Listen to the interview online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00762km/David_and_Becky_09_04_2010/
You will need to forward through the show to around 10:10am to hear what Graham and Becky talked to me about.
Following a spurt of very kind donations being made today, you have brought the total past the £1500 mark. Thank you to all that have donated so far!!!
With the ride (and publicity to come from this) still to be completed, we have decided to amend our fundraising goal and increase the fundraising target to £3,000. We hope you can continue to give generously by making donations through paypal.
Please continue to spread the word, your support for the Mayors Charity is greatly appreciated.
Good news on the continued promotion of the ride. I have just had confirmation that I will be live on Radio Norfolk on Friday morning. I think that Graham Barnard will be doing the interview sometime between 10-11am. Listen in, show your support and tell a friend…I’m feeling more nervous about the interview than I am about the ride.
With only a few days until the ride, keep your eye on our progress by checking back to the site regularly. If you haven’t already, make a donation to the charity fund at our donation page
I would like to say Thank You to the very kind people over at the Somerton Coffee Morning who very kindly made some donations from the proceeds of the event and a number of the attendees on Wednesday 7th April. A total of £57 was collected by the Mayor and Mayoress when they attended the event.
A further thanks is also due to the visitors of Sara’s Tearooms (The best homemade cakes on Great Yarmouth seafront) over the Easter period, through an Easter Egg Tombola customers donated a total of £95. Many thanks to all those that played and made a donation.
Many thanks to Chris Speed at InfoGY for helping the Mayors Charity promote the bike ride in the local area.
Completing the interview at Sara’s Tearooms on Great Yarmouth seafront, Matt and his Dad the Mayor of Great Yarmouth talk about how the ride idea came about, why do the ride, the charities and much more. Listen to the full interview at InfoGY now.
Chris has stepped up to the challenge and will be joining the ride from Gorleston to Great Yarmouth. Come along and see Chris join us as we complete our final part of the journey. You can also step up to the challenge and join us from either Lowestoft or Gorleston…find out more by clicking here
With just over a week to go until we set off for Lands End and the start of the Mayors Charity Bike Ride, the donations we have already received have now passed the £1,000 mark.
May I send out our sincere thanks to all that have donated already. The monies raised will be sure to make a big difference on a very local level.
Donating is easy, just visit the donations page for full details.
….Well for the last day, anyway!
Fancy joining us for either the last 15 or 3 miles of the ride? Do it for fun or get sponsored.
Find out more on the Join In page.
The training ride weekend was an opportunity to get used to riding two days back to back and also to see how the support crew interact with the ride.
The weekend started with a 9:30am meet in Brundall on Saturday 20th March…
Hold on, where’s Neil? Why is he late? What was he up to last night?
After a number of calls to his mobile…
10:30am…Neil arrives
10:45am, time to leave for Blaxhall, Suffolk
The route would see us ride from Brundall, through the center of Norwich and out of the city (into the head wind) on the B1113 via Keswick, Swardeston, Mulbarton, Wreningham, Fundenhall, Tacolneston all the way to New Buckenham. From New Buckenham we took the B1077 through Short Green, Winfarthing and Shelfanger eventually meeting up with Vicks (the support for the weekend) for lunch in Morrisons car park in Diss. We ate like kings on a vast spread of high carb foods, setting us up for the afternoons ride into the head wind.
With our hunger and energy levels topped up, we left Diss once again via the B1077 heading south (over the A140) through Stuston and Brome to Eye. From here we turned East along the B1117 through Denham Street, Horham, Stradbroke to Ashfield Green. From here we travelled South yet again, taking the B1116 to Dennington, Framlingham, Parham, Lower Hacheston to Campsey Ash. After tending to a puncture on Pauls real wheel, it was now just a short final push to the Youth Hostel in Blaxhall.
With tired legs and a monster hunger we got our room for 6, showered, ate, topped up on fluids, planned the next days route, then off to the Ship Inn pub for yet more food and a pint of real ale…Yummy! Tired from the days riding, we got an early night to ensure we were on top form for Sundays ride home.
