Whaddaya mean you want the exposure but not give us anything in return?

As we are filming a documentary of the 2010 1000Mile Challenge which will be placed on Youtube and Vimeo with daily video and photo updates also on RoadcyclingUK.com, BikeMagic.com and BikeRadar.com, a daily blog update on those sites and many more areas of exposure the marketing and visibility potential for sponsors is huge. Especially for companies in the cycling industry this is a marketing and goodwill opportunity not to be laughed at. Tens of thousands of people will see their products and their logos on our jerseys and as such their customer base can only grow as a result. But some of these companies want everything and in return they want to give you nothing. It speaks for itself that we will not be using them. And I'm not naming them here either because any publicity is good publicity... I guess the old proverb 'you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink' will always remain true. Yes, 'you can give a man a book but you can't make him think'. And so it shall be.

Right now, I am just looking forward to tomorrow's training ride with Ollie. We'll be heading into the Surrey hills for a 100miler and I will burn off some of this negative energy. You never can win them all of course, but it is still hard to comprehend. Some of these companies that cannot see the value we offer them are probably a bit blind. One thing is for sure though - with marketing nous like that they are probably not here to stay for the long run anyway. Now, enough of this. Positive energy only.

Success!

It tastes sweet! After a great meeting with Tom and Tahir at Action Cameras I have received confirmation that they will help us out with 3 X170 bullet cams. What's more, they also offered to give a 10% discount to purchasers of the camera if they use a special discount code (watch this space), PLUS an additional 10% of the price as a donation to our charities. I really could not have wished for a more pleasant company to deal with. Tom and Tahir - THANKS!

The proverbial silence before the storm was actually an ash cloud...

After two weeks of more or less forced relaxation I have just arrived back in the UK. I say more or less forced because the mobile stopped working and I was also unable to get on to the internet and work... and getting home to a working internet and phone was also rather impossible due to the ash cloud. Apologies to employers - I guess this is what they refer to as 'force majeure'. But, please send your complaints here and I will forward them on to my friend Jonas in the Icelandic Foreign Ministry. Eyjafjallajökull made lots of things rather tricky and it clearly demonstrated how powerless we as humans are against the might of Mother Earth. Trying to get back to the UK was a nightmare. No planes, no trains. And ferries that were so full people were forced to try the craziest things to get on board. I heard some people were told they could not board as 'foot passengers' because those tickets were sold out. The only way to get on board was as a 'cyclist', prompting many people to buy a bike so they could get on, only to be told on the other side of the water they had to leave the bikes behind if they wanted to be taken to the train station on the bus... Many people were left rather out of pocket due to this rather bureaucratic craziness and I hope they didn't splash cash on expensive cycles. Then again, they could have actually ridden their new two-wheeled friends to the station. Or even home.

After some days of tension as to whether the ash cloud would dissipate and flights could be resumed the air finally cleared. Dirk's partner was able to fly home, and the car journey back to London was back in the diary. By the time of our return journey on Sunday 25th April most of the transport problems caused by the volcano had eased and we were happy to be able to resume our lives.

I was however carrying some extra pounds by now - those damned yummy Dutch specialties... With full resolve to shed this I booked some more training days before the start of the 2010 1000Mile Challenge on the 22nd of May. The date was now not creeping but thundering closer and with so many things to still organise I simply dived into the maelstrom and have started giving it some serious stick. On Tuesday I will be meeting up with Tom at ActionCameras to discuss the use of their excellent X170 bullet cameras and then there are still the jerseys to design and print, speak to potential sponsors for foodstuffs, sponsors for bike spares, and the list goes on...

At least bikes are not affected by Eyjafjallajökull...

Everything has seemingly ground to a halt. By something we cannot see, hear, taste or feel. Courtesy of the erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. Apparently there is enough ash in the air that it poses a danger to aircraft, but it certainly can't be seen with the naked eye from where I am standing in the garden. All planes and choppers are out of the sky, stopping passenger transport but also mail and food and other perishables and creating travel chaos for thousands. It does make for clear skies though, and it is lovely and peaceful here in Delft. No silver birds heading to the nearby Rotterdam and Schiphol airports, and no trails anywhere. The sky is indeed so clear that the sun can easily burn through giving us lovely shorts and t-shirts days. But I still have no bike...and it is actually really getting to me. It's like I have been forced to go cold turkey and am suffering withdrawal effects. Rather enviously I look at the zillions of bikes that are around everywhere here in Holland. I resolve to do some serious training as soon as I am back in London. 100 miles. Every day. Maybe. Definitely.

How to train without a bike?

