Day 4 - Part 2

Posted On 28/08/2007 12:30:58 by Lee Cottrell

We made it!

At around 11:20 this morning the posse arrived back at Paymentshield HQ.  We were greeted by a crowd of well wishers and press.

I for one am proud to have been a part of this event and again I would like to congratulate all the guys for a great effort and extend our thanks to everyone that has donated, helped with preperation, kept up with my ramblings over the last few days etc.

I am just waiting to get some of the pictures as we arrived and they will be available in the gallery real soon.

Day 4 - Part 1

Posted On 28/08/2007 10:12:33 by Lee Cottrell

Carl and I are sitting here at the Tarleton junction off the A59 waiting to see which way the guys take on the final stretch back to Kew.

We have had such a laugh this morning due to setting up our video camera to catch the guys coming over one of the last small hills on the A6 and ending up looking like police traffic enforcement officers in the process.

We have seen so many people stomp on the brakes coming over the hill and had so many nasty glares as drivers got closer and realised it was not police.

I managed to get a quick call in with Dave "Recumbent Boy" Robinson only moments ago and he informs me they are in Preston now making their way towards us.

Not long to go now eh boys.

If any of our Paymentshield colleagues are reading this before we get back then please bring out cups of tea, hot water bottles, blankets, vaseline and wheelchairs for all the guys :)

See you all soon!

Day 3 - My Thoughts

Posted On 27/08/2007 20:12:32 by Lee Cottrell

Firstly, I am trying to get one of the other posse members to post a blog as I am sure you are all quite bored of reading my ramblings but alas, I have not managed to secure you an interview with any of them just yet (I'll work on it extra hard for day 4).

If I don't manage to get them to do a guest post or two I'll just make some up. Possibly regailing readers with some of the great stories shared over a whiskey or two in the evenings whilst the team allowed their weary bones to rest.

Day 3 was, as per previous days, a great triumph for the riders, we had an extra large support posse today as families came to wish riders and pit crew alike well.

The high point, quite literally, was the top of Shap hill, standing at over 1400 feet and with winter like conditions the guys stopped and posed for a group photo, the uphil battle was won... it should all be downhill from here on in guys!

There was some speedy free wheeling and also the recumbent two gave it their all again down the hills, the other riders were elated to get to our 3rd hotel stop before the dynamic duo.

Only 40 miles to go before we are back to reality and getting our noses down to the grindstone. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Day 2 - My Thoughts

Posted On 26/08/2007 22:03:37 by Lee Cottrell

Where do I start? Today has been a mixed bag, we have had so many ups and downs with the recumbent two managing almost 60mph on the final descent towards our second nights hotel.

Speaking of the recumbent two, I have had to make a slight editorial change to tonight's review to say that they were not part of the posse that so badly navigated themselves over the other side of a mountain to where they should have been last night.

Now I have that out of the way I must also say a big big thank you (NOT!!!!) to the guys for telling the staff of the local Italian that it was my birthday and thus having a cows bell attached to my neck and being paraded around the centre of Penrith this evening. It brought back some painful old memories of a camping trip that went horribly wrong years back and I never thought I would need to re-live it lol (I am sure they will hack my account and have pictures available soon).

All in all, today has been a roaring sucess, and the stop Carl and I planned at the top of one of the largest inclines of the day (including a morale boosting ice cream) seemed to go down well.

Once again my hat is off to these guys, I can hold my hand up and say your donation money is being well earned.

Bring on Lancaster!!!!!

£10,000 achieved

Posted On 26/08/2007 22:02:10 by Lee Cottrell

Wow! We managed to raise it all.

A very very big thank you to everyone who has sponsored us, we have a chunk of donations that have not yet been reflected on the Just Giving website yet (including a donation from two gentlemen walking out of a pub in Moffat last night).

We are all delighted to have reached the target but we don't need to stop there, every single penny of this money will be put to great causes and some of which are very close to our hearts.

I think that all the posse will echo my grattitude, once again, thank you all.

Now we just need to get through the next two days :-)

Bring it on!!

Day 1 - My Thoughts

Posted On 25/08/2007 18:24:52 by Lee Cottrell

Well... day one has been a fair amount of fun and torture all rolled in to one.

I will be the first to admit, these guys are cycling their hearts out, they are putting in some very good times in the sections, it's just a shame that most of them have not finished the second half yet (as I type this they are just rolling up to the hotel two hours late).

The reason for this.... well although they may be super cyclists they cannot navigate to save their lives.

The AM section went well with only a minor detour but timings were almost perfect.

Whoever was in charge of navigation for the PM section should be hung drawn and quartered as, due to a severe error, our guys ended up cycling an extra 30 miles (they went 15 whole miles in the opposite direction).

All in all it has been a great day and I take my hat off to the guys, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every person and company that has been kind enough to sponsor us for the great causes we have been riding for.

I must dash... the bar beckons....

Day 1 Preview

Posted On 23/08/2007 13:22:26 by Dan Hayes

Day 1 is going to be tough and we are all fully aware of how hard it is going to be. This will be the biggest test of all 4 days!
Not only is it one of the longer stages, the elevation profile of the route shows it to be rather hilly(to put it mildly).
When we planned the route we had a few considerations to make. We obviously wanted to avoid the big climbs as much as we could, but we also had to make sure that when we stopped each day, we were doing so in a town that could accomodate us. We knew that we needed to complete an average of around 60 miles a day. 30 before lunch, followed by 30 afterwards.

Unfortunately due to the lie of the land, this didn't really leave us with a lot of choice as towns with hotels are so few and far between in that area and the experienced cyclists strongly favour the comforts of hotels over camping (and they know best).

Hailing largely from Southport, the area doesn't lend itself well to hill training, but we've done as much as we realistically can to train for this (except for Sandy who doesn't believe in training!) so we are all confident. However, We will ride at the pace of the slowest rider and complete it as a team.

After setting off at around 9:30am from our Edinburgh office, We will be stopping for lunch in Biggar, which is a busy market town that sits on the A702 road that links Edinburgh to south-west Scotland and North-West England.
After a good stop for lunch, and perhaps a quick look in one of the many museums in the town, we will head off to Moffat where we will be staying overnight.
Described by many as the gateway to Scotland, Moffat is seen as the first stop by visitors crossing the border from England. To us it's the last stop and a place to get some much needed rest.
Moffats developed it's town status in the 1600s and was Scotlands first Spa resport. We will be staying is what is loudly proclaimed to be the narrowest Hotel in the UK! Breath in guys!

Almost Ready

Posted On 23/08/2007 10:13:29 by Dan Hayes

The Shirts have arrived, the support Vans are hired, the accomodation is booked, the sponsorship money is rolling in...we're nearly ready for the off.

Last night Dan completed a short interview with Phil Kinsella and Alan Jackson on Radio Merseyside to promote our cause, and we are 3/4 of the way to achieving our £10,000 goal with an number of "leads" still to come in.

We're packed and ready (well, almost) and looking forward to it (well, sort of).
With Southport re-scheduling the kick off time of their game at Barrow (in furness) on Monday hopefully we can now make the match too. It's all falling into place.
We will be leaving our Kew Office at around 2pm on Friday and making our way up to Livingston, where we will be staying overnight, before joining Sandy in Edinburgh on Saturday morning (Day 1).

Getting the site ready

Posted On 11/07/2007 13:44:13 by Lee Cottrell

Work is well underway to get the site ready to allow us to gain more interest in this great cause.