Pub Quiz 11th March

Hooray....!! This weekend we hit the £1000 mark thanks to a donation from Dan who could'nt bear to see the total hovering around the 900 and something mark. We are now at almost 10% of our total target. Its a great benchmark to reach but does make me realise how far we have to go still. Gulp.

The next fund raising event is on Friday 11th March at the Dukes Head pub in Hampton. We are holding a pub quiz and there are still a few remaining tickets left. Competition between teams is hotting up and battle plans are being drawn. I love a good pub quiz and part of me wishes I didnt know the answers so that I could join in. Perhaps I should open a book to take punts on who the winning team will be? I may be a little biased but I suspect the IT family may well be hot favourites and thats without any blackmail or bribery to me...

Its open to all so if you fancy entering a team or coming along and joining an existing team then do. You would be very welcome.

Training Effects

I was reading the Sunday Times app list yesterday when I discovered the Instant Heart Rate monitor app. for the Iphone. An excellent app. and what clever use of the phones camera and flash to record pulse rate by measuring reflected light from the finger. After much hilarity with my mate Dan competing by MMS to score the lowest heart rate I was delighted to find that I am currently meauring a resting pulse at 49/bpm. Excellent!

http://www.instantheartrate.com/

That's a great result, not just because I beat the young whipersnapper to the title of lowest heart rate but because that aerobic base I have been trying to build by running and cycling is coming together and having an effect. My body is becoming more efficient at pumping the oxygen around. All good news when it comes to climbing hills and riding all day long. Energy efficiency is the key to survival. Yayyyy!!!!!

I love it when a plan comes together... I say that also because tonight coming home from the office was one of those days on the bike when it feels like the work you are putting in training is starting to pay off.

A day when you can get out of the saddle and accelerate and just keep going for a few more seconds without tiring. You ask your  legs for more and they give it without complaining, you ask again and they give a bit more. Its magical. If my bike weren't an inanimate object I would describe it as a symbiotic relationship. That's what it feels like. Mind, body and bike all become one and the whole is definately equal to more than the sum of its parts. The whole world seems to melt into oblivion.

JP recently lent me Robert Penn's book 'Its all about the bike' (Penguin, 2010). Its a fabulous read if you appreciate bicycles but there was one paragraph that struck me and really leapt off the page at me, I'd like to share it with you if I may...

The bicycle saves my life everyday.If you have ever experienced a moment of awe or freedom on a bicycle;If you've ever taken flight from sadness to the rhythm of two spinning wheels, or felt the resurgence of hope pedalling to the top of a hill with the dew of effort on your forehead; if you've ever wondered swooping bird-like down a long hill on a bicycle, if the world was standing still; if you have ever, just once, sat on a bicycle with a singing heart and felt like an ordinary human touching the gods, then we share something fundamental. We know it's all about the bike

I know it's all about the bike. Do you....? ;-)

Training Summary

• 9lbs lost
• 11 miles run
• 40 miles cycled
• :-( a busy week with fund raising and other engagements..! This week will be better.

Say Cheese... :-)

WOW, our first proper event took place this week on Wednesday. A cheese and wine tasting in Hampton and what a great night it was. Definately a resounding success. 21 of us spent a glorious evening tasting all sorts of delicious cheeses and quaffing lovely wines.

Steve of the Cheese & Wine Company gave us lots of interesting information about everything we sampled and I learnt an awful lot in beween chatting and socialising with the other attendees. Did you know there is a cheese that is banned from being taken on the Metro in France as its so smelly...?

I can highly recommend the expertise of Steve and his staff if you are looking for something different to try or just want to buy a bottle of delicious wine to take home to accompany your dinner. They have a calendar of tasting event always on the go.

L to R - Karen Browning, The lovely Lara Suttie-Sims & Paul Beven enjoying the very smelly cheese thats banned from the French Metro.

L to R - Kate Cleminson & John Pugh beating Heart disease together!

If only we could stop enroute and sample some more of those we tasted. Sadly I dont think riding 100+ miles a day is compatible with drinking lots of wine.

