Once again I have made the decision to participate in a long distance cycle. After cycling Land's End to John O'Groats in 2012 I knew it wouldn't be long before I did another.
The chosen trip is Channel to Med, starting in Caen in Northern France on Saturday 1st August and finishing in Nice two weeks later. The trip is organised by the brilliant Peak Tours with whom I completed LEJoG.
At the moment I have certain bits booked - ferry from Portsmouth and first night's accommodation but still to work out flights south, bike transport to Peak Tours base in Glossop, coming home flights etc, but that is on my February to-do list!
Anyone who read my previous blog may start to recognise some names as there are 5 of us from the LEJoG trip doing this, Sue, Sharon, Dave, Ron...and me. There is however a gaping hole in this trip for me and that is Rachel Crisp, who cannot join us and is dealing with cancer at the moment. I have not seen Rachel since Inverness at the end of the last trip, however I plan to see her before this trip as I miss her tremendously and we need to drink wine together. I am looking forward to meeting new people and making new friends in France, a Facebook group has been set up by Bob White who appears to be a keen runner and cyclist (a bit like me but with more motivation!) and this group now numbers about 19, including a group from South Australia who will be cycling as well.
I haven't been on the bike much recently as, after losing a friend who was killed by a car when on his bike, I haven't felt much like hitting the roads. This will pass though and the first cycle I do this year will be in memory of Neil Jaffrey.
Before the trip I have one (at the moment) challenge to complete. I was offered a much coveted place in a team for the Highland Cross in June. This is probably one of the most difficult races to get into as it now is by invitation only, so I obviously jumped at the chance. It is a 20 mile hill run followed by a 30 mile cycle, I am looking forward to it very much as it has been a while since I have done anything multi-discipline and verging on long distance, the last one being an ultra, the Nokia Coast to Coast in 2010. I completed a few sportives last year the photo below being from the Cairngorm 100.
So, the first post is the usual ramblings of thoughts, hopes, reasons and forthcoming challenges...with a photo of my beautiful bike Ruby who is looking forward to the trip as well...
