Relief, elation, determination and a bucket load of trepidation as the 'Congratulations, you're in' email arrived this evening. Transcontinental 2015 is GO!
It's all about timing, as I come to the end of a major house rebuild in time for us to move in just before Christmas and what I hope will signal a little more space to return to serious training.
I am under no illusion as to the enormity of this challenge. Hey, I still don't have feeling back in my left little toe after last years race. I have already started to plan the first choice route, though will have to wait until the spring to determine the first part of my route through Belgium and France.
I was determined to pick up my route from Kotor, in Montenegro through Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria, but have thankfully discovered what I think is a better route through part of Albania to Skopje. Since last year, so many people took the Albania/Greece route, I will also plan that route in case I get behind on the miles. I have no doubt though that the greatest adventure lies through the old Eastern block countries to the north.
As I work my way through the route, I shall try to outline some detail and add in thoughts on changes to the bike, kit and strategy.
Bonne chance to all those of you whom I hope to meet in Belgium next summer, Safe training.
To everyone else, if you fancy a long bike ride anytime, drop me a line at johnnybakewell@hotmail.com. In the spring I plan to ride home to Aberystwyth and back in 2 days if I can do it, if you want to join me. That's about 500 miles or so give or take. Seriously, if you don't know what hard is before you leave, it will be a shock when you find out on day two in France.
Istanbul here we come part 2.
Saturday, 29 November 2014
Friday, 14 November 2014
Preparing for 2015 starts with reflection
For those of you who have waited patiently for the beginning of the 2015 TCR lead in, this is the first of what I hope will be many posts before and during next years race. It is by no means certain that I shall get a place.
Entries for 2015 opened on the 5th November for veterans and on the 7th for newcomers, but the final decision about who gets the nod and who has to endure the disappointment for another year will not be made until the 30th. (I am not at all sure how I will cope with rejection, if it comes my way.)
From the minute that I hit the tarmac at Heathrow at the end of my 2014 race, I knew that I would have to go back and do it again. To her credit, Laura knew that too and tried to stop me coming home early. My mind though had been made up. My planning though well intentioned for the family in my absence had not been ideal. Two small boys with the energy and zest for destruction of a small army in a strangers house do not make for a relaxing holiday and it seemed hardly fair to extend the absence.
That only tells half the story, however. I have hesitated to write what I am about to say, because I do not like to make myself out to be anyone/thing special. I take on this challenges, because I like to find my limits and then extend them. Well it's fair to say that this is one very, very tough race. I didn't finish it, because I wasn't tough enough. Am I disappointed with that? Well yes, quite frankly I am.
I made a decision about withdrawing from the race in atrocious weather when my experience on a bike did not allow me to wisely carry on. In itself that was not a bad decision and I was unwell. I could however have sat on my hands for 24 hours. I am not good at sitting on my hands it has to be said, but that's just one of things that I need to learn from this years race. Good decisions are not often made in a hurry.
It is also true that nothing can truly prepare you for this event, other than the event itself. I note that Mike Hall, the organiser and winner of the Trans American race, is quoted as acknowledging, that whilst there might be fitter riders out there, it is his experience that keeps him ahead of the pack. It will be true for Kristoff in the Transcontinental, but slowly there will be some who close the gap.
In order to keep this entry a reasonable length, I would urge you to read the blog entry below. Apart from the fact that it includes a very unglamorous, but happy no. 52 at this years first check point, it also highlights details of the 2015 race.
If I get in, I'll be right back here to tell you all about it.
For those of you that did not know, by the way; we raised £4044.14 for The Alzheimer's Society, so thank you all for your support. Ideas for a charity for 2015, most welcome.
Entries for 2015 opened on the 5th November for veterans and on the 7th for newcomers, but the final decision about who gets the nod and who has to endure the disappointment for another year will not be made until the 30th. (I am not at all sure how I will cope with rejection, if it comes my way.)
From the minute that I hit the tarmac at Heathrow at the end of my 2014 race, I knew that I would have to go back and do it again. To her credit, Laura knew that too and tried to stop me coming home early. My mind though had been made up. My planning though well intentioned for the family in my absence had not been ideal. Two small boys with the energy and zest for destruction of a small army in a strangers house do not make for a relaxing holiday and it seemed hardly fair to extend the absence.