Our very grateful thanks go to Lara who arranged the evening and has been an invaluable help to us and our fund raising already. She is an absolute star. Along with a contribution from each of the tickets sold we had a couple of impromptu competitions on the night and in total ended up with £230.71 from the evening which I have to say I think was a fabulous start to our events. I had to catch the train home after the event and I heard later that some of the attendees had such a nice time their nightcap in the pub afterwards meant they missed the last train home.. Whoops! Does confirm my suspicions though that they enjoyed themselves.

Alongside the organised events there have been more donations to the site from friends and family many of whom I have not had to pleasure of seeing for some time. Yet they have still found the time and funds to donate. It is these donations that are truly humbling and means so much to me.

Hazel and Duncan are long standing friends of my parents for more than 30 years. I still remember celebrating New Year when I was 10 at their house. Thinking back to all those parties and social gatherings over the years the outstanding memory is of much laughter and merriment. Thank you for everything.

Aunty Joan in Motherwell, Scotland and  Peter & Val Lawrence from Saffy City (Saffron Walden) are more long standing friends and family. Thank you for your contributions.

Remember Tom Daly from earlier posts, my distant cousin in Portugal? Tom was kind enough to pass on my details to his bowls club friends and two fabulous ladies that i have never had the pleasure of meeting have donated. WOW...how cool is that? Thanks Tom you are a legend.

With all this amazing help we are now up to 8% of our total so almost double figures.

Have a lovely weekend one and all, we are hoping the rains stays away long enough to bike to Frimley tomorrow for a spot of lunch with my mother in law. It will be good to be back on the bike for sure, only 40 miles this week so far as there were too many other commitments. After all that cheese and wine I am too frightened to step on the weighing scales.

Haringey Social Services love Johnny Depp.

Last week was Valentines Day and a little topical sweepstake took place at Healix but also I forwarded the details to my fabulous sister Christine who has been doing some consultancy at Haringey Social Services for a while now. She had a fantastic response from staff there who were only too happy to pay a pound and select a heartthrob from the 50 on offer.

I am told Johhny Depp won it and with a prize of £10 for the winner that was £40 towards the target.

Thank you everyone in Haringey who took part. :-) It's really appreciated.

Our one at Healix was won by Helen McDermott with Prince William.we are clearly somewhat more conservative down here in South West London..not nearly so daring. Helen amazingly handed back her £10 prize later in the week declaring she couldnt sleep until she had given the money back and added it to the fund. Thanks Hels, we didnt mean to cause insomnia.

Steep hills to climb.

Still feeling flabby & slothful and that I have a mountain to climb. Several mountains actually, mostly in Spain. Am not sure I can rely entirely on being fit by the time I get there having just cycled through France. On the other hand don't want to peak too early.

Fundraising also looks like a mountain to climb but at least there will be some fun involved in the acsent - starting with wine & cheese tomorrow night.

Weight loss zero, miles run zero (actually from now on take that as read), miles cycled pitifully few.

London to Gibraltar in Cheese and Wine - 16th February

Do you like cheese and Wine? That's a silly question for an awful lot of us so we are hoping there will be plenty of interest in tickets for this fabulous event. We have arranged our first fundraiser....Yippeeeeee....!

The event will take place at Hampton's newest and busiest business.. The Cheese and WIne Company. They have been fantastically supportive of our charity goals and have come up with a superb selection of cheese and wine for us to taste all selected from places along the cycle route. Ingenious idea Steve! Steve Parker will lead us down a route of discovery teaching us about the cheeses and wines as we wind our way south to Southern Spain and Gibraltar.

If you are free on the evening of the 16th February and would like to join us tickets are £20. Tickets can be obtained by emailing me.

Tickets are limited so don't delay to avoid disappointment.

Here is one of the great tickets for the event, if you want a clue as to what treats are in store. Aren't they great?

