Day 3 start

0515 alarm call, breakfast for 0550 and on the road by 0650

Started cool but getting hot now.

Great stop at a school driveway

Kieran

+44 7769 744757

Day 2 begins

We got through day 2 without any major mishaps.

Jim did come off his bike but thankfully at low seed and ghas a lovely
gashed knee as a momento

We arrived at the hotel in Dieppe around 1240 am and joe and Kieran
got some strange looks as they ordered Baileys from the hotel bar!!!

All 3 adventurers were asleep quickly though- may have had something
to do with the 9 hrs cycling!!

Day 2 looks hot!!!

Waiting for Dolphin joe to get out of the shower ( he does spend an
inordinate amount of time in there) then it is breakfast and on to the
bikes
Allez Allez

We are off

Well folks. This is it

Very warm morning in London and Pre exam nerves are in the air.
Everyone is SIZING up each other - oh, he looks like s proper cyclist!!

But fear not. The team is ready and willing. Roll on the first miles

Kieran

+44 7769 744757

Train to London

Kieran & Jim set-off from Aberdeen and it was not long till we met a
set of twins, a friend and a wife travelling to London.

They were all impressed with our atheltic adventure and after we
finished all the Guinness it was on to whisky & G&T

The athletes are now in bed waiting for london to arrive

Countdown news

Jim burns his hand with hot honey !!!
- please don't ask

Gel saddles are all the rage - last minute panick buying

And wonderful news that we have hit our £5000 target. Thank you all so
much. Let's see how high we can go :-)

All the bikes have been cleaned, training has ceased and we are all
relaxing before the big weekend.

The only difficult thing left to do is to travel on a sleeper train
from Aberdeen to London with poor kieran having to share a cabin with
jim !!! Surely that is worth another donation.

Jim hits the hills

Done 30 miles at 06:00 yesterday morning and 30 miles at 18:00 yesterday evening and survived ! Legs were burning during evening session but still managed to average 17.3mph on both sessions ;o)

Regards

Jim Hendry

 Hit another target last night when I got all the way to the top of the Cairn O'Mount without stopping. Coming down was also interesting hitting 48.2 mph and could have gone faster but started to panic and hit the brakes !

 

 

 

 

Miles & miles & miles

Joe hits the roads of London; Jim & Kieran hit the hills of
abeerdeenshire.

Jim then does Cairn O' Mount today. A SERIOUS mountain climb.

So training going well for everyone & the donation target grows closer.

donation target in sight

thanks to all who have donated so far... we are really close so hopefully a final push will see us make our target

Training ramps up

14 days to go and the boys are stepping up training

Jim "hardcore trainer" is doing 2x30 mile rides per day... how does he get the time never mind the energy?

Kieran has been hitting 20-30 miles per day

Joe is putting in more miles on the road than ever before

3 weeks to go

Joe has a new, super-duper bike and all the equipment/cycle clothing that only a premium credit card can provide for you. He has been putting in the miles and told us all that he did a hill climb that had a gradient of 1 in 1... he almost made it all the way... do we believe him re the 1 in 1 gradient... OF COURSE WE DO, WE ARE TEAM MATES

Jim has been top of the league with clocking up the miles AS HE HAS BEEN DOING A PUNISHING 2 RIDES PER DAY ON 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS... impressive. But he is also clocking up the number of punctures... hopefully not an omen for the trip as he has been getting one at least every 2 days recently, sometimes 2 in a day !!

Kieran had a compete tyre BLOW OUT after descending a hill at over 40mph... and 10 miles away from the car. Luckily with Jim's puncture repair over the outside of the tyre and a new inner tube which was 1/4 inflated, he managed the 2 mile mountain climb back and the full 10 miles to return to the car. In the process he damaged the CRANK and HEADSET (sounds painful) so bike has been in for repair

All in all, the team are in good spirits, good condition and looking forward to the ride.. but not the 3 days in the saddle

999 : injury update

Jim damages his ankle playing football ... looks serious !!!

Kieran visits a surgeon to be told he needs a knee operation for torn cartilage !!!

Joe has a broken finger nail and a slight swelling in his posterior !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


BUT THESE MEN ARE TOUGH...... nothing will stop them on the Paris adventure and to honour the charitable donations... tune in next time to to another adventure with An Englishman, an Irishman & a Scotsman

training update

Jim has been pounding the roads... 3 punctures and a 5 mile standing cycle home because the back tyre was flat !!