That only tells half the story, however. I have hesitated to write what I am about to say, because I do not like to make myself out to be anyone/thing special. I take on this challenges, because I like to find my limits and then extend them. Well it's fair to say that this is one very, very tough race. I didn't finish it, because I wasn't tough enough. Am I disappointed with that? Well yes, quite frankly I am.
I made a decision about withdrawing from the race in atrocious weather when my experience on a bike did not allow me to wisely carry on. In itself that was not a bad decision and I was unwell. I could however have sat on my hands for 24 hours. I am not good at sitting on my hands it has to be said, but that's just one of things that I need to learn from this years race. Good decisions are not often made in a hurry.
It is also true that nothing can truly prepare you for this event, other than the event itself. I note that Mike Hall, the organiser and winner of the Trans American race, is quoted as acknowledging, that whilst there might be fitter riders out there, it is his experience that keeps him ahead of the pack. It will be true for Kristoff in the Transcontinental, but slowly there will be some who close the gap.
In order to keep this entry a reasonable length, I would urge you to read the blog entry below. Apart from the fact that it includes a very unglamorous, but happy no. 52 at this years first check point, it also highlights details of the 2015 race.
If I get in, I'll be right back here to tell you all about it.
For those of you that did not know, by the way; we raised £4044.14 for The Alzheimer's Society, so thank you all for your support. Ideas for a charity for 2015, most welcome.
Tuesday, 19 August 2014
1300 miles in 8 days is no failure.
You will forgive my not completing this tonight, but I have now rejoined my family. Priorities change as does motivation. None the less I cycled my heart out for 8 days, climbing some huge hills and scaring myself half to death coming down the other side. (I have had fleeting nightmares about disappearing off the edge of a cliff!)
I have slept in hay barns, vineyards, supermarket carparks and hotels. Sometimes for only 3 hours, sometimes more.
I have eaten a lot of patisserie food, ice cream and drunk a lot of coke.
In the end I cycled to Dubrovnik and was home in less than 8 hours. From 32 ° to typical English rain.
I am indebted to you all for your support that became so, so important. There is unfinished business out there and it starts with all the photos that I will post shortly.
Thank you all.
I have slept in hay barns, vineyards, supermarket carparks and hotels. Sometimes for only 3 hours, sometimes more.
I have eaten a lot of patisserie food, ice cream and drunk a lot of coke.
In the end I cycled to Dubrovnik and was home in less than 8 hours. From 32 ° to typical English rain.
I am indebted to you all for your support that became so, so important. There is unfinished business out there and it starts with all the photos that I will post shortly.
Thank you all.
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Looking back
The last 24 hours have been an emotional rollercoaster. The climb from Zurich to Davos was the first real test for in the Alps. It made reaching 200 miles in a day unlikely and so it proved to be. In total I had, had about 10 hours sleep in the last 3 days. Two nights I spent sleeping amongst super market trolleys.
Half way up the final stretch from Zurich to Klosters and then Davos, I laid by the road and closed my eyes. Despite drivers insisting on tooting, I still managed to sleep for about 20 minutes and felt better for it.
The scenery up here is awesome and I will post photos at a later date, maybe, even today but more of that later. Darkness arrived as I topped the mountain pass into Davos and with it came the rain. Initialy light and presistent and then heavier and relentless. Others would still bivi, but with the onset of a cold, it was time for me to find an hotel.
The staff at the Victoria were gracious, but I declined to join the other dinners in the restaurant on the grounds of health and safety! I had not forgotten my manners, even if I had seemingly lost the soap.
I took a meal in my room and showered and then slept like the proverbial. I already had reservations about the conditions up the fluella pass and the Stelvio beyond. The combination of heavy rain, lowering temperatures and wind chill in the descent plus a fever that I had now been brewing for 24 hours, made me pensive. I have walked and climbed in the mountains for long enough to heed these concerns and so in the early morning I spoke to race control to say that I would not be taking the Stelvio on. Mike was brilliant and suggested that I travel beyond and to quote, "Don't let a bad race, spoil a good
ride."
It was massively disappointing. I was in the top 20 riders which amazed me, but safety had to come first and that is something that each person must decide for themselves. I salute those that took it on and succeeded.
