign! Doesn’t it? I am going to aim for 50km tonight which should make it just over 30 miles, only hope I am home in time for the news at 10! (Working until 6 so won’t get there until about quarter to seven!)

The other BIG news I have about the ride is that I have finally found the right glasses to wear – none! That is not as bad as it sounds, I have moved to contact lenses and I love them! They are taking a little time to get used to and so I am practising now, but no more messing about worrying that if it rains I will be stopping every 2 seconds to wipe my specs and if I play my cards right, David might buy me a pair of fantastic designer sunshades! (He might not but there is always the chance hey!)

Sponsorship is still on the slow side and we won’t be having the jewellery party before I go after all. We may still have one and do it as a fundraiser but closer to Christmas. Otherwise, the online donation page is still at £3,475 but the form at my desk is now worth £130, I have collected the penny pots from the various places in which they were left, David now has one on his desk at work and I have been promised some cash from various members of the family – all in all, I think we can be proud of the money raised and happy in the knowledge that the MS Trust desperately need it and will use it well!

So, until the next time; take great care and don't forget our fundraising page www.justgiving.com/joandpenni
Loadsa love, Jx

OH MY WORD!!!

Can you believe it? This time next month it will all be over!

This event has been in the pipeline for so long that it almost doesn’t seem real anymore but here it is 3 weeks (and 1 day) to go! This time, three weeks from now and I will be in London (or very near it if not there yet!) ready to leave at silly o’clock the next day! My dad has bought a bike carrier for the back of the car and the other day, we tried it out. Now, considering that we are both (reasonably) clever people (and that dad is an engineer) it still took us the best part of 2 hours to put the thing together and assembled on the car! Could have been worse (especially with the instructions that were provided!) we could have left it until the day we left!

Penni, my mum and dad are coming to London on the Tuesday and are going to try and follow the ride to Dover. Then, when I am on the boat they are going to my aunt’s house in Kent for the night and are going to travel to Paris the on the Thursday. There was talk about 6 months ago that they were going to hire a Winnebago and follow the ride all the way (although I didn’t ever expect that to happen!) but instead they are going to make their way straight to Paris, stay at my cousin’s flat and I will meet them there (hopefully!) on the Saturday. David has arranged a flight over on the Saturday morning and a hotel for that night and the plan is for the 5 of us to go for a meal that night as it will be Dave’s birthday before travelling home on the Sunday. So, one way or another we are sorted. It is nice that my parents, sister and Dave will be there when (if) I arrive under the Eiffel Tower but it seems to have been one of the most difficult things in the world to organise! It has made the training seem reasonably easy!

On that subject, training has been going well. I am averaging 20-25 miles every time I go to the gym as well as doing some of the other exercises to try and build up some other muscles and the other day I did 40 miles but that is the furthest I have done and I know that I need to build the distances that I do, but my heart has really not been in it – especially since I found out that Penni can’t come too! Don’t get me wrong I am over the moon at being aunty Jo, but we were spurring each other on for the bike ride and it would have been brillo to do it with her – but as I said in my last post, this is the only thing that I would let her off for!

Fundraising has taken a slow turn recently – my mum is planning a jewellery party to raise funds but we are still waiting for the lady who runs them to get back to us with a date – hopefully it won’t be too long – but I am still being delighted by people’s generosity! The just giving page is up to £3,475, I have a sponsorship form at my desk with £75 worth on it, there are still donation pots to collect from 2 shops in Holton Road and a pub run by the sister of one of my colleagues and the receptionist at the campus I used to work in has a form for me as does the campus office of my current campus so I think we should more than meet the £3,500 target we set when we broke the last one of £2,500 – but as you can imagine, (and as I always say) I want to raise as much as I can!

Still – I can’t be too down hearted, the money side of things is looking very good, the folks are going to meet me in Paris and it is a very worthy charity that is getting the money! Although I am really starting to worry about the physical act of getting there! It certainly will be a challenge – I think I will jump out of a plane next time; at least it would be all over and done with, no preparing mentally and physically for months!

Oh, enough – I’m sure it will be fine – in 3 weeks I will be wondering what in the world I was worried about and will be enjoying going to the gym to get thin and fit for the wedding instead! 300 miles in 4 days – I ask you, what kind of fool was I in the first place? Penni said last year when I came out with the idea that it wouldn’t be as easy as I thought – why didn’t I listen?!! Ah well, no good thinking like that now – need to be the train in Dumbo (I feel like a Dumbo!) “I think I can I know I can”!

Right, until the next time; take great care and don't forget our fundraising page http://www.justgiving.com/joandpenni
Loadsa love, Jx