IT'S DONE

Yes, I did it! All the training paid off and I had a great time. The sun shone down on us and the scenery was fantastic. There were some tough bits but the hard work I did in the cold and rain around Cheshire made it enjoyable instead of painful!

Most importantly THANKS. Thanks to everyone who sponsored me. I probably won't be able to say thanks to everyone personally but I will try and say thanks to as many as I can.

Shame the rugby wasn't as good as the cycling.
Thanks also to Austin Healey and John Inverdale for welcoming us in Paris when we were all knackered!


There are pics available here's a taster
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb254/scopephotos/Damian%20Crawford/DSC_0311.jpg

Bonjour!

So here I am in Paris CDG airport after watching Bernard Laporte's side self destruct in front of an expectant French crowd last night. They were not pleased. I am a little nervous about the fact that I seem to be developing a cold. Please don't let it be so. Some better news is that the weather seems to be getting better and is supposed to be glorious next week for the ride. Let's hope so.
My tickets for the Paris quarter final might yet become the object of Irish desire.
If you are going to any games, my advice is leave plenty of time to get there as the metro was rammed. Also take a few beers with you as outside the ground was badly organised in terms of food and drink sales. Didn't seem to bother the locals but I am sure it will be a hassle if you like a drink and a feed at the ground.
Bring on that bike ride and bring on South Africa! (Brave words sat here!)

Countdown and thanks

So............ not long to go. My neck is holding up and I am looking forward to my trip. Thanks so much for the latest sponsorship money. Thanks to one of my customers too at Whatman Fibre in Kent! Thanks to the Tigers fans and Sale fans who sponsored me and Kath from the England site (and any I may have missed)
Now to the bit that will make you sick! I can't train a week on Friday/Saturday because I have tickets for the opening ceremony and opening game, France v Argentina. Should be a cracker.
First up though, Sutti, Platty and myself have to coax our seconds through a tricky fixture against Birkenhead Park 2nds at home. I will have to get a big ride done in the morning too so an early start will be required! Oh well, some beers and a well eraned break aren't far away.
Have done some maintenance on my bike too. Should keep it in good form for the ride!

1st setback?

Unsurprisingly it seems I have overdone it. In an effort to get into tip top shape I have injured my neck. I was swimming and cycling alternate days. How on earth I have injured my neck doing that I really don't know. Must be bad technique somewhere along the line. Anyway some rest has improved it and I have been hitting the step machine instead.
One bit of good news, I am currently the lightest I have been since I set off for Sheff Poly some XX years ago! 12 st 6. Remarkably though, according to the BMI scale, I should be about 6ft 3 not 5ft 10 (in stacks). I wonder how tall Jason Leonard should be by that scale?
Anyway, one last push for fitness and sponsorship. In the words of those weird woollen things off the TV car ads "C'mon"

Long time no blog

Well, what a busy few weeks. I have to confess I just haven't had time to look at my blog but here we go. Well I have now become a Level 2 rugby coach and a qualified Nitrox diver. I had a week in Sharm, Egypt and dived with Hammerhead sharks off the back of Jackson Reef in the straits of Tiran. Met some great people in Sharm so a big hello to those infamous sea-dogs, the Seagull Gang.
Coming back to work was a bit of a shock and coaching in the rain wasn't too pleasant after 35 degrees of heat in Sharm. Of course my training took a bit of a hit but I managed to get around 100 miles in this week and 2 x 30 minute swimming sessions so not too shabby. I really need to get the mileage up from now to the event. The target is 150 miles a week and 2 or 3 swimming sessions but that is a tall order looking at my workload.

Anyway, back to the diving. It was a fab week and I hope to get some piccies posted very soon so keep watching. I also managed to get a great dive in on the SS Thistlegorm when it was unusually quiet. Thanks to Jim from Ocean College for being a top guide all week.

Shoe Fetish........

I set off on Sunday to meet Chester RC but I was the only one there. Are they trying to tell me something? Anyway in a moment of sheer lunacy I decided I would head off up the Horseshoe again. I took it easy on the way as I knew what was waiting and felt pretty good at the Ponderosa. However the climb over the old road was really tough. It wasn't helped when a lady flagged me down for directions half way up a steep section. When I jumped back on my bike to set off again, the rear wheel just span in the wet and I ended up in a pile on the floor. With a small bruise to my arm and a huge bruise to my pride I set off again dodging the sheep that seemed intent on making me look stupid twice in one day! How on earth the game of "Chicken" got it's name I don't know. It should have been called "Sheep". In any case I was in a bad way by the time I got home. I really was shattered this time. I did a slightly different route of 64 miles. The middle 20 miles takes as long as the first and last 20 combined! Just shows how slow the climbs are. I don't think I'll be entering the tour! I also met a couple of other masochistic cyclists at the Ponderosa cafe who train at Total Fitness in Chester. I was slightly upset that they didn't look half as knackered as me!




However one thing to look forward to, I have booked a weeks scuba diving in the Red Sea. I can't wait.
This was me in Tenerife last year poking around a wreck. I plan to go to the SS Thistlegorm this time. Its an early start and a late return but should be worth it.

Horseshoe Hell Pt 2

So with the horseshoe conquered once I was feeling cocky last Saturday and decided to do the Pass again from home this time. I picked out a route which returned over a road nr the Horseshoe. I was a little worried as I didn't know this road and couldn't remember ever passing the turning before, even in my motorbiking days. Still, it couldn't be harder than the horseshoe could it?

Lesson 1 - Never trust a map. It looked like the road followed the valley. Oh how I wish I had used an OS map and not a road map. Half way up this killer climb on the return journey I started to realise that this was easily the hardest ride I had done to date by a huge margin.

Lesson 2 - Never assume the hard bit is done. Once at the Ponderosa at the top of the horseshoe I had thought I had done all the really hard climbing. Little did I realise that I was about to lose most of the altitude in a 5 min high speed descent only to have to climb it all again on a single track road!

Attached a pic of offending return climb for anyone who fancies a go. The ride was planned to be 55 miles but turned out to be 58 by after an unplanned deviation from the route! Whoops

Still, the weather was fantastic and the road to Minera was completely empty. Despite the fact I was completely "cream crackered" it was very enjoyable. I even managed a quick ride on Tuesday morning without too much of that weak leg feeling I normally get for a few days after a big ride.

The rest of this week is a bit of a write off in terms of training. I am commissioning some equipment this week and on a stag weekend. Next week its back to Somerset and Blagdon Hill. Let's see if it's any easier. Surely a doddle after the horseshoe? Maybe not.

ALSO A BIG BIG THANKS TO MY RECENT SPONSORS. KEEP IT COMING I NEED ALL THE SPONSORSHIP I CAN GET