Not geographically, but we are now more than halfway to our fundraising target of £20,000.
Thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored us so far. If you have not done so, and would like to please log on to www.justgiving.com/bristoltoparis or send one of us a cheque when we get back
Thursday, 25 September 2008
The story of Day One.....(scroll down for the pictures)
A big thank you goes out to the catering staff for laying on a fantastic spread for us (a last supper!) and to everyone who came down to wave us off. In particular, thank you to Beccie Jordan from The Jessie May Trust and Tim Scott, from Scott Law who have provided us with the van.
We would love to say we did you proud, but within a minute arguments started as Rich (proudly wearing the yellow jersey for the first leg) led us off the wrong way down a one way street!
So how did we fare?
Well, it was longer than we thought, by the odd mile or twenty. You can tell that routeplanning was not foremost in our thoughts as we arrived in warminster in the gloom and realised we actually didn't know where we were staying overnight.
Points to note:
Chris was the first to draw blood with a fantastic tumble into the bushes, only to be attacked by his bike.
Rich got a puncture (no surprise) within the first hour.
One tray of flapjacks gone within 2 hous.
Notable prizes for the day were:
The yellow jersey was awarded to Rich for the amount of kit he had brought in the run up to the ride.
The pink jersey was given to Huw for the beard he has been sporting since returning from his training camp in France.
On the day
Sally - the least sweaty and smelly, despite wearing thermals and a jacket all day.
Chris - the most smelly and sweaty but compensated for this by also winning the most weight losss (due to excessivce sweating).
THANK YOUS
A massive thank you to Sue and William Neville and their family for putting us up and feeding us so well. William will be leading the ride tomorrow. I hope he knows what he has let himself in for!
The award has just been made for the jerseys tomorrow:
Yellow Jersey: William. Likely to be the only time that a proper cyclist wears it.
Pink Jersey: Beth. Meant to be for poor performance, but Beth wanted it too much, we couldn't say no. Quite why she was so keen after Huw had worn it out in the sun we will never know.....
Motto for the day, and theme for the ride is "It's not about the bike, it's about the food!"
We would love to say we did you proud, but within a minute arguments started as Rich (proudly wearing the yellow jersey for the first leg) led us off the wrong way down a one way street!
So how did we fare?
Well, it was longer than we thought, by the odd mile or twenty. You can tell that routeplanning was not foremost in our thoughts as we arrived in warminster in the gloom and realised we actually didn't know where we were staying overnight.
Points to note:
Chris was the first to draw blood with a fantastic tumble into the bushes, only to be attacked by his bike.
Rich got a puncture (no surprise) within the first hour.
One tray of flapjacks gone within 2 hous.
Notable prizes for the day were:
The yellow jersey was awarded to Rich for the amount of kit he had brought in the run up to the ride.
The pink jersey was given to Huw for the beard he has been sporting since returning from his training camp in France.
On the day
Sally - the least sweaty and smelly, despite wearing thermals and a jacket all day.
Chris - the most smelly and sweaty but compensated for this by also winning the most weight losss (due to excessivce sweating).
THANK YOUS
A massive thank you to Sue and William Neville and their family for putting us up and feeding us so well. William will be leading the ride tomorrow. I hope he knows what he has let himself in for!
The award has just been made for the jerseys tomorrow:
Yellow Jersey: William. Likely to be the only time that a proper cyclist wears it.
Pink Jersey: Beth. Meant to be for poor performance, but Beth wanted it too much, we couldn't say no. Quite why she was so keen after Huw had worn it out in the sun we will never know.....
Motto for the day, and theme for the ride is "It's not about the bike, it's about the food!"
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
An interview with.....
Hot on the heels of a minor cycling road race in France which finished recently, a team from Burges Salmon plans to cycle to Paris to raise funds for the Jessie May Trust in September. The team comprises the unlikely combination of Beth Tricker, Sally Jupp, Huw Cooke, Jamie Cameron, Rich Stovell, Chris Seaton and Richard Spink. Rumours are that Richard "Lance Armstrong" Spink will be looking for the yellow winner's jersey on this inaugural event. He took time out from his punishing training schedule to answer a few questions about the event and his ambitions.
