Soggy Hamsters

The CHC boys took to the water over the weekend in their kayaks & convinced a couple of workmates to join them. We went to an outdoor activity centre just outside worcester called Top Barn Farm. They have a man made lake which was ideal to get use to the new toys & have a bit of a laugh.
As ever, it turned into a game to see who would capsize first. We all did ok and Pete, being the youngest, got most of the attention but managed to hold his own. After an hour or so messing around, we decided to test the water temperature. I got to say that the first time i went in, I really wondered why I was there. Once we had capsized once, there was no stopping us. As ever, Chris was being macho by wearing shorts, it's a good job that his got more hair on his legs than my cocker spaniel!!!!
I'm sure that the odd photo will appear soon & it will probably be when i tipped over & smacked my head in the shallow water...did i get any sympathy, i dont think so.
Next saturday, we plan to hit the river severn so that will be interesting. Stay tuned to see if we survive.

update...

Yo dudes.......
Just a quick update as to whats happing since our Alpe ride. Young Chris has gone to Holland on a football tour and I would imagine that he is in hospital by now if his previous games are anything to go by.
I decided to give my body a well earned rest and am looking forward to our next adventure. i picked up my kayak the other day and can't wait to get in the water to try her out. I assume it's a "she" as most boat type things are....I obviously wont waste any bubbly on it as i prefer to drink it!
Things have been strange since we returned, no compulsion to force myself out on a ride and I 've got to admit that the diet has gone to pot. Monday I intend to get back into the gym and start training again. It will be strange to train the upper body after all those months of leg work.
I do hope that all those crews that tackled the Alpe have loving memories of the pain we all endured. I actually thought that it would be nice to ride the climb one more time but without the previous couple of days. There's a thought........Have to have a word with the Chris first!
We will try to keep you all infomed about what we are going to do next but rest assured,it will be something stupid! I really am getting too old for this stuff...

Alpe D'Heuz Challenge 2007

Well, well, well. What can I say? A week on and it seems a long time ago. Legs are Ok, bum is fine and no training sessions planned. We worked hard for 8 months getting ready for it and it was all over in three days. So, how did it go?

T -2 Days.
Confirm Van, chase Gino for the shirts, pack.

T -1 Day.
Millerz (Andy) gets to mine for about 9am, we shoot round to Gino's (www.mgsportswear.co.uk) and collect the shirts. They are amazing. And I mean, the little bloke's pulled it out of the bag again. Three of the finest Cycling Jerseys from Speeds (www.speedscycles.co.uk) emblazoned with our sponsors logos and "CRAZY HAMSTER CREW .CO.UK" on the back. He's also done the same on four team Polos for us to wear on the last night. I cannot thank Gino enough. If you need footy strips etc, give him a call.
Right, we then scoot round to Hire-It! (www.thetoolhireshop.com) to collect our Van. Sitting on the forecourt is a beautiful 5 seater Mercedes Vito kindly lent to us by Mudie Bond (www.mudiebond.co.uk) and insured by RA Davies (www.radaviesltd.co.uk). This van was a beaut. We loaded up, got papped by Crazy Hamster Crew Chris's Mum and then set off to collected the others. On arrival at Chez Millerz, Bob and Fiona were waiting. We loaded the van whilst Andy's Dad provided a running commentary (!) and then set off for France...
Channel Tunnel... Arrived two hours early to find a line fault and three hour delay......Finally crossed and arrived in Amiens at about 9pm. Long Day. Stupid restaurant didn't want to continue serving so we hit the local McDonalds. Not the greatest pre-ride meal but it did the trick. Bed.

DAY 1
Up at 4.50 (French Time!) shower dress and get the bikes. We left the start line at 6am in pure darkness riding as a three. We span out of town and into the countryside and rode for a couple of hours. It was really cold but we made good progress. At two hours Andy dropped out to grab some rest, at three hours I dropped and Andy returned and at Fours hours it was Bob's turn. We rode with two riders out until about 2pm. By then we realised there were loads of teams ahead of us, none of whom had actually passed us on the road? They were leapfrogging. Setting a rider going, driving ten miles ahead and dropping another whilst waiting for the first. Also, ALL of the teams were relaying with only one rider at a time. We had two. Oh and the other teams had four riders, we only had three. We finished of the day riding solo but finished the last 5 miles together. The distance for the day was 200miles. It turned out that each team split this into four and each rider did 30ish minutes at a time doing 50 miles in the day. Chris, Andy and Bob finished the day having covered in excess of 100miles...EACH!!!!! We were labelled "Proper Crazy" in the bar at night. A quick group meal and then bed.