Now I said earlier we have organised our first event which is slightly economical with the truth. Soon after we openly declared around the office what our plans were Lara Suttie-Sims and Sasha Hill stepped up to the plate and asked if they could help with organising events and fund raising in general. OMG...!!! YES PLEASE WE SHOUTED. That is an offer that doesn't happen every day and since they did this I feel as though we have a real team all helping to reach the goal. The whole fund raising task seems somehow more tangible as I know we have the support of some brilliant organisers and hugely enthusiastic people. I am hoping to do a little blog post to introduce them properly as its only right that their names are emblazoned across this blog. Sasha, Lara, there is no hiding at the back.

This Cheese and Wine evening has been Lara's idea and she has done everything so far to bring it to fruition. I for one shall be raising my glass to toast her and the success of our first event. Why not come along and join us?

Oh and while I remember, sadly we remain a team of two. That Gary Edmondson of Avid Insurance has for the second time Piked out of an event that he said he would complete... PIKER..! Named and shamed... :-) Tee heee

Two's company, three's a Peloton

There could be mutiny in the ranks. I don't want to mention any names or give the game away here but there is unrest out there, one of our blog followers is very interested to join the ride and the fund raising. Excellent I say. The more the merrier. I could do with a decent set of wheels to sit behind the whole way to Gibraltar and this persons wheels are tried and tested in the London to Paris ride in 2009.

The unrest is due to a prior commitment he has to an event he needs to actually complete. Last time we all did Race the Sun I am not sure that he even finished it at all. We had all gone to bed by then and he never made the final fuel station in the pub bar so I think that's why he was planning to try again.

Move on, come to Gibraltar where the sun at least will hopefully be shining and the chances of rain and 70mph wind gusts are drastically reduced.

I will see if I can dig out a picture and post it, we could blow his cover wide open. I hope it doesn't upset the delicate negotiations going on at home, he needs to tick that box before he can sign the application form for sure.

But then again, abit like 'Race the Sun'. He might say he can do it and then not deliver. We shall see.....

Oh and Paul as long as the weight gain remains less than or equal to zero you are one step ahead of me in the training.

Paul's second blog post...

I received a whole lot of stuff from BHF yesterday, mostly about my liabilities (of which there are many), and fund-raising tips. I suspect a lot of thought will go into the fund-raising side over the next few months. As Jane says, we have started with a number of alcohol-related ideas. Probably makes sense to arrange things we would like to attend ourselves - more likely we will get a quorum!

Current weight loss = 0 pounds. Running nil, cycling about 10 miles. How am I doing so far?

Les Gets Piste 2011...

Cross Training is good. I am planning to do a little on the ski slopes of Les Gets in March. Its all very exciting and I am really looking forward to it. Gary Edmondson from Avid Insurance has arranged it, well actually I think Joanne Coughlan from Avid can actually claim that prize, she has worked tirelessly to set 16 of us up in a chalet.

Some of you may be thinking this is some sort of work jolly, well you would be wrong its a deadly serious research trip to understand the risks that British holiday makers are exposed to every year when they mix large amounts of alcoholic beverage with hazardous sports. There will be a lot of very serious research going on I can tell you.

Gary has started a blog to chart the adventures research. you can see it here. I am not sure that he has got the idea of actually posting much yet but hopefully soon he will.

I have only skied once before, last year and i use the term 'Skied' loosely there. so this should be interesting.

Back home we have started to get underway with our fundraising plans. So far we have decided to try and arrange the following, If you think there is any help you can give towards any of them please let me know.

1. Spring Ball - Hopefully sometime in June. Date to be confirmed. All welcome tickets will be on sale nearer the time and we hope to have a decent auction and raffle with all sorts of great prizes. such as a helicopter flights, photography portrait session etc. Prizes very welcome if you have any unwanted gifts from Christmas still looking for a home.
2. Cheese and Wine tasting evening in Hampton - Pencilled in for the evening of 16th February. Please let me know if you are interested in attending. 
3. Easter Egg Hunt - Bushey Park
4. Summer BBQHog roast - TBA
5. Pub Quiz - TBA

Mum is helping me to arrange a cake sale in Saffy City soon too so if you live in or near Saffron Walden, Look out cakes coming soon. Yum yum...

Training update

1. 5lbs total weight loss. 
2. Running miles last week 11 including a lap of hilly richmond park
3. Cycling 75 miles all commuting miles.