From the hotel I took a train to Klosters and then toward Malles. I forget the station at which the train did not turn up, but it would appear that it was on the line where I was subsequently to discover that a landslide had derailed a train, leaving a number seriously injured, but thankfully no fatalities. (Our thoughts go out to the families and friends of those hurt.)
Instead of the train, I hitched a lift with a group of retired German cyclists, who like me had decided that the weather was not suitable or safe to ride in. Crammed into a minibus, they took me to Merano from where I bought a ticket to Trento. I subsequently got out at Bolzano, since having decided that to complete as much of this ride as possible, I wasn't going to cheat myself of any more miles than I had to.
In any case, as I was to discover, the road from Bolzano to Trento is a gentle downhill for about 30 miles and including the stop half way down for seafood tagliatelli, it flew by. Not so the climb out the other end.
Fortuitously, now that I was no longer bound by the race rules, my route was to take me past the front door of one of our friends who was staying with her family in Caldonazzo. To get there though, I first had to climb up out of Trento, a climb that Vaira said would 'finish her off.' No kidding!
The climb at night highlighted another problem that I was having though, with recharging my GPS and phone. With the lights on, any steep climb disconnected the power to the USB port in favour of the lights. (Good thing.) But the constant on/off destroyed the rechargeable batteries leaving my with no navigation going up hill and also now, no phone!
To cut a long story short, I eventually called Vaira by plugging the phone in and riding round and round a roundabout while she gave me directions to her house.
And to cut another long story short, my body gave out on me when I arrived, feeling suddenly nauseas and exhausted. I have never been so grateful to see a friendly face.
800 plus miles over the ground of which 700 or so miles cycled in 5 days. I was not going to make a decision about what next until after a good sleep.
Half way up the final stretch from Zurich to Klosters and then Davos, I laid by the road and closed my eyes. Despite drivers insisting on tooting, I still managed to sleep for about 20 minutes and felt better for it.
The scenery up here is awesome and I will post photos at a later date, maybe, even today but more of that later. Darkness arrived as I topped the mountain pass into Davos and with it came the rain. Initialy light and presistent and then heavier and relentless. Others would still bivi, but with the onset of a cold, it was time for me to find an hotel.The staff at the Victoria were gracious, but I declined to join the other dinners in the restaurant on the grounds of health and safety! I had not forgotten my manners, even if I had seemingly lost the soap.
I took a meal in my room and showered and then slept like the proverbial. I already had reservations about the conditions up the fluella pass and the Stelvio beyond. The combination of heavy rain, lowering temperatures and wind chill in the descent plus a fever that I had now been brewing for 24 hours, made me pensive. I have walked and climbed in the mountains for long enough to heed these concerns and so in the early morning I spoke to race control to say that I would not be taking the Stelvio on. Mike was brilliant and suggested that I travel beyond and to quote, "Don't let a bad race, spoil a good ride."
It was massively disappointing. I was in the top 20 riders which amazed me, but safety had to come first and that is something that each person must decide for themselves. I salute those that took it on and succeeded.
From the hotel I took a train to Klosters and then toward Malles. I forget the station at which the train did not turn up, but it would appear that it was on the line where I was subsequently to discover that a landslide had derailed a train, leaving a number seriously injured, but thankfully no fatalities. (Our thoughts go out to the families and friends of those hurt.)
Instead of the train, I hitched a lift with a group of retired German cyclists, who like me had decided that the weather was not suitable or safe to ride in. Crammed into a minibus, they took me to Merano from where I bought a ticket to Trento. I subsequently got out at Bolzano, since having decided that to complete as much of this ride as possible, I wasn't going to cheat myself of any more miles than I had to.
In any case, as I was to discover, the road from Bolzano to Trento is a gentle downhill for about 30 miles and including the stop half way down for seafood tagliatelli, it flew by. Not so the climb out the other end.
Fortuitously, now that I was no longer bound by the race rules, my route was to take me past the front door of one of our friends who was staying with her family in Caldonazzo. To get there though, I first had to climb up out of Trento, a climb that Vaira said would 'finish her off.' No kidding!