Joe has been hitting the gym & 2 days of road cycling

Jim & Kieran complete 30 mile cycle in the Cairngorms (BIG Mountains) in 2 hours... Guinness pit stop 1/2 way and almost gatecrashed a highland wedding

facing your fears..

whilst drinking the "black stuff" and dreaming up this crazy challenge, Joe omitted what has turned out to be quite a REVELATION... until he started his on-road cycle training last week, he had NEVER (repeat NEVER) cycled on the road in the UK

now Jim is feeling quite good about this.. believing he wont finish last now ... Kieran is advising Joe to get really big, knobbly tyres because it will make the road journey much more comfortable for Joe... absolutely nothing to do with being competitive and trying to slow Joe down

so if there is anyone out there who can help Joe with his cycling proficiency test, please get in touch... but he looks lovely in his reflective ankle straps and stabilisers... roll on the French mountains :-)

challenge upon challenge

fantastic donations coming through, we have almost hit half our target so far, but some are starting to come with "STRINGS ATTACHED"

Amazing £250 offline contribution from Wolves Dave … but had some link to Joe & vaseline requirements!

Andy Butler has volunteered to double his contribution should the Irish ‘Leo Sayer’ belt out “You Make Me Feel like Dancing” while cycling down the Champs-Elysees! Needless to say, Kieran has accepted the challenge!, but I'm sure Andy actually was referring to Joe!!!

Elderien says she will double her donation provided we make sure Joe does every mile... no problem


All challenges gratefully accepted and welcomed. Many thanks from all three of us on behalf of CLIC Sargent”

Jim organises a conf call to prep the big LAUNCH

Jim's project management skills are much in evidence as the intrepid cyclists convene by conf call to finalise the launch of the charity fund raising.

Joe manages to join despite having travelled half of continental Europe and then by ferry back to his home in England... the joys of Volcanic Dust.

I wonder if volcanic dust could slow down our cycling.. getting in the spokes etc??? Hopefully the dust clouds will have lifted by June :-)

Jim is getting serious about his training

Just back from a family holiday in Ireland and Jim is up to start an 0600 12 mile ride this morning... impressive.

Joe is curretly eating chocolate in London.

Kieran is getting ready to go to the gym.

why are we doing this....

Joe Salinger (The Englishman)
Jim Hendry (The Scotsman)
Kieran McGowan (The Irishman)

happy to have the Welsh join & support us...

One cold night, not long ago, an Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman (heavily influenced by several pints of the 200 year old black stuff) vowed to put our bodies on the line, in the name of a charitable cause. It all seemed like a great idea at the time.


However, when we awoke the next day, we realised that there was no turning back ... we had agreed to cycle from London to Paris ... and that is exactly what we are going to do.

We will be cycling for CLIC Sargent ... and very specifically in memory of James Barber, a wonderful four year old boy, who was struck down by Leukemia and died in 1995.

All three of us are fathers who love our children dearly and the thought of what James' parents, Michael and Sonia, as well as so many parents have go through when cancer attacks one of their children, is too terrible to imagine.

CLIC Sargent helps children and young people with cancer and their families with the trauma of diagnosis, the often long journey through treatment and continues to support them afterwards. Every day 10 families are told that their child has cancer. Diagnosis often comes as a shock. Treatment usually starts straightaway and can last up to three years. CLIC Sargent is there with clinical, practical and emotional support, every step of the way.

Through Virgin Money Giving, you can sponsor us and donations will be quickly processed and passed to charities. Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and will claim gift aid on a charity's behalf where the donor is eligible for this.

Please note that every penny that you donate will go directly to the charity as Joe, Jim and Kieran will all be paying for their own trip.

We really appreciate all of your support and thank you for your donations.

Why not add your favourite Englishman, Scotsman, Irishman joke as a comment when you donate... we promise a special "gift" for the best one!! Laughter will definitely help us get through the challenge.

***********


well, we are now in training... well at least some of us... Joe is still thinking about the cycling!!

creating the charity donation web pages and they will be available soon so look forward to hearing from anyone and getting lots of donations as well as Englishman/Irishman/Scotsman jokes to boost our morale during the training period

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/englishmanscotsmanirishman