12 May 2008 - leave of absence...                                          

I know I know I know I know I know I know I know...

I KNOW!

It's been a little while, some of my regular, well alright one, no two of my kind readers have commented on the lack of updates as to my progress on this Grimpe thing. And I have to confess I have been very lax in letting you know. Very very lax indeed. I mean over six weeks it will not do.

Okay enough bleating here I am, still here and still preparing. My brief sojourn in the Philippines seems like an age, well over six weeks away. Since that time I;ve been beavering away mostly trying to organise everything. During that time there have been some plusses, and some minuses. I don't want to moan too much so let's get the minuses out of the way and then we can concentrate on the good things...

Bad things...

Number one has to be that Nadine while being granted her UK Visa has been denied a Schengen VISA by the French embassy which really does make things more difficult. For a start she shoud be here by now but is having to stay in Manila and try alternative means of obtaining a Schengen VISA. It's excruciatingly frustrating and I think us Brits have no idea how lucky we are that our passports pretty much allow us to swan around the workd, wherever and whenever we like.

Number two is that I have still not managed to close the gap I have on my itinerary. I'm ever hopeful and I have a couple of leads but it's getting close to the off, and I', ever so slightly starting to panic.

Number three, the last one I might add, is just really a feeling of disappointment i have over the reaction of some parties to what I am doing, I'm not expecting everyone to rally to the cause, we all have our own lives and we are all busy. We also have our own views and priorities. I guess what I am learning the hard way that when you ask, if you don't get that's tough. It would be nice to be acknowledged though.

Right. Moan over. I've got it off my chest and now I'm going to move on and talk about all the good things that are happening.

Good things...

In no particular order except that they are all great we have...

Anne and Andy, parents of Freddie (see the Autism and the NAS page) are going to arrange a fundraising / launch / "go on get on with it" party for me and as many guests as will uncomfortably fit into a suburban garden. This is going to take place the week before I go and should be great fun. They are going to charge attendees the paltry sum of twenty pounds, for which they will be fed and watered, and entertained. I myself will obviously use the opportunity to "carbo-load". There will be big(ish) prizes on offer in a prize draw and of course all the proceeds will go to the NAS.

What else. Well Nadine nad me have come up with a design for my jersey. I think it looks great, but then I would wouldn't I. The very nice people at ImpSport in Lincoln are printing it up for me post-haste as, silly boy, I've left it  a little late. I thought about revealing the design but I think we should go for the grand unveiling when it's ready. I'd like to thank Peter Murphy for his help in putting me on to ImpSport. Thanks Peter.

I've also had some posters printed, gratis i might add by the very very generous Mr Ernie Stoker. And not only that friends and colleagues are busily sticking them up in local schools, nurseries, betting shops (alright not betting shops yet but it's a thought). The idea is of course to raise awarenes. I'd like to also thank Russell Standring here for allowing me to use his fabulous image on the poster.

Lastly and definitely not leastly I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of those who are donating. You are all stars and deserve hearty pats on the back for your kindness. The comments are great too. All I can say is keep them coming, it's fanatastic to watch that total pledged rise. You can go watch it too, and nudge it up a little here...

www.justgiving.com/the-big-grimpe

I'll be ever so chuffed if you do. That's it for now ladies and gentleman. Le Grimpeur is back on track. TIme as Marzena would say in Spin to "climb the mountain"

This is my very lovely girlfriend Nadine and as I'm sure you'll agree she's a most welcome addition to a site which otherwise features dullish landscapes and pictures of yours truly, who is nowhere near as photogenic I am aware.

Nadine currently resides in Manila, which is in the area of a long long way away from here, and so doesn't feature highly in most travel guides. Nevertheless that is where I spent my Easter break and lovely to see Nadine it was too. She's busily arranging her papers - sadly we need an encylopaedic amount of them - so that she can come to the UK, and also of course to France and support me

So we are crossing fingers and toes, and hoping that the slow moving wheels of the UK VISA Services grind round just enough to sanction Nadine as fit to be Brit.

Now apart from form filling, and a bout of mild dysentery - apparently this is the norm for Europeans on their first visit to the Philippines - what has Le Grimpeur been up to?

Well not much cycling obviously. I did see quite a few cyclists in the Philippines actually and frankly I was amazed as a) it's viciously hot and humid, and b) the roads and traffic are, how can I put this, suicidally dangerous. I think that's about right. Anyway I was not tempted, it was scary enough in a car!