The climb at night highlighted another problem that I was having though, with recharging my GPS and phone. With the lights on, any steep climb disconnected the power to the USB port in favour of the lights. (Good thing.) But the constant on/off destroyed the rechargeable batteries leaving my with no navigation going up hill and also now, no phone!
To cut a long story short, I eventually called Vaira by plugging the phone in and riding round and round a roundabout while she gave me directions to her house.
And to cut another long story short, my body gave out on me when I arrived, feeling suddenly nauseas and exhausted. I have never been so grateful to see a friendly face.
800 plus miles over the ground of which 700 or so miles cycled in 5 days. I was not going to make a decision about what next until after a good sleep.
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Honourable withdrawal
For those following blog. Just to let you know that I have decided to skip the next check Point. Weather horrendous and too dangerous for me.
Weather on stelvio likely to be around 5 ° and decent on bike perilous.
Now on bus to Bolzano. Plan to get to Trieste and carry on.
Thank you for your support.
Postscript: Read on. Bolzano is as far as I allowed myself to be carried. This is a cycle journey, not a train ride. Cold or no cold.
Weather on stelvio likely to be around 5 ° and decent on bike perilous.
Now on bus to Bolzano. Plan to get to Trieste and carry on.
Thank you for your support.
Postscript: Read on. Bolzano is as far as I allowed myself to be carried. This is a cycle journey, not a train ride. Cold or no cold.
Saturday, 9 August 2014
Westminster Bridge to Newhaven Day 1
Standing on Westminster Bridge this morning was incredible. How often do you get a location like that closed just for you and 96 others like you.
At the eighth strike of Big Ben after we had all been given brevet cards, musssettes and caps, there was nothing else to do but. .. ride.
I've never entered a cycle race before. A mad start is awesome. Put a cycle race on your bucket list. You don't have to be a racer, but you should experience the camaraderie of a big bike event. It'll make you smile.
The field split about 75% to Dover with the remainder, me include heading for the South coast and Newhaven. It is accepted that with everyone stopping to wait for cross, that on this occasion riding together is inevitable and therefore not frowned on as seriously as it will be from tomorrow. It was good to chat with some of the other riders. It's fair to say that most are in it to finish and that in public at least not many admit to racing. ..
But we'll see.
The navigation worked perfectly. The bike is going like a dream, just the head wind to contend with oh and a few hills.
Especially the last little climb up over the South Downs. What a beautiful part of the country.
Brighton sea front is a suitably dynamic landmark to end the first day on. Loads of people enjoying themselves in the sunshine.
The sunshine before the storm.
That comes next apparently.
Friday, 8 August 2014
Signs of old age.
Friday. Rest day, but there's plenty to do for an aging competitor like me. So, I realise that I can't ignore my deteriorating eye sight, and not being able to read the small print on the packet of denture glue just confirmed it! I figure it's also good to laugh at adversity and myself, since I might have cause to do both over the next two weeks.
So a pair of glasses and some glue. First purchases of the day.
Since I am about to otherwise detail a relaxing day in the big smoke I should precis what follows by thanking my family and Laura in particular for enabling me to do this.
She and anyone else who has children will be delighted to know that I woke at 05:30 this morning, bright and bushy-tailed, frustrated that my plan to sleep until 10 had been thwarted by 4 year old Sam in his absence.
I downed a full English and loaded up the bike and rode to Westminster Bridge. That's fun! Not quite like High Green in rural Hethersett.
The traffic was light. A cabby explained that half of London is on holiday in the first two weeks of August. Worth remembering next time you want to bring the kids in.
I followed my planned route for the first couple of miles before heading back in to the city. At each red light the collection of cyclists all received a Transcontinental ad card, as did the police officer who stopped his van next to me. I am pleased
to say that I have passed on all 800 cards. All you have to do is follow me.
I've never been a huge fan of London but you know, when there's no agenda is not so bad.
On the way back to the hotel I bought a box in the post office. Significantly about half a mile from the hotel.
I packed this with the clothes and shoes I no longer need and then had to call a cab to take me back to the PO since I couldn't walk there in socks. So that's it. Laura gets a parcel in a couple of days of London worn clothes and trainers and I get to go to Turkey!
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
So a pair of glasses and some glue. First purchases of the day.
Since I am about to otherwise detail a relaxing day in the big smoke I should precis what follows by thanking my family and Laura in particular for enabling me to do this.