Q: How is the training going?
A: Not quite as I had hoped at this stage, but hopefully better than Chris's, certainly worse than Huw and Jamie. Beth is scarily fit, Sally is in some overseas training camp and Rich is ....well, Rich has momentum. I have managed to find my bike at least and Chris is somewhere on the Atlantic at least 500 miles from a bike.
Q: Are there any specific things that you are doing as a team to prepare for the event?
A: We're expecting that Jamie and Huw will use this as an excuse to get their legs waxed again. I've been reading Lance Armstong's "It's Not about the Bike" and in our case that's definitely the case...it'll take more than fancy carbon fibre forks and slick tyres to get us to Paris! Seaton is brushing up on his French so that he can hitch a ride in a fast car. Sally is in India seeing her guru. Pretty much anything except getting on a bike.
Q: What are you most looking forward to?
A: Seeing Chris Seaton bonk [Ed - a technical cycling term when someone runs out of energy and collapses], watching Huw trying to load all of the bikes in one van every night (he says they should fit but I'm not convinced...), cycling round the Arc de Triomphe, seeing the Champs-Elysees and getting to the finish line.
Q: Isn't Huw a bit of a demon on a bike?
A: Well he did compete in an event last year which was a race over one of the mountain stages of the Tour de France but frankly we all know that a few all nighters in corporate finance is at least equivalent to that, but he does seem to be putting in a few cheeky hours of training which is slightly irritating of him.
Q:Is there anything that you are not looking forward to?
A:Most of it....riding behind Rich Stovell in lycra. Sitting on a narrow bike saddle for 4 days. Running out of vaseline. Getting beaten by Seaton. Wearing lycra shorts on a cold day.
Q: Is there anything particular that you will be taking with you?
A: Spare tyres (rumour has it that some of the team are focussing too heavily on these rather than the training), and a very comfortable chair for the end of each day.
Q: Who do you think will win the King of the Mountains prize and the famous polka dot jersey this year?
A: Rich Stovell - he thinks the jersey will match his itsy witsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini
Q: What long term impact is this ride going to have on your life?
A: Probably will never ride a bike again. Certainly won't be able to have any more kids.
Q:Finally, how much money are you aiming to raise?
A:We have set ourselves the target of raising at least £20,000 for the Jessie May Trust. The bike ride is going to really hurt us (particularly Chris and me), so please donate generously at our justgiving website (www.justgiving.com/bristoltoparis )or in September when we start collecting around the firm.
Q: How is the training going?
A: Not quite as I had hoped at this stage, but hopefully better than Chris's, certainly worse than Huw and Jamie. Beth is scarily fit, Sally is in some overseas training camp and Rich is ....well, Rich has momentum. I have managed to find my bike at least and Chris is somewhere on the Atlantic at least 500 miles from a bike.
Q: Are there any specific things that you are doing as a team to prepare for the event?
A: We're expecting that Jamie and Huw will use this as an excuse to get their legs waxed again. I've been reading Lance Armstong's "It's Not about the Bike" and in our case that's definitely the case...it'll take more than fancy carbon fibre forks and slick tyres to get us to Paris! Seaton is brushing up on his French so that he can hitch a ride in a fast car. Sally is in India seeing her guru. Pretty much anything except getting on a bike.
Q: What are you most looking forward to?
A: Seeing Chris Seaton bonk [Ed - a technical cycling term when someone runs out of energy and collapses], watching Huw trying to load all of the bikes in one van every night (he says they should fit but I'm not convinced...), cycling round the Arc de Triomphe, seeing the Champs-Elysees and getting to the finish line.
Q: Isn't Huw a bit of a demon on a bike?
A: Well he did compete in an event last year which was a race over one of the mountain stages of the Tour de France but frankly we all know that a few all nighters in corporate finance is at least equivalent to that, but he does seem to be putting in a few cheeky hours of training which is slightly irritating of him.
Q:Is there anything that you are not looking forward to?
A:Most of it....riding behind Rich Stovell in lycra. Sitting on a narrow bike saddle for 4 days. Running out of vaseline. Getting beaten by Seaton. Wearing lycra shorts on a cold day.
