Yorkshire Cancer Research

JustGiving - Sponsor me now!

Tuesday 21 May 2013

And so it begins.....

23 days till departure, this cycling lark is becoming very real.

Preparation is still very much ongoing. We have now acquired most of our gear; thanks in large part to Endura (http://www.endura.co.uk/) who have very kindly agreed to provide equipment at 50% of the RRP.

However, there is a piece of equipment which has yet to arrive, a fairly essential piece of equipment - BIKES. We have purchased two new bespoke tour bikes which are expected to be available for collection on Saturday (25/05); we might even have time to treat ourselves to a cycle on them before we go. ‘Preparation is overrated’ (Jack, M  May 2013)

Training has been relatively minimal, I am very much of the opinion that we will learn on the job, or in this case get fit as we go; yes I will probably live to regret that one. Tom’s training consists of frantically trying to break in his new ‘Brooks saddle’. The Brooks saddle is a traditional English leather touring saddle which feels a lot like a brick until worn in……the guy in the bike shop did advise Tom that time is perhaps against him and if he has any aspirations of having children in the future then he should consider a softer saddle.

On the Charity side of things, we have set ourselves an ambitious target of raising £1 for every mile we cycle, equating to a target of £4,234.00 in aid of Yorkshire Cancer Research. We have a football tournament next week which will assist after which we will be relying on the generosity of the general public.

We will update the blog in three weeks when we arrive State side. In the meantime, people keep advising me to watch what I presume is a cycling documentary called Brokeback Mountain, hopefully Tom and I will find time to watch this before we leave.
 
The TransAm cyclists sporting their Yorkshire Cancer Research T-Shirts