She and anyone else who has children will be delighted to know that I woke at 05:30 this morning, bright and bushy-tailed, frustrated that my plan to sleep until 10 had been thwarted by 4 year old Sam in his absence.
I downed a full English and loaded up the bike and rode to Westminster Bridge. That's fun! Not quite like High Green in rural Hethersett.
The traffic was light. A cabby explained that half of London is on holiday in the first two weeks of August. Worth remembering next time you want to bring the kids in.
I followed my planned route for the first couple of miles before heading back in to the city. At each red light the collection of cyclists all received a Transcontinental ad card, as did the police officer who stopped his van next to me. I am pleasedto say that I have passed on all 800 cards. All you have to do is follow me.
I've never been a huge fan of London but you know, when there's no agenda is not so bad.
I packed this with the clothes and shoes I no longer need and then had to call a cab to take me back to the PO since I couldn't walk there in socks. So that's it. Laura gets a parcel in a couple of days of London worn clothes and trainers and I get to go to Turkey!
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
To write is to share.
There are so many levels upon which this journey is so, so selfish. How do you describe any expedition without scientific or social goals otherwise. But in all of us there is something that gets us up in the morning that is bigger than duty, hunger, survival even. Life itself and the need to live it to the full.
My oldest friend, Paul wrote me a good luck card in which he quoted Kilion Jornet, www.kilianjornet.cat/en/skyrunner. When asked, 'why?' He simply said, it is inside me, it is too strong. I have to be up there.
So if you don't feel the need or have the desire, then at least let me share it with you.
Having sat on the train to London relaxing into my new found freedom. ..I miss you all family, I was immediately entertained by a little 4 month old who came and sat next to me. He did not, however cry or chuck up all over me, so I was pleased to have his company.
Did nothing for blog writing though, as indeed most children are not good for achieving much, but they are good for the soul and their smiles would light any dull day.
It has been a full 4 years since my last mini expedition/holiday/escape, whatever you wish to call it and so I was thankful that most of London appears to be on holiday. The remainder were remarkably tolerant of a country boy on a bike who kept stopping to read a map! Not one single honk!
It helps too that there are now cycle super highways marked by wide Blue tracks. The shear volume of bikes seems also to make it safer.
There will be by all accounts 60, 000 taking part in this weekends Prudential Ride London event that is part of the Olympic legacy and includes a top ranked professional race ending on the Mall, including Sir Bradley Wiggins who rejoins Team Sky for the event.
In the evening after dropping the bike off at the hotel I headed to Look Mum no Hands, cafe and bar on Mare St, where I met last year's winner, Kristoff, since we were both early. Once everyone had arrived. .. from all over the world it seemed, Mike held Court, distributed
trackers and finally let us loose on free pizza.
One more free day to go.
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
My oldest friend, Paul wrote me a good luck card in which he quoted Kilion Jornet, www.kilianjornet.cat/en/skyrunner. When asked, 'why?' He simply said, it is inside me, it is too strong. I have to be up there.
So if you don't feel the need or have the desire, then at least let me share it with you.
Having sat on the train to London relaxing into my new found freedom. ..I miss you all family, I was immediately entertained by a little 4 month old who came and sat next to me. He did not, however cry or chuck up all over me, so I was pleased to have his company.
Did nothing for blog writing though, as indeed most children are not good for achieving much, but they are good for the soul and their smiles would light any dull day.
It has been a full 4 years since my last mini expedition/holiday/escape, whatever you wish to call it and so I was thankful that most of London appears to be on holiday. The remainder were remarkably tolerant of a country boy on a bike who kept stopping to read a map! Not one single honk!
It helps too that there are now cycle super highways marked by wide Blue tracks. The shear volume of bikes seems also to make it safer.
There will be by all accounts 60, 000 taking part in this weekends Prudential Ride London event that is part of the Olympic legacy and includes a top ranked professional race ending on the Mall, including Sir Bradley Wiggins who rejoins Team Sky for the event.
In the evening after dropping the bike off at the hotel I headed to Look Mum no Hands, cafe and bar on Mare St, where I met last year's winner, Kristoff, since we were both early. Once everyone had arrived. .. from all over the world it seemed, Mike held Court, distributedtrackers and finally let us loose on free pizza.