The statistics for Day 1
Distance Covered – 61.42 Miles
Average Speed – 13.6mph
Riding Time – 4h 29m
Ride Video
On Sunday we woke with surprisingly few aches and pains, treated ourself to even more food (I have never eaten so much food), pasta, museli, milk, OJ, bread, banana, apple and oranges, got the support vehicle packed, dealt with another flat on Paul’s rear wheel (a faulty inner tube this time), then set off on the road.
East from Blaxhall, we picked up the B1069 to Snape, then heading East on the A1094, then the B1069 to Coldfair Green and Leiston. Here we joined the B1122 to Theberton, joining the B1125 through Middleton and Westleton to Blythburgh. A quick break and some sugary snacks by the water, then we were on our way again.
After a very short bit of the A12 (glad we weren’t on there too long), we join the A145 for a couple of miles to Uggeshall, picking up a maze of minor roads leading us through to Sotterly, Henstead, Carlton Colville, then into Pakefield & Kirkley and onto our lunch stop in Lowestoft at the South Pier. Food, food and more food (oh and something to drink).
Having filled our water bottles, we set off over the bridge, picking up the National Cycle Route 1, past the most Easterly point mailand Britain, Ness Point, continuing along beside the sea, up a steep hill inland and well on our way through Corton, onto Hopton, then past Gorleston Golf Course, and into Gorleston. Riding through the centre of Gorleston, picking up the B1370, then onto the main road for short distance, taking Southtown Road, over the bridge (with thoughts of the real finish line in 4 weeks time) to take a detour past the Town Hall and onto the seafront for a short break at Sara’s Tearoom for a mug of hot tea and a slice of yummy cake.
From here we head North along the seafront, then into Caister-on-sea, Ormesby St Margaret, across the A149, a short back road to pick up the A1064 at Filby, then onto Fleggburgh for a quick Jelly Baby/Jaffa Cake stop. Continuing along a busy section of the A1064 to Acle, we quickly get onto quieter roads heading to South Walsham then turning to Hemblington.
A lack of communication and Lucy has had her first ever fall (just 2 miles from home). After some time to recover, she is feeling OK and she can gladly continue and finish the ride (phew) complete with a trophy hole in her cycling tights. With the troubles not yet over, Paul has another puncture (yes, on his back wheel again). A bit of teamwork and we head for the finish line, through Blofield and back to where we started a day or so earlier.
Tired and hungry, we pack up and head off for our homes…excited and pleased that we made it through the journey…but even more ready to tackle the big ride.
The statistics for Day 2
Distance Covered – 69.42 Miles
Average Speed – 14.5mph
Riding Time – 4h 47m
Overall statistics for the two day ride.
Distance Covered – 130.84 Miles
Average Speed – 14.1mph
Total Riding Time – 9h 16m
Think that was big…check out the route for the Charity Ride. That must be worthy of your donations
Fitting a training ride in before work on 18th March 2010. Its been sped up to fit a 25 minute 6 mile ride into 2 minutes…enjoy and dont forget to donate.
After over 6 months of planning and many hours training on a really uncomfortable saddle (albeit feels like home now), today marked 25 days to the big ride.
The support crew has been recruited (many thanks to Vick and Neil’s Dad for kindly donating their time to support us and the Charity) and there is much talk about what will be on the menu each day (no surprises that its pasta Pasta PASTA).
A serious 2 day training ride to get in this weekend, Brundall to Blaxhall and back…a round trip of around 150 miles…time to get used to a sore ‘ugg-hum’ feeling two (long) days in a row. It will give us all (including the support team) an opportunity to see how things will go over the ride, and what we still need to refine in the plans.
Finally before I sign off today, can I thank all the generous people that have donated so far an got us over the £500 mark…it really is awesome to see and will spur us on when we are on the bikes this weekend. If you would like to make a donation now, please visit our Donations page for more information…your support really is needed.
Matt