DAY 2
Riding the same as the previous day would kill us off. It also took too much time. So we decided to ride like the others. Only we did minimum 1 Hour legs each. It worked out well. We were one of the first out and were joint first home. We managed about 15 miles in every hours and there were some big hills too.
We all did the first hour together again. This was a useful warm up for us all. Bob then continued whilst Fiona dropped me off at about 15 miles. Bob was about half way by now. Fiona waited for Bob, gave him some food, jumped in the van and then overtook me. She would tell me how far I'd done and let me choose how far I wanted to go. Fiona would then run the next rider up to that point, drop him off and wait for me. This leapfrogging went on all day until the last leg which we always did together.
The route out of Auxerre took us right through the town. And we were racing along. Oh, it was pitch black again too! Riding in the dark through the woods was so exciting. My first leg was awesome. A rough lightly gravel road to begin with followed by some beautiful forest roads down into a little village. Riding in France is a lovely experience, they respect cyclists over there and there are far fewer cars. i think we did about 4 legs each throughout the day which became progressively more hilly until we arrived, cycling three together, into Bourg en Bresse. Here we got lucky as we were put in the overflow hotel and it was really posh. Not sure what they thought of us all walking round in our lycras but they didn't seem to mind too much. Dinner was funny, we skipped the event dinner and hit a little Italian Restaurant in the town. All of our French was rubbish so we ended up ordering using a mixture of Italian and Spanish! Big bowl of pasta then bed.

DAY 3
For the last day we wanted to make sure we got to the Alp in plenty of time so we leapfrogged from the start. We had a slight lie in and did a 6.30 start. It was reasonably easy going until about 11am when I hit the first of the big climbs. Andy took over half way up and nailed the downhill afterwards. This was the steepest we'd done so far and Andy made mince meat of it. On the next leg, Bob had a long slow crawling climb up through the valley on the way to Col du Coq. It was so funny when this old french guy on a 1950's racer strolled up to Bob without breaking a sweat. It was when Bob noticed his shiny blue lycra over a cotton t-shirt that Bob increased the pace and left the pack behind. I took over ahead and climbed up into the first Ski Resort. It was short but very steep and the hairpins were starting. I descended and rode round to begin the Col du Coq. A couple of k's up, the climb steepened into a forest. I was tiring so the team dropped Andy off up front. I caught up the van but Andy had not gone far. My legs had died on the start but I only needed ten minutes to recover. Andy was cramping bad having started on a climb so I got the guys to set me out again. My legs had come back and I was able to finish the first ascent, descend into the next valley and start the second part. As the van passed me I was tiring again. Andy won't mind me telling you this but here, he really lost the plot! I was tired, he had cramp bad and Bob steps up and says, c'mon guys, let me out, I'll do a bit. And boy did he go. I think Andy thought he was going to kill himself! I was a bit gutted as after three corners he reached the top of the Col and the sight was awesome. Cars everywhere with people walking to the peak to paraglide off. The towns below were miles away, and Bob got the descent.
We couldn't keep up with the cyclists on the way down and missed a sign in the next town so Bob was well on his way up the third peak and very dehydrated by the time we caught him up. Andy took over but the heat and gradient was taking its toll. Now the team work kicked in. The encouragement, clapping, cheering each other started. We were doing 750mtr runs each powering up the mountain. Fiona was zooming around leapfrogging ten minutes at a time. It was great. We flew up the peak and Andy bagged the descent through the forest. That was it until the big one. The guys let me do most of the route along the main road, I was so tired by now. We all met up in the car park at the bottom of Alpe D'Huez. A couple of teams were already starting but we gathered our things, changed lycras and donned our beautiful jerseys (www.russtler.com www.twinsix.com) and set about the climb. We all agreed to enjoy it having made it this far so Bob hit his usual pace and left Andy and I to crawl up enjoying the view. Bob finished in under 90 mins whilst Andy and I did in about 1hr 3/4ers. We crossed the line to cheers from some of the other riders and a much needed glass of bubbley. A quick phone call to the folkes and to Ruth for the blog and then we wrapped up for the descent. Oh, and I gaffer taped a handycam to my frame and started to descend.
18 minutes later we got to the bottom! Wooooooo-------Hooooooooo!!!!!!


So, that was it. It was bloody awesome. I loved it so much and credit to Andy for getting us all motivated to do it. The training was tedious at times but paid off. Fiona was brilliant and worked so hard to keep us all going. Bob, was, well, Bob and we couldn't have done it without him. By god he's fit!

A huge massive thankyou to all of you who have sponsored us. To those companies who have supported us. For the van, the fuel, the shirts, the insurance, the motivational texts (you know who you are! x x) and you reading this for all the interest. Also cheers to Lynne and the local papers for the publicity, to The Wyre radio for the shout outs, to Neil Howarth for the signed shirt, Wharton Park for the Golf Day and Creative Landscapes for the nursary voucher.

Thanks to Speeds Cycles for the shirts and bits and bobs. Thanks to Hire-It (Mum and Dad) for the fundraising. Cheers Holly for the ebaying and website support and Ruth and Jen for maintaining the Blog whilst we were away. Gordo, nice one for putting in contact with Russtler (GET YOUR ALPE D'HUEZ SHIRTS HERE) and to Ryan (shares his birthday with me!) from TWINSIX who posted an Alpe t-shirt from the USA to our hotel in France so Andy had one to wear too. If I've forgotten anyone mail me and I'll type you in. But thanks.

For those fellow Alpers who saw our shirts and want one, email the guys at RUSSTLER.COM and mention us. I'll upload the descent video on YOUTUBE soon and link it here. Photos will follow too.

Well, we'll announce the winner of the Alp T Shirt and Nursery Voucher once all of the money is in and counted and all that remains to be said I suppose is......what will we do next year......?!?!?

(Hint: Both Andy and I have just bought canoes!)

Take care, have good xmas's and keep checking back.


Crazy Hamster Chris........ hibernating...........