One more free day to go.
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewellTuesday, 5 August 2014
Can I just go please !
The bike rests against the kitchen wall where it has lived for the last 4 months or so. I have been through every bag...all three of them about 5 times already. I have charged the GPS, the GoPro video camera and the phone.
The inflatable mattress has made a reappearance under the cross bar, whilst I have found space for spare socks and high viz jacket under the saddle.
In total, this is what is coming with me:
Waterproof jacket, leggings and over-shoes
Helmet
Shoes
Gloves
Cycle top
Shades night and day lenses (No more moths in the eye for me!)
Shorts + Spare shorts. (Being allergic to latex, I can't afford to not be able to find a replacement pair.)
Socks + Spare socks.
Warm long-sleeved cycle top
Survival bag
Inflatable mattress. (V small and light.)
The legs only of a pair of tracksuit trousers.
3 Tubes of electrolyte replacement tablets
1 Tube of Chamois cream
Paracetamol
Small pot of vaseline
Small pot of Suntan cream
Toothpaste and the head of a tooth brush. (Handle cut off.)
Spare tyre
Puncture repair kit
Tools
Chain links
Chain Oil
2 Spare inner tubes
Bike lock
Spare batteries for tracker
2 x 1Ltr water bottles.
Necessary documentation
That is it! Let's go!
The inflatable mattress has made a reappearance under the cross bar, whilst I have found space for spare socks and high viz jacket under the saddle.
In total, this is what is coming with me:
Waterproof jacket, leggings and over-shoes
Helmet
Shoes
Gloves
Cycle top
Shades night and day lenses (No more moths in the eye for me!)
Shorts + Spare shorts. (Being allergic to latex, I can't afford to not be able to find a replacement pair.)
Socks + Spare socks.
Warm long-sleeved cycle top
Survival bag
Inflatable mattress. (V small and light.)
The legs only of a pair of tracksuit trousers.
3 Tubes of electrolyte replacement tablets
1 Tube of Chamois cream
Paracetamol
Small pot of vaseline
Small pot of Suntan cream
Toothpaste and the head of a tooth brush. (Handle cut off.)
Spare tyre
Puncture repair kit
Tools
Chain links
Chain Oil2 Spare inner tubes
Bike lock
Spare batteries for tracker
2 x 1Ltr water bottles.
Necessary documentation
That is it! Let's go!
Sunday, 3 August 2014
Testing, testing 123
Final preparations include checking that I can post a blog from the phone. This much seems fine but no pictures! ? Can't work out how to download pictures onto blogger from phone, so if anyone knows how to do this please get in touch asap via johnnybakewell@hotmail.com.
Bear with me over the next 3 days as I finish my preparations and hope that this groin injury settles enough.
Thanks all.
john
Bear with me over the next 3 days as I finish my preparations and hope that this groin injury settles enough.
Thanks all.
john
Saturday, 2 August 2014
6 days to go
Actually 4 days until I leave for London and the briefing at the 'Look Mum No Hands!' cafe.It will be fun meeting all the other 95 competitors, though also not unlike going into an exam. You know how people ask each other about what revision they've done and then panic because they suddenly realise they didn't do that bit!!
Well I can admit to one thing. I have not done 25,000 km of training. I could have, but I would also be divorced and probably not be at work either, so now is probably a good time to thank both my employer for some of the time that I have inevitably spent planning whilst it was 'less busy', and my wife, Laura, who has had to live with the constant reminder that I am about to launch myself into something of a hazardous journey.
This last week has been busy with working my way around the various media organisations locally and am grateful to the Norwich evening news for publishing a good length article on Friday this week.
Fund-raising, always the hardest part has been slow, but to be honest I'm more interested in getting the message out there about the need for more support for people caring with their relatives with dementia and or giving your children the chance to follow a mad bike race on their computers. If that gets them into cycling, then that would be fantastic.
Race website will be following us all live from 9th August at www.transcontinentalrace.com
Look out for number 52 and if you don't think I'm going fast enough send me a tweet @johnnymbakewell
Finally, if you want to sponsoir the Alzheimer's Society please do so through my page:- www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
Thanks All
More to come, I promise.