Logistically speaking I'm "chuffed to bits" as I have been blessed with some fantastic offers of support from friends and family. So much so that I only have a smidge missing from the first week, and the Pyrenéan leg left to fill. This is far better than I ever expected. I was honestly thinking I would be dragging my gear round myself for a goodly part of the trip. To have this amount of support so quickly is simply wonderful.

I'll be pasting up the Support team members as soon as I get the chance, and their pictures but in the mean time my heartfelt thanks to...

     Keith and Sam - who are Équipe de Règlement

     Andy and Paul - who are Équipe de Golf

     Aprileen, Wendy and Elaina - who are Équipe Trini-to-de-bone

     Anne, Kevin and Cliff - who are Équipe d'Honneur

     Richard and Cathy - who are Équipe d'Atomique

A grand if slightly deranged bunch!

Elsewhere publicity is going great. The very helplful and knowledgeable media hound Alice Ridley of the NAS is poised with her press release ready to unleash on our target market. Now I'm not saying anything amazing could happen but I do need to put some time aside to think up my favourite tunes for Desert Island Discs, not to mention something to read to wile away the hours waiting to be rescued, Web Design for Dummies perhaps?

Seriously I was panicking that I hadn't left enough time to publicise the event and so raise more cash but cool headed Alice has set my mind at rest, thanks Alice.

Fundraising so far is going great guns too. I'm always amazed at how generous people are. I'm very thankful and I can tell you that knowing that money is riding on me will certainly help me when it gets tough, that is about 10 miles in on the first day.

I've still got a list of about a million and one things to do, so I should sign off and get on with it instead of doling out this self-indulgent stuff. So that's just what I'll do. But before I go I'd just like to say thanks once again to all of you who have already donated, and a special thanks to my support team volunteers. You're bloody marvellous!

KB

 09 Mar 2008 - mountain man...                                                

Another week and another training session, my last one - in Spain that is and your grimpeur went for it. At least on the first day. And I nearly made it ladies and gentlemen.

The plan was to ride from Fuengirola to Ronda. According to the map it's a round trip of about 165km that's a whisker over the magical 100 miles. Now ordinarily a hundred mile spin is a long day but not beyond the pale, if you're an ok cyclist, and the terrain isn't too difficult. Yes we're back to those hill things again. 

Look at it this way. I recall doing my first hundred mile training ride in the post-glacial undulating lanes of Essex, and it taking me around 6 hours 20 minutes or so. The longest climbs were tiddlers around 100m high, totalling no more than 1500m for the whole thing. Then I rode La Marmotte, a 108 mile ride over some monstrous mountains, 5000m of climbing all in all, and that took me 12 hours - or was it days. Anyway you get my drift.

So the ride to Ronda. I'd been half way already, to a beautiful Spanish hillside village called Alozaina. The route from there on is a sort of wiggly road going through two more villages, Yunquera and El Burgo... 

It's only another 40km I said to myself on the plane on the way over Wednesday evening, having failed to notice the tiny little numbers on the map printed by the Spanish word puerto which I spectacularly failed to realise is the Spanish equivalent of the dreaded Col 

In basic terms then what I failed to notice is that my "it's only another 40km of wiggly road" went over two mountain passes Puerto de las Abejas - 820m, and Puerto del Viento - 1190m. Oops one might say. It wasn't the word I said as I struggled up an averge 6.5% gradient on the way from Alozaina to Yunquera having already been frozen by an icy wind - most un-Spanish I must say - all the way since i left home that morning.

There was of course an upside to all this complaining and that was the crystal clear blue sky and breathtaking views across the Sierra de Ronda...

Anyway back to the plot. I managed the 30km from Alozaina to Puerto Viente in just a little over two hours. Incidentally Puerto Viente as far as I can tell means windy or blowy pass and you can bet it lives up to it's name! It was by then 1:30pm and I had been on the road since 9am that morning. Looking down the nice long 11km descent towards Ronda I did a quick calculation and proposed to my legs that we turn and head for home. The motion was carried unanimously, especially given the thought of climbing back up over the pass from the other side.

Rolling back to Lynns at a little after 5pm - you sure can move going down hill - the bike computer read 153km and 3200m of climbing. Great I said and collapsed on the bed.

I was more interested in whether I could even get on the bike the following day, and how far I could go once on it. Luckily the weather had warmed up and the wind had dropped. I managed a respectable 130km with 1900m of uphill bits. I employed a better fluid management system on day 2...

...noticing I was getting dehydrated. I am bad at making sure I keep drinking which if you're cycling in warm weather can be very bad news!