Ebay Items

C'mon guys there's the assistant manager from the Harriers' own playing shirt on EBAY and it's going to £31 surely we can do better than that! Get bidding. www.ebay.co.uk and search for KHFC SHIRT.

Also, WHARTON PARK golf club have donated a golf day for 4 people (worth over £120) which doesn't even have a bid. Surely someone would like a round up there. Starting bid is £30, please text/call your golfing buddies and get them to log on. It would be embarrassing to let this go for pennies.

Thank you......

Just a quick post to say a big THANK YOU to all of you out there who have sponsored us and given us support thro our adventure. Chris will be giving you all a full run down in the near future & I have no doubt that I will add a few things, so briefly:
*Cheers dude for getting me thro the last climb when my lungs were about to explode.
*Fi for the great job you did caring and looking after us all.
*Bob for the never ending positive attitude that nearly killed me!!!!!!
*All the companies who helped us out especially Mudie Bond for the great Mercedes Vito van - I was so impressed that I'm thinking of getting one.
*Chris's parents/family who support & sponsor us in these barmy challenges we do. Oh and the persuasive way that manage to get people to sponsor us....
*Jen for the updates and putting up with me for the weeks before the ride.
Thats enough for now but as Chris mentioned, watch out for the downhill descent footage. (which will last with me forever) I'm sure a few photos will appear soon, probably of me knowing Chris...
Whats next, Chris reckons he will never ride again but I'm not so sure. I am already getting thoughts about our next challenge.

As Gordon Ramsay would say "520 miles, 14 km up the Alpe D'Huez....DONE" !!!!!!!!

Hammies Home Safely

It's late and we're all pretty whacked so this is just a short post to say we're back safe and well. The Challenge was fantastic. I'll blog the whole event late in the week but if I can say a huge thankyou to Mrs M who looked after us like royalty. To the other two who slogged it out with me. To all of you who sent me texts. And to all other those who've given us vans, tshirts, insurance, fuel, food, Harriers Shirts, Golf Days, Vouchers, money......

Thank you.

For fellow cyclists, the website for the Alpe D'Huez shirts is www.russtler.com and mention us. You might have to email them to get some stock in.

The crazy Alp descent video will be on youtube, check back after next weekend.

Wharton Park Golf Tickets on Ebay

Firstly - Well Done Crazy Hamsters!!

Secondly - Happy Birthday Chris!

Thirdly - Wharton Park One Day Golf Pass for 4 People now on Ebay.

Please see http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270169344774&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=017

Cyas, Holly

They have made it!

Chris just phoned to say they have got to the top!

Well done to the Crazy Hamster Crew. We never doubted you could do it.

Looking forward to hearing all about it later.

News Flash

Chris reports that he has just cycled a 'huge' mountain - and that there were people parachuting from the top.

The team are nearing the Huez - 'only' 40 miles to go (does that really sound near??!) with a last big climb to do before they get there.

Then, all that remains is the 11 mile ride to the top, which is a mile high.

C'mon guys, we are all thinking of you!

Beginning the climb.

Well Hammy enjoyed the first peak.

By God the climbing is hard.

76 miles down and legs are tiring now.

Morning! 23rd September 2007

Quick update from Hammy Chris,

2.25 hours down. 45 miles along Rhone valley. OK so farbut those pointy things are getting closer, andthe climbs are going to start soon.

Post from Hammy Chris

Hi Guys,

Managed to get wifi in the hotel tonight so thought I'd post. Thanks to Jen, Ruth, Mum and Holly who've been keeping you all up to date.

Day two was a little easier. Well if I start with Day One you'll understand.

We set off as a three and rode for two hours, then Bob and I continued on and we sat one rider out each hour till early afternoon. It was tiring and became apparent that NO OTHER TEAM had more than one rider on the road at any time. Oh and all the other teams have 4 riders. So in 200 miles they each to 50. AND they leapfrog their riders using the minbus to keep time down. So during the afternoon we did solo stints to allow us to recover. We got in in 12.5hrs which was a great efforst and became a little notorious in the restaurant that evening for the first team to ride in pairs!

We guessed we'd never make it to the Alp in one piece if we continued at the pace we did on day one so on day two, we all did the first hour as a warm up and then rode solo all day, one hour on, two off (the other teams have three!). We did about 70 miles each and did the last 10 miles together. The terrain was much tougher today with logs of hills but we got home as one of the first teams in. Fiona's been a star driving, organising and knocking up grub. WE REALY COULDN'T DO THIS WITHOUT HER.

Tomorrow is the biggy. The plan is to do 15 mile stints each from the start to get us to the Alp in plenty of time. Then it's a kit change into out TWIN SIX tops and hit the hill. Hopefully it'll all be over by about 6pm. Hopefully......

If I can blog tomorrow night I will but I'll try and get some texts to the girls and see what they can do.

Chris

Day two 22/09/2007

The hamsters are making good time today. They have only 30 miles left until the second stage post is reached.

Go Hamsters Go!

End of the first day

The team finished the day safely in 12.5 hours covering over 100 miles each.

Roll on tomorrow!

The Crazy Hamster Crew.( Now in search of a few sunflower seeds!)

21/09/07 13:35

Hamsters riding solo an hour at a time each to make up the miles. All getting a bit tired. Around 5 hours to go.