Well I can admit to one thing. I have not done 25,000 km of training. I could have, but I would also be divorced and probably not be at work either, so now is probably a good time to thank both my employer for some of the time that I have inevitably spent planning whilst it was 'less busy', and my wife, Laura, who has had to live with the constant reminder that I am about to launch myself into something of a hazardous journey.
This last week has been busy with working my way around the various media organisations locally and am grateful to the Norwich evening news for publishing a good length article on Friday this week.
Fund-raising, always the hardest part has been slow, but to be honest I'm more interested in getting the message out there about the need for more support for people caring with their relatives with dementia and or giving your children the chance to follow a mad bike race on their computers. If that gets them into cycling, then that would be fantastic.
Race website will be following us all live from 9th August at www.transcontinentalrace.com
Look out for number 52 and if you don't think I'm going fast enough send me a tweet @johnnymbakewell
Finally, if you want to sponsoir the Alzheimer's Society please do so through my page:- www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
Thanks All
More to come, I promise.
Friday, 25 July 2014
Support
As I reach the last 2 weeks before we head toward the channel from Westminster Bridge at 8 o'clock on the 9th August, I and I'm sure others will begin to face the realities of what lies ahead. How much training have they managed, whether they have the right kit and what it will be like on the road, mile after mile without back-up or support.As far as training is concerned, I will have done as much as I possibly could have done, given the other constraints on my time. I've done a fair bit, definitely not enough to come in first of that I am certain, but enough I hope to give me a good chance of reaching the end. I have completed a couple of 200 mile cycles in the last 2 months and a 100 mile ride most weekends during that time. In between I have squeezed in night rides and short fast rides, gym sessions and time in the pool. I have been out in pouring rain and baking hot sun and have decided that the worst of all the weather is a stonking head-wind!
Being alone poses no concerns for me, since I enjoy my own company tolerably enough, but then that's because I know that I do have a growing number of followers who are and will be rooting for me.
I am grateful to Norsecare who have just joined this band of supporters and sponsors of my chosen charity, The Alzheimer's Society, and the work they do is particularly valuable to me, since they provide the care and environment in which the likes of my father now lives.
Thankfully as I my mother discovered, there are a host of people out there doing their very best to pick up where eventually we some times have to let go. I have included some information about them here and would encourage anyone who gets to hear what I am doing through the blog, the ad. cards or word of mouth to contact them if they meet your particular needs.
Live tracking remember will be at www.transcontinentalrace.com from 9th August 08:00. and I will be updatng you all on twitter @johnnymbakewell or via this blog. Tuesday, 22 July 2014
The End...of these 204 miles.
As much as I enjoy to write and I hope that for some there is at least a little of interest or humour, this particular series of posts highlights the limitations of a blog whilst I'm away. There are of course shorter ways of telling a story, such as: I left London at 4 o'clock and am now in Paris at 10. But if that's all I have time for, then I might as well Tweet.I will do my best to find the time at the end of each day to write something more substantial, but you are more likely to be able to follow my little dot, Race No, 52 via the race website www.transcontinentalrace.com
or keep up with my progress via twitter @johnnymbakewell
I returned home via Norwich to capture the last two houses and to clock my second double hundred of the summer. I have lost the best part of a stone and am comfortable averaging about 17mph for prolonged stretches. I know that I shall need to temper this with a longer term view, since it's not the first 200 hundred that is the challenge, but the second and the third etc that are as yet unknown quantities.
I left Lowestoft toward Somerlyton and, for anyone in the emergency services, the notorious Haddiscoe bends. Slightly unsure which way to head, I followed the signs for the Reedham Ferry, hoping that it was still running and successfully caught the last but one crossing at just before 20:00.
The ferryman commented that I looked like I'd done a few miles and was genuinely shocked when I said 182. He'd been thinking somewhere along the lines of 30 or so and he and the other passengers wished me well for the challenge ahead when I disembarked. I decried my lack of promotional cards, but am delighted thanks to my incredibly helpful friend Sojan, to reveal our business cards here.
From the river to Norwich, 'A Fine City' and a couple of pictures that tell the time and back in time for...sleep.
Still not sure about getting back on the bike the next day, so I went to work instead.