On Saturday I cheated and rode a flat 90km round the coast, only pausing to get utterly lost in Malaga looking for the back route - avoiding the motorway madness that is the only coastal route - across the Guadalhorce river. I did eventually find the other crossing. Here it is...

Luckily it was only about 18 inches deep at the worst part! 

So Spanish adventures aside, on the website and fundraising side I've emailed a couple of hundred colleagues and I've already got some lovely donations. Thankyou to all of those who have already sponsored me I'm very grateful. You can see who they are here, and of course add your name to the list if you haven't done so yet...

I've also got some interest from helpers and I think I've sold one tranche of the journey already to the very kind Mr Keith Schrod who will be ably assited by Samantha Smith. Thanks very much Keith and Sam, you will see me on my first day in the Pyrénées. I hope you have a strong stomach, and a not so good grasp of  Anglo-Saxon

Now the website is pretty much done I can turn my attention to full scale publicity. Kirsten is back on my case, as she should be and I have to talk to her and the NAS Press Officer Kelly Brito this week. I need to make a list of all the media, papers, websites, radio, television etc. I can and then compose a missive that will have them beating a path to my door to cover the story. No trouble there then.

All that to do, plus get myself sorted for a week's holiday in the Philippines to see my lovely girlfriend Nadine - a boy's got to have some time off - means ! had better start buying that strong coffee again!

KB

Oh yes in the errors and corrections section. Apologies to all the residents of the Costa del Sol for mis-spelling Mijas. Suffice to say I've now corrected it, having had it pointed out by Lynn of all people. He is of course a master of the English language that would put Messr's Fry, Meades and Bragg to shame!

 02 Mar 2008 - itinerant...                                                           

Luckily I have only launched to a few "beta-testers" because as you can see there's been a three week gap. Itinerant is the word indeed. Imagine the clamour if the thousands of expected visitors had checked back only to find no update from Le Grimpeur!

Well ok maybe it' wouldn't have been quite like that. Truth is ladies and gentlemen I've been hard at it. Hard at what you might ask?  Those of you who know just how easily I can adapt to doing nothing would definitely ask that question. 

The answer is hard at studying the route and deciphering such informative terms as...

      op de col ra. na 3,3km bij huis la. in afdaling rechts aanh.

As you know, from the last entry there's 34 pages of this stuff. And although I count myself among those who can get by in France there is a marked predilection for French towns to have names that read like short novels. So translating, following and marking the whole itinerary is a piece of work in itself. I think three weeks is fairly good going!

To be honest I'm not finished yet, but I know enough to have worked out my daily schedule. You can see it here on my itinerary page

I've also targeted my first round of victims, err I mean helpers. I'm hoping they are all at this moment checking out flights to France and hunting down vineyards and chateaus they wish to visit. This really is the tricky part of the whole thing. I am ever optimistic that I will get enough friends and relatives to take part so as to cover the whole 39 days but I have to be realistic. If it comes to it I might well have to do some of the ride by myself. Makes note to self to source panniers and extra lightweight underwear!

Well we shall see as time progresses. It's now time for the big launch. So fingers crossed I am going to finally see some action on here and start to move that JustGiving amount sponsored off of zero. 

I do this every week but just in case you've missed every link to the sponsorship page, the REALLY important one its here...

www.justgiving.com/the-big-grimpe

Please if you do nothing else please sponsor me.

KB 

 10 Feb 2008 - the train in Spain...                                            

Hurrah!

It's up, the website that is. As you can testify to by being able to read this. To be honest I think the actual four thousand odd kilometres of French terrain will be a walk in the park compared to putting one of these things together. Still five hours sleep a night is not so bad once you get used to it.

So grimpe fans what's happened since last week? What's happened is three days of riding on the Costa Del Sol. Now if you have kept things chronological here you'll have just listened to yours truly waxing lyrical about warm sunshine and quiet roads, frankly being rather too smug!

You'll be pleased therefore to hear that it wasn't quite so warm or quiet. In fact I spent two of the three days buffeted by something called the Sahara wind. This gentle gale whips across the Med and blows flora, fauna and cyclists around the hillsides of Southern Spain. All good training of course but as any cyclist will tell you a couple of hours into a headwind and you definitely want to pack it in!

I did say not warm either...

That was Saturday morning around 11am. About thirty seconds later I stopped again to fish out my windproofer. Yes a bit wussy I know but believe me it was cold up there.

"Up there" of course is at the top of the road to Mijas. This is a little 4.5km stretch that climbs a smidge under 400m. Now if you're a veteran of all that profile stuff on the "about the challenge" page you know what's coming next...