21/09/07 11:05

140ks down so about half way. Legs starting to feel it!! Come on boys keep pedaling you still have the monster hill to come!

21/09/07 08:10

Update from hamsters - Chris Bob and Andy all out riding. 3 hours completed 75ks. They have endured riding in the dark! The good new is Chris has withstood pressure from Andy and has refrained from shaving his legs! U go Chris!!

Ebay Auction - Signed Kidderminster Harriers Shirt!

Hi All!

I've hyjacked the blog! Its Holly here (Chris's sis!). Just to let you know that I have put the signed KHFC shirt onto Ebay! The auction will start at 7.30pm (this evening - Friday21st Sept) and will end Friday 28th Sept). To find the shirt, please type KHFC Harriers Shirt into the Search box at http://www.ebay.co.uk/ AFTER 7.30pm this evening!!

Also, please look out for the Warton Park Golf Pass for four people, also being put on Ebay later the same evening!

While I'm on here - Good Luck Chris and the Crazy Hamsters!

Best fishes,

Holly

It's all a bit real now...

8am Thursday Morning. Pretty much packed and waiting for Andy to come over and collect me. We've got to spin round to Ginos to get the shirts and then down to Hire-it! for another photo shoot before the off. I forgot to mention the one we did the other day for the Redditch and Bromsgrove papers but I could get used to being "Papped!"

Hopefully the Wyre Radio will give us some shout outs over the weekend so tune into them on 107.2 if you are in the Wyre Forest Area. The crew fully endose Rob Ison!

I'll try and get my sis to get the Harriers Shirt on ebay over the weekend, and the golf day at Wharton Park. She'll put a link on here. Donate generously and get bidding!!!!!

I've got to admit, I am geting a bit nervous now......

Judgement day......

What can I say.... Thursday lunchtime we will be heading towards the channel tunnel to start our adventure.
I've got to say that now we are at the start of our event, I'm a tad apprehensive. We have done a far bit of training but I am still concerned that I will let the team down and die on a big hill. OK, maybe that's a bit dramatic but I have started to dream about the Alpe D'Huez climb, (sorry I meant have nightmares..!)
I am sure that once we start at "early o'clock", I will feel a lot better. The fear of the event soon disappears once you have mounted your bike and left the start.
The organisers have had a massive job in getting this event together and I hope that it all goes well. Who knows what will happen but I'm sure that we will have a great/testing time whilst in France.
A big "THANK YOU" to all those who have sponsored us and our families who have had to put up with the training we have put them thro......

Two pack Jen (50g, you know who you are!) will update the blog whilst we are grinding it out in Le Francais. Thanks chick...! I may regret that when I get back to work.

Adios amigos, bonsoir Rodney.

PS.
YOU, and I mean YOU, can still sponsor us at the "Justgiving" link. One day, it could be YOU who needs our charities help........

The final day....

Wow wow wee, what a final day it has been. Just picked up the beautiful van from MUDIE BOND who are very kindly loaning it to us. RA Davies have given us our policy schedule so we're ready to go.

Gino (www.mgsportswear.co.uk) will be working late on the shirts as I think he forgot to get them done but they should be ready for the morning. He's dead if they aren't - I have links to more senior Italian Mafia than he does!!!!!

Spend hundreds on more bike kit today to keep up with Andy and all that needs to be done is the packing.

I'm sure there are more thank-yous needed but will have to do them afterwards...

Oh cheers Neil Howarth (Kidderminster Harriers Asst Manager) who has donated us his playing shirt to auction off. I'll try and get it on Ebay tonight but if not look out for it next week. This best go for thousands!!!!

Right, so I'm going to try and get some wifi access in the hotels and give you an end of each day blog but in the meantime keep checking for regular posts from the latest Crazy Hamster Recruits Jenny and Ruth who will be the recipients of frequent text messages over the next few days and will update the blog as often as possible for us.

Send all of us texts or post things on here to keep us going,

Hope to see you all soon........ I really do hope! Chris

A few more to thank

Creative Landscapes have provided us with a voucher for someone to spend in their beautiful nursery. Check out Keith Southall's creations at www.creativelandscapes.com. Get your sponsorship in as we're going to throw this in with the signed 'crew t-shirt being raffled by all those people sponsoring us.

Soon to be on Ebay is a golf day for 4 at the very exclusive Wharton Park Golf Club in Bewdley, big thanks to them (www.whartonpark.co.uk) and hopefully the Harriers are coming up trumps with a signed 2007 shirt. The guys have all chipped in with some cash too so big thanks to them. In fact the defence was feeling so charitable this weekend they even let the other team score 5 goals!!

On a training note, we had our first full team ride on Thursday. 61k's in two hours. By god Bob's quick, that the fastest average we've done so far...

We got shirts!

Wow....what a finale. I was left a little disappointed last week when the German firm supposed to be sorting out our shirts wanted to up the cost by 50% due to a shortened deadline. We withdrew our order and set about sourcing our own.

I'm so happy to report that due to the generosity of a number of companies we were inundated with offers. If you are a cycle club and need some kits, please check out http://www.cycle-clothing.co.uk/ Carlton who runs this site send us some proofs and they are really good. Great material a bit like the Climalite stuff that adidas make.

Speeds in Bromsgrove have sorted us some shirts for day 1 and are really behind the 'crew sending us to France with all sorts of spares and stuff.

