Scaggers sat in his back garden, the summer burned bright, yet his mood was grim. He was tired, hungover, hungry and locked out. Riding highest on his tides of woe were the words of a beefy frenchmen, who had decreed that he was to spend his working hours in a remote outpost called Heswall. With only a cheap bottle of wine for company he concluded that things were not cool!
Some hours later, another not so beefy Frenchmen arrived from London town with words of a far more enticing nature. " Scaggers! Eschew these blues, tell the job to jog on, get on ye pushbike and we'll ride the West Coast. Vancouver to Tijuana, with as much mischief and adventure as we can handle!" Scaggers immediately knew this to be his destiny, the kingdoms of Kerouac, Cobain and Schwarzenegger had long been a dream. He booked the tickets that very night.
Now let me introduce to this tale a wee pixie who had travelled far and wide but now focused her attentions on a noble cause by the name of Clare House Childrens Hospice. Perfect! What a great opportunity to raise some essential funds for a more than worthy charity. His mission was now crystal and with a modicum of training and whole lot of work on his bike; Scaggers prepares to ride forth.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
The Bike & Training
OK... normal people prepare yourselfs for the obligatory bike geek blurb...cycling puritans, prepare yourselfs for a shock. I'm doing the tour on my Gary Fisher Marlin MOUNTAIN BIKE!! I hadn't thought it an issue, but a few of my fellow cycling brethren have cast suspicious almost derisory glances towards the bike during conversation about the trip. I had neither the time, money or the faintest inclination to change my trusty steed but i have some sensible modifications. Gone are the chunky MTB tyres for almost slick 1.5 Armadillo's and I changed the cassette to a ratio more suited to road use. Many thanks to Ronald for his priceless advice and insistence that i get SPD pedals and cleats. For the pannier bags I went Ortlieb - what else?
Taking a job in Heswall provided me with a 28 mile round trip each working day and constituted the majority of my training. Good times were had though, with Sean's dad Paul educating me in Cheshire's multitude of meandering glorious country lanes. I also had many a chance to test out my wet weather gear during this particulary preciptate english summer. There was to be no swanning around the Pyrenee's for Scaggers! All went well apart from a persistently tight hamstring. In typically blokeish fashion, i only addressed this only a few weeks before my trip. My Uncle Andy came to the rescue with advice and funding. The problem was a bit more serious than I had thought involving a distorted pelvis and something called the Sacroiliac nerve. I have now lost my innocence; Chiroprator and Masseuse wise. Its my only worry for the trip but I've faith in Simon's Tiger Balm and the untold talents of west coast massage parlours!
Oh and i lost my foppish fringe...end of an era!
Taking a job in Heswall provided me with a 28 mile round trip each working day and constituted the majority of my training. Good times were had though, with Sean's dad Paul educating me in Cheshire's multitude of meandering glorious country lanes. I also had many a chance to test out my wet weather gear during this particulary preciptate english summer. There was to be no swanning around the Pyrenee's for Scaggers! All went well apart from a persistently tight hamstring. In typically blokeish fashion, i only addressed this only a few weeks before my trip. My Uncle Andy came to the rescue with advice and funding. The problem was a bit more serious than I had thought involving a distorted pelvis and something called the Sacroiliac nerve. I have now lost my innocence; Chiroprator and Masseuse wise. Its my only worry for the trip but I've faith in Simon's Tiger Balm and the untold talents of west coast massage parlours!
Oh and i lost my foppish fringe...end of an era!
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