Reminder: Live tracking of the event from 08:00 09/08/14 will be available on www.transcontinentalrace.com
I am also now on twitter @johnnymbakewell and will be keeping you up to date here whilst I'm away, so please sign up and follow me here too. I will try to upload the odd blog entry, but they take time and chances are I'll either be asleep, eating or cycling.
Finally: there's just this
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
East Suffolk
The East coast of Suffolk has always been something of a jewel in the crown for me. During the 15 years that we lived south of the border/River Waveney we spent a lot of time walking the coast line between Languard Point and Benacre Broad. If you are into wildlife, then I cannot recommend it more highly. If you are into cycling, then the same recommendation comes equally highly rated and I was about to cover a good number of miles through the country lanes that border the A12. (The arterial route that joins London and Lowestoft.)I had covered only 86 miles by the time that I left my Aunt in East Bergholt. Map My Ride www.mapmyride.com - which incidentally has been one of my primary mapping tools for both this and my Lands End to John O'Groats tour in 2010 - indicated that it would be about the same distance again if I followed the bike route that it came up with when I put in my start and finish points.
It is odd the things that you discover about cycling. The strangest circumstances throw up problems. A bit like the time that I was hit in the eye by a moth, because I had recently lost my new sunglasses that came with a pair of clear lenses specifically for riding at night.
On this occasion I was trying to hit new speed records as I descended a steep hill into the village of Stutton, when another insect, this time much smaller hit my ear and disappeared within. There are many who know me out there who will assert that they are surprised given the notoriety of my particularly elephantile wings, that I don't arrive home after every trip with enough wildlife to feed a bat colony for a week. Thankfully this is not the case because I can now testify that doing 30 + mph down a hill with a critter in your ear canal trying to find a way out is about the fastest route to madness that I have yet discovered!Thankfully it found its way out, possibly in bits and a trip to the local A&E or probably more appropriately, Walk in Centre was not required.
Meandering through the centre of Ipswich before heading out on the Tuddenham Road toward Grundisburgh, Clopton, Brandeston ad Framlngham it got hotter as the afternoon wore on. I was noticeably more comfortable than I had been on my previous double hundred a couple of months ago and but for the stops to chat to old friends along the way, was completing 6 hour 100 mile pace for most of the time.From Framlingham to Beccles and then Lowestoft where I called in on my third last home of the tour.
Reminder: Live tracking of the event from 08:00 09/08/14 will be available on www.transcontinentalrace.com
I am also now on twitter @johnnymbakewell and will be keeping you up to date here whilst I'm away, so please sign up and follow me here too. I will try to upload the odd blog entry, but they take time and chances are I'll either be asleep, eating or cycling.
Finally: there's just this
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
Tuesday, 15 July 2014
Lowestoft features.
As with all other training rides in this direction, I cannot come this way without dropping in on my Dad. Each time I do so, I am reminded why I should do it more often. When you get a snap shot of someone in care, you get no real insight into how they really are. I was hugely encouraged therefore when the staff who care for him so carefully and attentively came in to give him his breakfast. They know what he can do and are encouraging and kind. I left him having some breakfast.
The best of this visit though was that unlike the last time I saw him, he smiled when he opened his eyes to my voice.
I had not lived anywhere between here, (Saxted) and Woodbridge, so I sped through Framlingham to Tunstall and Rendlesham where I met an old school friend walking his dog. Then to Woodbridge itself where I called by an old residence before devouring all of Paul's bread bin. Good thing he's known me since I was 5. Anyway, he reminded me that after completing the journey south to Bentley, I could of course head to Cornwall, Scotland or Shropshire, all places that I have previously resided. Given that, that was never going to happen, he did remind me, however, that my house in Lowestoft should definately be on the list.
Before that though this rented house in Westerfield. I'm losing track of the mileage. I just know that I had covered 86 miles by the time I had visited the two earliest houses that we lived in as kids after moving here from Scotland in the early 70s.
Reminder: Live tracking of the event from 08:00 09/08/14 will be available on www.transcontinentalrace.com
I am also now on twitter @johnnymbakewell and will be keeping you up to date here whilst I'm away, so please sign up and follow me here too. I will try to upload the odd blog entry, but they take time and chances are I'll either be asleep, eating or cycling.
Finally: there's just this
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell
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