My massive thanks go out to my buddy Gordon who put us in contact with the peeps at http://www.russtler.com/. They've helped us out with THE most beautiful shirts you've ever seen. They stock some of the Twin Six range (http://www.twinsix.com/) from the US of A and have sourced some Alpe D'Huez tribute and Fat Cyclist shirts. Thanks to Debbie and Co @ Russtler. Legends.

Aren't they beautiful?

Ha ha Bloody ha!

Yeah, funny, in my desperation at wanting some lunch before dashing from the Redditch Salon across to the Kidderminster one to meet with the boss I happened to stumble across the sarnie van in the car park. Having had nothing to eat all day I thought I'd take the opportunity to pocket some lunch. Trouble is, Liz's sarnie van was out of sarnies so I bagged a sausage roll and a pastie. Baggy, the Grandad of the salon who insists on Heart FM on the radio, dobbed me in to Millerz hence the Ginsters post. Thanks guys. But for the record I am now 1 stone and 3 pounds lighter than when we started this lark back in March. Who needs titanium eh?!?! And Baggy, the trimmed beard will make you a hit with the ladies kid!

So, two weeks to go. Two weeks and we'll be arriving back. I dare not even think what pain I'll be in. AND IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! I spend my birthday in a van driving through France. Shouldn't be too bad though as it'll mean I get control of the radio (Mixture of Chilis and Prince there then - Ruth you have soooooo much to answer for!) And I have a sneaky feeling that Andy's bought me a really expensive birthday present too, it might involve Carbon Fibre and Titanium hmmmmmmmm. Despite what everyone else says about him, he really is a very lovely chap.

So what have we been up to? The shirts situation has been annoying but hopefully that will all be arranged by Friday and I'll blog them. Sponsorship trickles in but we could do with a last push. Hopefully we have a couple of good gifts coming in which we will be ebaying so keep an eye out. And both Andy and I have been out at the weekend putting in the miles. We're getting together tomorrow and on Thursday for a couple of big rides - Trimpley hill here we come!!! I think the plan is to ease off over the weekend and next week just get all our kit together. Oh my god, it is really close now....

Oh Dear.......pie monster!!!

Crazy Hamsters got wheels!

Oh yes, with the help of Jeremy and the very lovely people at Mudie-Bond in Kidderminster we now have transport.


They have very kindly given us the use of a Vito van/people carrier to get us to the startline and follow us along the way. Fiona our driver was heard to comment "I'm very happy with the guys choice of wheels for me, Andy is too tight to buy me a Merc but Chris has come up trumps!".

Although I actually have to pass on all the credit for the arranging to the Hamster Crew's part time Event Transport Manager Gavin, from Hire-It who made this possible.

To add the the great news and well worth a mention are RA Davies Insurance Brokers who have kindly agreed to cover the trip.

To both of the companies, a really big thank you from the 'crew. Much appreciated.

Skin burn

In three weeks time it'll all be over. Mixed with the apprehension of actually doing the challenge, that makes me feel pretty rubbish. I cannot tell you how good getting out on my bike and riding makes me feel. If I'm down, I jump in the saddle. Ask my mum if you see her. Often I'd come home after a crap day at work/college/school and I'd just jump straight on my bike and go out for an hour or so. It clears your head, you can put the world to rights and re-organise.

I usually go out on my own but riding with Andy is pretty cool now. We talk about all sorts. Oh, sorry, yesterday we went out for two hours and did 50K's. It seems really insignificant now to keep reporting the training rides. What matters now is making sure we are ready and that means slotting in a sesh as often as we can. Right, all sorts.... Yesterday we were talking about falling off. Andy had a pretty bad crash last year and I'm always coming off my mountain bike but we talked about loosing your bike at 30kph and slowing yourself down with your skin :o( I think I commented that your legs would resemble the hard shoulder of the M6 as you attempt to pick out all of those bits of gravel.

Well, as luck would happen, that's what my left leg resembles right now. Minus the gravel. You see I have quite an admiration for the blessed game. Football. I play twice a week in between riding, canoeing etc. And I don't like loosing. So tonight, when we were up by only one goal I decided to stretch out and steer one past the 'keeper, only I did so landing on my left shin and dragging it along the shiny gym floor, plucking out half the hair and depositing a few layers of the pink stuff in the process. My god does it hurt now :o(

Mental note: Don't all off your road bike!!

On the Team front, the sponsorship continues. We paid a load into our HSBC account today so I'll get a balance update soon. I've a few more companies to thank later in the week but keep passing this round, the more views we get, the more we're likely to raise.

Sorry for the less than happy tone of this one, I need to get out for a spin and organise a few things. In the meantime I'm off to rub some mint, lavender and marshmallow into my feet (x!) Until the next one....

PS I dont know if Jen (Larkin) reads this, but I just checked and I'm the lightest I've been since I bust my ankle two years ago. Thanks for noticing! x

Sponsorship Update

Sponsorship is going really well. If you head over to our justgiving.com site you'll see we've had £140 pledged there, Fiona's done about £240 in her office and we're slowly working our way around mine and Andy's.

