South Downs Charity Ride

I’ve just spent the last 4 days in Wales, visiting my Dad who’s recently been admitted to Shrewsbury hospital. He’s not been too good lately, suffering from a severe infection which has left him weak and disorientated. At 86 years old and suffering from Diabetes these infections take their toll, but seeing him yesterday before I left for Brighton he was almost unrecognisable from last week. His strength and recovery never fail to amaze me and he has put this down time and time again to his years of cycling. Reading his early years memoirs on his blog will give you some insight into this seemingly endless supply of resilience. Things are still not great, but we’re currently waiting on a decision for him to be discharged and sent home.

A couple of weeks ago I’d decided to raise some money for the Diabetes UK charity by doing a sponsored ride. After returning from the USA I’d been pondering riding the South Downs Way in one hit, from Winchester to Eastbourne and this seemed like a challenge worthy of the cause. I’m planning the ride for Saturday 25^th October and will be starting out from Winchester at 6:30am and getting into Eastbourne in the dusk at approx 18:00-19:00. The last couple of hours will be in low light so I’ll be investing in some good night riding lights, probably the Race MaXx 2. If you’d like to sponsor me you can do so online through justgiving.com. I’m aiming to raise £500 over the next few weeks so any amount donated would be very much appreciated.

For one reason or another I’ve not been out on the bike as much lately, so I’ve got 3 weeks to get back into shape for the ride. To help with training I’ve given the Swobo a makeover, converting it to a cyclocross steed for the winter months with more ergonomically designed bars, stem and a pair of Michelin Cyclocross Mud 2 tyres. I took the new set up for a spin off road in Wales this weekend and its great and flies up hill. Descending is a little dodgy as the frame geometry isn’t really designed for bumpy single track! I’ll mainly be using it on the Downs Link to ride home from work where it performs perfectly on the slight gradients.

Next month I’ll be returning with Das Swobo to Berlin to tackle the Maurweg once more, though this time starting at Midnight… yes yes! the Midnight Maurweg will happen!! :) Not sure how to tackle there not being a ferry yet or not being able to see any signposts (which are bad enough in daylight), but these are all minor details :) Meat's in, who else?