The planning is almost over...

What is Inspired Living ?? Why ride 1,250 miles ???

I am part of a team who have set up Inspired Living which aims to show that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and small changes to diet and exercise can make a massive difference to people's health and well being.

Inspired Living has three key objectives. Firstly we want to inspire ordinary men and women to adopt healthier lifestyles to reduce their risk of contracting cancer. Secondly we will produce medical research to help in the fight against cancer. Each rider will conduct tests as they train for the ambitious continental ride. In addition we would like to raise a significant amount of money for Cancer Research UK through sponsorship and fund raising events.

On September 4th, 2010, a team of 30 volunteers will start a 2 week 1,250 miles / 2,000 kilometres cycle ride from Winchester to Gibraltar, on this first day there is also a mass ride open to everyone covering 33 miles of beautiful local countryside from Winchester to Portsmouth.

To learn more about Inspired Living visit: http://www.inspiredliving.org.uk

Thursday, 2 September 2010

The planning is almost over...

Back in the UK fully refreshed after 2 weeks resting in the sun, but I discovered that's not the best way to maintain my conditioning, as I went out with Neil Flesher and Andy Hore on Monday morning and found out keeping up with them was not as "easy" as it had been a few weeks earlier.

I also realised it's now rather cold at 8am, so popped into Peter Hansford's and purchased the only Endura FS260 Pro JetStream Windproof Thermal Jacket they had, which fortunately was in my size. A very nice piece of kit, lightweight, keeps the cold at bay and does not cause you to overheat once you get going. Not only has this been useful for the commute to work, this should come in handy over the next couple of weeks, most probably when we hit the mountains.

The big ride is now only a couple of days away, it's been very frantic this week, wrapping up things at work, plus tying up all the loose ends for the planning, both for myself and the team. It seems I'm a delivery driver in my spare time right now, I took over a thousand energy bars to Tim's house last night and should be collecting a few boxes of spares parts and the team shirts tomorrow (just in time).

We will be loading the van on Friday evening, ready to get to the start of the mass ride at 9:30 on Saturday morning, where we will be photographed with local dignitaries and medical staff from the cancer ward at Winchester Hospital. After that we will hit the road, many of us with family & friends and the planning will over.

I'll try to get some pictures included next time round to give you a better feel of what is going on.

One final thing, it looks like we will have access to some smart-phones which will enable you to see real time where we are during the ride (see our home page - http://www.inspiredliving.org.uk/). It seems they are also capable of acting as wifi-hubs, so hopefully we will be able to give you regular updates.