What I do have to report is the very kind generosity of the following few companies who through Hire-It have supported us:

Martin Bell and the crew at Landscape Excel -http://www.landscapeexcel.co.uk/

The team at the DRP Group - http://www.drpgroup.com/

Jack Brothwell and all at Brothwell and Miles Ltd

Bryan Taylor and everyone at Just Trees - 01562 746976

These are all lovely peeps who are helping out our cause. Please check them out and use their services,

I think we're about half way to the £1000 minimum but lets see how far we can go. We still need some personal sponsorship (£175 x 3) towards the manufacture of some cycle jerseys (see blog) so if you can or know of anyone who can help out please get in touch ASAP chris@crazyhamstercrew.co.uk

Thanks everyone,

Chris

Update

Just a short blog to say we're still both here. I've been recovering from my mountain marathon - it really did take four days till I could walk downstairs without holding the walls! I thought it was a good time to take a few days off too. In a bizarre twist, I bought a kayak at the weekend and spent two days in the sea paddling away, maybe we can do something water based next year? Hmmm... Round a Caribbean Island.... The Amazon.....

Andy's dedication showed when he shortened his family holiday in France to return to the UK to keep training - oh? what? it was actaully the rain in France? OK so he's kind of back but I think he's headed to Malvern and you can bet he'll be telling me about all the hills he nailed on his bike whilst I've been in my boat :o(

Back to it this weekend....

Blogging from Heaven

... well I think I am. Mainly because I'm sure that yesterday, I died.

Ok, Ok, back a couple of steps then. Right, I kept this away from the blog mainly because even up until Thursday night, I didn't know if I was going to go through with it. With what??? I hear you ask. Well, on Friday I met up with my team and on Saturday we competed in the 2007 Snowdonia 7's challenge (see t-shirt for details).....

For those of you too lazy to click on the T shirt, it reads "22 miles, 8000 feet, 7 Summits, 1 Challenge". I can honestly say I think it is possibly the hardest single event I've ever done in my life. Oh, it was a running event too, no bikes this weekend :o(

This picture is a 3D map and I've drawn on the route but it basically went like this:

730am on Saturday, get over major anxiety of day before and get to start line in Llanberis. 8am GO!!! 74 teams of 4 race up Snowdon and boy did we go. We got to the top in 92 minutes, the pace was unreal. From here, we doubled back to another peak (Two down) and then back again before heading off Snowdon down to Pen-y-pass. I think we got here in about 2hrs30ish. My groin was killing from the run down through paths which better resembled waterfalls. Did I mention it had rained from the start? Well ok, it was raining. Loads. We stopped for 6 minutes to fill up water bottles and stretch before we got back to it and headed for the Glyders. Not direct, we had a river crossing to do where the water went above my waist (and almost to Dave's nipples!) and a trek across some bushy stuff before we followed yet another waterfall up, up and more up. The third peak was one of the Glyders and by now, my left foot began to cramp up. No shin splints, but this niggling away at the sole of my foot started to slow me. We pushed on through the weather (did I mention it was raining?) to the second of the Glyders and then down to the time check with 9 minutes to spare. If you didn't get here in 6hrs, they stopped you. My legs resembled Bambie's by now, not thin (like they ever will be) but very unstable.

Onwards meant another climb to the fifth and six peaks. We've been over 6hrs by now with only that one stop and Dave and I were lagging. Ryan and Simon were spurring us on though. After the sixth, there was a big descent, a horseshoe and then one final climb to a very craggy peak. As we left the seventh behind we caught up with some of the other teams and overtook them. There were lots of tired legs but the thought of being only an hour from the end pushed us on. When we hit the flat of the lake we were about 2Ks from home. From somewhere we all found spurts of energy to break into the odd run and thanks to Ryan bellowing at me we all crossed the line running. 8hrs 53 minutes. Of sheer hell :o)

The event organisers said it was the worst weather in the event's history. In total 74 teams took part. Only 26 finished. Three other teams did it from the salon and all four of us finished. The veterans came home about 40mins ahead of us, the girls (who won the female event - woop woop! well done) were about 20mins ahead of us and the mixed team about 20 mins behind so we were all very close together. We think we finished about 20th but await confirmation.

So....That was last week's training. Looking forward to the next ride now, see you soon,

Chris

Oh....you want to know how I feel now? Well, I can hardly walk. My left foot is killing and I hardly slept all night as my legs kept cramping. Going up stairs is OK but I just had to resort to my bottom to come down. If you want to know if I'm doing it next year, give it at least a couple of weeks before you pop the question.

Biggups - Dave, Simon and Ryan. I'd have never got round without the encouragement. Gordo and Dave for scaring the living daylights out of me on Friday with their pre-race planning. Ruth for the ONE text of encouragement I received all day (OK so I didn't tell you all that I was going), and Becki and Aide for the cups of tea this morning which kept me awake for the drive home. Legends all of you.

Lycra wasn't made with me in mind!

Breaking news.....

The CHC are entering a new era....today we opened our very own business/charity bank account with the lovely people at HSBC Bank in Bromsgrove. A big thank you to Ben who helped us out & gave us advice.

Well, what can I say, Chris is now officially a Secretary, of the CHC that is. I personally have become the chairman of the board but only because I look awful in a short skirt & high heels. Unfortunately, Chris is on his way to Snowdon to compete in a mountain challenge so there's no way he can defend himself. (unlucky!!) but I'm sure that you ladies out there can give him advice on how to stop those hairs poking thro the fishnets, oh my god, what a terrifying thought. Can you believe that he threatened to "break my legs" if I blogged him....
Fair play to him, he has been a little anxious today but with the support of his colleagues, I'm sure he will only stay in intensive care for a week or so.