Tomorrow Dirk and I will be heading over to The Netherlands. My son Noah will be coming along on this 'Big Boys Trip' too, and he has already packed his things. He's been looking forward to this trip for months now, asking me almost daily when we are going. When you're 4 years old these things are pretty darned exciting! I will be staying at my parents' house for two weeks, putting together my showreel, meeting up with dear friends I have not seen for far too long, and doing some work too before the big storm of sponsorship sourcing, organising, writing, and so on will hit... It will also mean that my almost daily 30Mile (50km) rides will suddenly stop. Because in this country of cycles I actually do not have a bike in the garage anymore. The Dutch bike I had went to bicycle heaven many moons ago and the 1977 Peugeot PX10 I used to commute to school on has been in London now for almost 16 years. I will be bringing a bike with me though, but the rebuilt and rather tasty looking Cube Comp Custom standing next to me in the office here is actually destined for my brother. It's a late birthday present which is aimed at getting him to leave his car parked more often and taking the bike instead. And he actually asked for it too, which took me rather by surprise as he is a bit of a petrolhead. He very quickly forgot about his MTB when he was a kid, went to scooters and then to cars and has been trading up since. Well, at least the polished alloy and black colour scheme will suit his taste. It certainly always drew admiring glances when I rode it around London in its previous guises. But, it means no training for me for two weeks and I can already sense that I will be adding some more to my already highish weight. Sigh...oh well, I'll just call it energy reserves for the 22nd May, which is approaching all too rapidly!

Undertraining vs. Interesting Television

My my my... I think none of us are training enough, apart from maybe Ollie, who commutes on the bike from Richmond to Canary Wharf every day and back! He´s certainly lost weight and his thighs are looking rather stronger every time I see him. And if truth be told, it really is very difficult to get everyone together for group training rides. We all have very busy work schedules and most of us have kids and wives/girlfriends, who naturally also need time and attention. In a way it reminds me of playing in a band! I vividly remember how difficult it was get us all at the same place at the same time. And it also did not matter whether you lived close to each other or not! The big difference though is the lack of 'creative incongruence', of course the biggest stumbling block when trying to create songs that worked...
Nevertheless, as we are making a documentary of the 2010 1000Mile Challenge focusing on the human drama of undertaking such a challenge, I comfort myself with the thought that at least if we are not trained enough, it will make the television more interesting!

2010 1000MC Training Ride 3 - Richmond Park

RICHMOND PARK

Saturday, 3 April 2010

Objective - 50 miles, practising drafting

Today will be a relatively easy one. The objective is to ride at least 50 miles/7 laps of Richmond Park, practising drafting and turntaking at the front, and adding some base miles to our training. I know Dirk went to a football game yesterday (and probably having a pint or two...) so it´s unlikely it will turn into a race this time. Having said that, I just helped him rebuild his bike with lighter wheels so I´m sure he´ll want to try them out in anger...
The weather forecast did not look like a happy one though - heavy rain showers - and as predicted it is pissing down when my son comes to wake me for breakfast. As soon as they had come they also disappeared thoughand by the time I stepped out of the front door it was dry. Not quite sunny and warm, but dry at least!

At 09.30 I pull into the Roehampton Cafe carpark and meet up with the rest of the gang, all of them sipping coffees and munching on cakes inside. For a cafe so hugely popular with the usual crowd of road cyclists training in Richmond Park it is disappointing that park management haven´t yet figured out that cleats caked in mud don´t clip into pedals very well. High time they gravelled the outside area I´d say!

After some chat about the looming 2010 1000Miles Challenge and a brief visit by a chap who saved me from a long walk earlier that week (giving me a spare inner tube when I was stood in the sudden and pouring rain, unable to glue the patch on...) we set off.

Another important training exercise today was to improve pedalling cadence, aiming for a smooth spinning motion in the ideal range of 85-100 rpm (pedal revolutions per minute) which is much more efficient - and easier on the legs, especially the knees. It builds aerobic fitness and by chopping the distance into smaller chunks it also means less anaerobic power is required. And hey, learning to pedal like this turned Lance Armstrong from a racer to a race winner, and if it is good enough for him...

Richmond Park is a beautiful training ground for road cyclists as the circular route around the park has some steep hills, windy flats and fast descents. Traffic is also limited to a 20mph maximum speed, but, if truth be told, 90% of drivers do not adhere to it. I just cannot fathom why they need to go fast even here, a park full of people on bikes on the road, crossing deer and lots of kids. Sometimes I just wish I had a Police ID so I could ticket the lot of them. Anyway, I digress... Today was a good training ride. We complete the 7 laps with relative ease but we still need to work on our average speed as some are still too slow. However, we are all upbeat and really looking forward to more training rides before embarking on the BIG one on 22nd May 2010...