The Boyz and their Bikez
| Andy Miller |
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Hi i'm Andy and I think I must have been mad to have got roped into this trip. I'm still not sure how we have managed to turn what was supposed to be a relaxing break in the South of France into a mammoth cycle trip. Nevertheless here we are half way through our training and I'm actually looking forward to the challenge. I've always been keen on cycling but have never done this sort of distance before and 100 miles a day still seems pretty outlandish. I think we will need a rest day or three along the way to make it in one piece. I've just bought a new bike especially for the adventure and after much deliberation I settled on a Trek 7700 Hybrid which is proving to be a good choice. I've had it for around 3 weeks now and have notched up around 600 miles already. Its taken some tweaking to get me in the right ride position and its quite different to the old Giant OCR2 Roadbike I was riding before but I've grown to like it . Its sturdy, fast and comfortable so ideal for the journey ahead. I hope that you enjoy following myself and Jon on our little roadtrip and that you support the charity that we are raising cash for along the way. Bird is a great local charity that helps many children, adults and their families enabling them to enjoy a better quality of life. Please dig deep and show your support. Thankyou, Andy Miller |
| Jon Shorter |
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Hi I'm Jon; I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany. Really? I'm 32 and living back with my folks in Chester for the summer. I'm a student again right now, just enjoying the holiday between 1st and 2nd year at UWE in Bristol. Being a poor student renewed my interest in cycling, with Bristol also being the country's number one city for cyclists. I tend to chop and change between running and cycling, though I've never tried anything half as ambitious as the 1000 miles to Monaco. The planning's been a lot of fun, so has the training. I managed 250 miles in 36 hours cycling from Bristol to London and back, though this took 2 days to recover from so there's still a lot more training to do. The hardest thing when cycling long distance is to make sure you take on enough calories. Burning 8000kCal in a day means you're having to break every hour for food and electrolyte drinks (to replace your body's salts). If you don't, you 'Bonk' .. or, as runners call it, you 'hit the wall'... that's generally when you go all faint, get cramp, and wish you were at home in front of the TV. Please keep an eye on our website - we'll need your support!! - there'll be plenty to see on our site, with live GPS tracking, our diary in blog form, and a guest-book where you can leave words of encouragement and abuse. Thanks for stopping by the site - and if you could spare a few quid to support the amazing work that B.I.R.D. do and/or a donation to help us along with our costs we'd be eternally grateful. Much love... et au revoir... Jon |
| Andy's Bike | Jon's Bike |
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| Trek 7700 Hybrid | Scott Scale 40 |
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