I am off to France on Saturday to sample the wine & cheese. I have managed to "hide" my bike in the boot so I can get a few rides in whilst I'm away.

I have no doubt that Chris will take the opportunity to diss me whilst I'm away but just remember this.....who's the chairman?

Later....

The psychology of cycling

Right, it's late, I'm tired and I'm worn out from football but I just had to put this up. The title might be misleading but bear with me...

Don't get me wrong, I am loving road cycling...but... peel back the lycra, throw away the fingerless gloves and use vaseline only for chapped lips, I AM A MOUNTAIN BIKER. Through and through.

From the age of 7 my parents bought me a Raleigh Mustang. 7 Gears, nobbley tyres. Since then I've gone through a Claud Butler with a flex stem, a Grisley with my first front shocks, a custom built Sintesi (god I loved her) and right now I have the most beautiful Specialized Fsr Xc Pro hanging in my garage needing a little TLC. I go out in any weather, get muddy, fall off (granty too!), break bits, break bits of me. I love it. I will always do it. I AM a mountain biker.

So, why is it that when I am out disguised as a roady on my skinny tired race machine and I nod at my homeys on their fully sussed, multiple inches of suspension mountain bikes, they look the other way?! Inside, the mountain biker in me is screaming "Guys? It's me, really! It's Chris the Mountain Biker. I'm one of you! This lycra is just temporary!" But to no avail.

It's like a click and I think it sucks. So long as it doesn't have an engine, if it's got two wheels we should all nod at one another.... we'll see eh?

Weekend Ride part 2......

As Chris has already mentioned, Saturdays ride was quite a tester with the heat & the hills. I have to agree with the boy (although i hate to admit it) that it was one of the best ride outs we have done. Had quite a rewarding feeling at the end even if I did fell like I was going to be sick once ot twice!It started at about 3 miles out when Chris attacked a short climb, his cadence must have been about 150 and he looked like he was riding a turbo charged hamster wheel. Things settled down after that but I reckon that was because he was trying to find his heart that had popped out earlier. The hill that took us up to the top of Clent was a beast. It was probably about a km if that but the gradient was...well, you had to be there....

Onto other things and the addition of a new team member. Bob has joined us and guess what, another mountain biker. To be fair, he will ride any type of bike he can get his hands on and is a currently taking part in a 24hr endurance race.

I would like to say thank you to Torq Fitness who have agreed to give us energy products at a good price. Torq supply all the usual products but also act a Performance Consultancy. Matt Hart is the main man & a nice guy so click on the following link to look at what they have got to offer, oh & mention us when ordering.. http://www.torq.ltd.uk/default.asp

Finally, I'm off on holiday in a weeks time to check out some French property but I think I have convinced my other half to let me take my bike so I can keep up the training. I can only agree with Chris (not again) that it is a far friendly cycling country than the UK.

Weekend Ride

Firstly apologies for the lack of blogging last week, a combination of working a few late ones but also I backed off my training for a week. After my second game of footy on Wednesday I could barely walk without an agonising pain in both my shins. A bit of google research and I came up with these: shin splints :o( Ok so I'm no Doctor but what I was feeling pretty matched their description. The main remedy for these is rest. Not good when you're training for the Alpe D'Huez but I took it as an opportunity to put my feet up. Note: Andy has still been getting out loads!

So we planned a three hour jaunt for Saturday meeting at Andy's. We set off into Bromsgrove and headed for Droitwich. I'll add in here, that we learnt on the London Paris trip last year that 1. The French Roads are lovely, smooth, no pot-holes, and are never dug up and filled with inferior tarmac & 2. French Drivers respect and expect cyclists, give them room and politely pap their horn when they are about to overtake. The UK has neither of these so we choose to head out on the quieter main roads as the country lanes we've been training on are getting very cut up.

So...Bromsgrove to Droitwich on the A38. Not too bad, a couple of short stabbing climbs but nothing too taxing. I read last week that a good training tip for the Alpe is to attack any climb whilst training in a lower than normal gear and pedal at 90rpm - yeah, you try that when you're out next, I nearly bloody died! My heart was jumping out of my chest for the next ten minutes. I'll stick to big leg muscle power for now. Right, Droitwich to Kidderminster was nice. Saturday here was roasting and this road is shaded so kept the heat off. Then we headed the back route to Hagley which has a couple of fairly big hills and we were about an hour into the ride by now. Then we hit Hagley. From here we could've turned left straight back to Chez Millerz but in front of us were the mighty Clent Hills. We had to, just had to. So we hit the hill up to Hagley Top, then the A456 past the obelisk and Badgers Set pub. What a climb!!!!! Steadied ourselves for about a K and then took the country lane right onto the top of Clent. We then did Walton Hill before heading back down to the M5 and the North Part of Bromsgrove. "One more hill?" cherps Andy!?!?!, well why not! So we powered (like that nice positive vocab?) up onto the lop of Lickey before the downhill to his house. What a ride. Quite possibly the best we've done yet I think. The stats: I think it was about 53K's but the hills made up for the shortened distance. We did that in about 2 1/4hrs. And did I mention it was hot, very hot.