I just like putting these things in. Notice that little kick up near the top. That's 13% for about a half a kilometre, just when you think you've cracked it. That 13% bit also helps to explain the windproofer, since what happens on a climb is you get hot and sweaty and then freeze your bits off at the top. I did mention the wind?

Anyway it wasn't all nasty. I managed three days riding, covering 120 plus kms on the first two and a slightly easier 75km on the last day, well had to get back for lunch with my trainer (see below)

Anyway that's two stints down and it is helping I think. I'm using the scientific method of assessing improvement. It can be summed up as saying I didn't ache as much this time round as last time.

Progress in other areas is also gathering pace. You are of course witnessing the fruits of my website labours. I have also transcribed all 34 pages of the itinerary into Excel so I can plan my attack in detail, and start to "persuade" my friends into helping me. I just hope they're reading this!

Now I'm online I can also go back to Kirsten head held high, and we can plan our assault on the world's media. I hope she's reading this!

That's about it for this week ladies and gentlemen. Of course the most important page for you to visit is this one...

www.justgiving.com/the-big-grimpe

I'll be checking!

KB 

 03 Feb 2008 - the story so far...                                               

The major problem as I see it here, is that I am writing the first entry in this diary on the third day of February 2008. That's a little over four months before i pack my bike, my lycra and my wieght in mars bars and head off for les routes de la France. And something approaching six months since I said to Richard my boss at work. I'd like time off for good behaviour, and to spend a good chunk of it in the saddle.

So you see my problem, "lethargy" I think it's called. It's not the case that I haven't been "thinking" about the whole thing. I've been doing plenty of the "thinking" thing. It's the "doing" thing that's been the problem. Now I could bemoan the pressures of work, family, part-time rock stardom etc. but the simple fact is I have just not done enough actual work on this thing. Still this first entry is a start. I just hope that you get to read it before it too is ancient history.

Anyway enough blabber let's concentrate on the good stuff that has been going on. So you know what it's all about let me expain briefly how I'm going about the whole thing.

• Get fit enough to complete the ride, including a subsidiary objective lose weight!
• Persuade, cajole, blackmail or otherwise enough friends and relatives to support me on the trip ie. drive the car. And schedule the whole thing, expected daily stops, hotels if required in advance etc. This is my logistics objective.
• Get enough publicity and exposure to make the fundraising side, the most important part of the challenge, a success

Now I'll be honest, as far as I'm concerned they are listed in ascending order of difficulty. I can get fit I just need to knuckle down and work. It's just me and the spin bike, the rowing machine, the lock on the fridge etc. No-one else is involved. 

Organising the logisitcs of the ride is another issue. If only I had more favours to call in. However I have a couple of "close to definites" and I'm looking for that spirit of adventure coupled with a love of French hospitalitié and a desire to see me dying on a mountain pass to influence the others.

No the hard part is publicity. I just have no idea how you get yourself put about so to speak. The website's a start but I am already wondering if I'm too late. I desparately hope not and I am relying on the good people of the NAS to help me here. After all it's their strong suit. To be fair Kirsten is on my case hence the prevalence of some late nights recently to get this site off the ground and up into cyberspace.

So where am I? You're right I've not really said. Ok I'm shifting rapidly from the thinking to the doing side of the equation. The website is very nearly up and I'm meeting Kirsten next week to discuss our plan of attack publicity wise. I've got all the route details from the Dutch organisers Stichting Honderd Cols Tocht so I can start planning the logistics in detail. That just leaves getting fit....

Now there''s good news and bad news. First the good news. I've managed to secure some training in the sunshine of southern Spain. In fact my good bike is there already and I go to visit it for three days once a month. This has already happened in January, and is about to happen next week, and then once again in March. This is all courtesy my good friend Lynn who has a place there, cheers Lynn. 

So while it's miserable and dark here in London I get to ride up some fairly nasty hills in the warm Mediterranean winter. It's quiet too. Just me, Lynn, the locals and a few thousand pensioners, but I'm already faster than most of them!

The bad news, well bad for my wieght is the presence at home of my good friend Ina, from Malaysia. Ina's staying temporarily til she can find her own room. She's here to study. That's not so bad you might say. Well no it's not except that Ina is a fantastic cook and keeps on preparing sumptuous Malaysian dishes which I lack any kind of willpower to say no to. I may have to move out myself!

So dear reader. There you have it the story so far. A little long winded perhaps but it's six month's worth. I promise subsequent entries will be shorter and punchier, and even, though I can't promise anything, more entertaining!

KB