Q: Is there anything particular that you will be taking with you?
A: Spare tyres (rumour has it that some of the team are focussing too heavily on these rather than the training), and a very comfortable chair for the end of each day.
Q: Who do you think will win the King of the Mountains prize and the famous polka dot jersey this year?
A: Rich Stovell - he thinks the jersey will match his itsy witsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini
Q: What long term impact is this ride going to have on your life?
A: Probably will never ride a bike again. Certainly won't be able to have any more kids.
Q:Finally, how much money are you aiming to raise?
A:We have set ourselves the target of raising at least £20,000 for the Jessie May Trust. The bike ride is going to really hurt us (particularly Chris and me), so please donate generously at our justgiving website (www.justgiving.com/bristoltoparis )or in September when we start collecting around the firm.
Monday, 22 September 2008
Less than a week to go, last minute training finished - how are the riders looking?
Beth: The promised new bike has arrived, and what a bike! Will more than compensate for the missed training due to illness earlier in the summer. Beth has also added her own brand of chocolate rice crispie cakes to her reportoire, so may be the most popular rider in the peleton.
Chris: There have been a couple of unsubstantiated sightings of Chris out training on his bike. Has scared a couple of members of the team with the threat of compulsory post-ride sambuca sessions. Not a fan of Huw's suggested eat as you ride policy, and has spent the last week identifying suitable places en route for food and massages!
Huw: The magnitude of the ride seems to have actually got to Huw over in his bolthole in Brittany. Once feared amongst the team for his cycling prowess, recent events have lowered his status to just "one of the team", with revelations that he bottled out of a cycle half way round angelsey, and recent photos showing him sporting some interesting "facial growth"
Jamie: As the only member of the team not on a racing bike, Jamie has recently devoured Lance Armstrong's "It's not about the bike". Good news is that there is plenty of room on the bike for a bakset to carry the required french sticks and onions up the Champs Elysee. Most likely to be caught in a pink wig and a beret by L'Arc de Triomphe.
Richard Spink: A final bike inspection by an expert last week revealed that Richard has a top quality bike. Unfortunately, one more suited to a child. Not ideal for a man of Richard's standing.
Rich Stovell: Recent fears that the end of the world may be nigh, has taken his carbo loading to new levels. Also, now the team "master of the puncture"(getting towards double figures over the last 6 weeks) we are hoping he will not be kept to busy. The new bike is strangely brown - what more can you say.....
Sally: The Queen of the Jelly Bean, and the most likely member of the team to try to out-sambuca Chris. Don't mention clip-in pedals, or, in fact, ribs....A painful combination.
Chris: There have been a couple of unsubstantiated sightings of Chris out training on his bike. Has scared a couple of members of the team with the threat of compulsory post-ride sambuca sessions. Not a fan of Huw's suggested eat as you ride policy, and has spent the last week identifying suitable places en route for food and massages!
Huw: The magnitude of the ride seems to have actually got to Huw over in his bolthole in Brittany. Once feared amongst the team for his cycling prowess, recent events have lowered his status to just "one of the team", with revelations that he bottled out of a cycle half way round angelsey, and recent photos showing him sporting some interesting "facial growth"
Jamie: As the only member of the team not on a racing bike, Jamie has recently devoured Lance Armstrong's "It's not about the bike". Good news is that there is plenty of room on the bike for a bakset to carry the required french sticks and onions up the Champs Elysee. Most likely to be caught in a pink wig and a beret by L'Arc de Triomphe.
Richard Spink: A final bike inspection by an expert last week revealed that Richard has a top quality bike. Unfortunately, one more suited to a child. Not ideal for a man of Richard's standing.
Rich Stovell: Recent fears that the end of the world may be nigh, has taken his carbo loading to new levels. Also, now the team "master of the puncture"(getting towards double figures over the last 6 weeks) we are hoping he will not be kept to busy. The new bike is strangely brown - what more can you say.....
Sally: The Queen of the Jelly Bean, and the most likely member of the team to try to out-sambuca Chris. Don't mention clip-in pedals, or, in fact, ribs....A painful combination.
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