So, onward and upward. I might sneak out for a quick hour this afternoon if I can but I'm defo (big bro reference!) going to take it a bit easier at football this week. I think we'll have to get one last ride in before Andy heads off on his hols next weekend.

Sponsorship is going well, almost £100 online, Mrs Millerz got us over £100 at work on Friday and we've had a fair few promises too. We've got our fuel expenses covered, are trying for a minibus but no news on shirt sponsorship yet so if you are interested, get in touch.

Happy Cycling!

Hammy

Big thanks Angela!

I could not think of a finer way to thank the wonderful Angela (in the office @ Hire-It) than by dedicating this post to her. Today, Angela has single handedly folded and inserted no less than 200 Crazy Hamster sponsorship forms to be sent with Hire-It's outgoing mail.

Angela you are a star.

from the Crazy Hamster Team x

PS, We've heard you not getting much male attention at the moment so feel free to pop by and rub our legs anytime!

Weekend Ride

Wow, where did that come from? We just blasted 55k's in two hours dead. That's an average of 27.5kph which is up about 3kph from anything else we've ever done.

I gotta say I was a little worried when I turned up at Chez Millerz at 4.30 this afternoon to find Andy pedalling away on his Turbo Trainer. He's obviously taking this one seriously I thought, or he's been reading the blog whilst he's been away and seen how much I've been doing.

The ride went well, both my good shorts were in the wash so I had to wear some old ones which still chafed a bit (sorry!) but as for the legs, they feel great. A bit strange but of anything, it's my arms aching tonight.

Anyway, it was proven today that Andy isn't actually bionic....

He'll probably make up some rubbish about checking out the wildlife!!

Millerzz returns from his training camp

Well, another week has passed and whilst Andy's been chilling out in Spain, I've been taking the opportunity of putting in some graft. An hour of five-a-side on Monday helped to shake off the stiff legs from the weekend. I planned to head out for a ride on Tuesday when I got a call from my mate asking me to fill in for his five-a-side game. I decided to do both which was all good and well until some idiot started on me at football and tried to headbutt me - looser. All's ok with this Hammy though!

I headed to my third game of footy on Wednesday but by 30minutes, I'd cramped up pretty bad and resigned myself to the goal. So, the best part of 120Ks and three games of footy in 7 days isn't too bad by all accounts?

Spoke to Andy earlier and welcomed him home. Needless to say we've planned a ride for tomorrow already! I think it's going to be a long one too :o) And maybe a run on Sunday, who knows?!

Oh, big shout out for all those who've emailed me with support. You know who you are, thanks x

Unique Sponsorship Offer

Firstly, look at this...

This is the proof for our cycling jerseys to be worn on the event and any promotional work we do. How cool are they?!?!

To fund the production of these, we are offering any company the opportunity to purchase one of three advertising spaces. Hire-It is used here as an example but they are contributing to our fuel bill and won't be on here unless they pay us more!

The cost is £175. For this you will get either the front, the rear or both arms. We will wear the shirts for photoshoots and you will be personally presented with one of the shirts (Unworn!!) signed by the team. We will pose for any photos you wish to take.

To express an interest please contact Chris on chris@crazyhamstercrew.co.uk

Please be quick, we've got to go into production next week.

If you would like one of the shirts for yourself, they will be £45 which includes a donation to the charities. They will be available in any size you want. Get in touch quickly.

Training steps up a gear...

Get it? Get it? Steps up a gear? I'm wasted as an Analyst.

Well the weather was supposed to be rubbish today which is why I went out yesterday and I decorated my bathroom today. But taking an hour off to watch the final stage of the Tour inspired me to get out on the steed again. I'm just loving it. The weather has actually been fine all day so I decided to head south to Worcester doing a loop of the A449. It's one road round here that Telewest Cable haven't destroyed so was quite a smooth ride. 19K's each way which I duly dispatched in an hour and a quarter which I think is quite good going.

I've got footy on Monday and Wednesday but might have to sneak in a ride or two in between. Anyone would think that I'm trying to catch up with Millerz's K's whilst he's away on his summer training camp.

By the way, has anyone got a cure for the huge chafing that goes on in the "blokie" region - vaseline I'm guessing?! (Sorry Ladies!)

Weekend Update

Millerz phoned to say his knees were hurting and wouldn't be in attendance but I'd promised myself a ride today so I went out on my own. Millerz is off to his summer training camp in Spain tomorrow so I thought I'd pop over to see him off.

Now AA autoroute tells me it is 20k's from my house in Kidderminster to his just north of Bromsgrove. Well, I dispatched this in 37minutes. Couldn't believe it myself, the terrain is quite undulating with a few cheeky climbs. After admiring his new 50inch Plasma TV I set off home. Inspired by today's Tour de France time trial I nailed it.

I really scared some bloke on the A38 when i slip streamed his car and the chap in Bromsgrove who I overtook in the High Street looked less than impressed. But.... I got home in 30 mins! Mashed may I add!

I cannot believe how much my fitness is coming on now. This cycling lark is good stuff. I want more....oh, and a pair of Carbon wheels too!

*** BREAKING NEWS *** Doping scandal rocks The Crazy Hamster Crew

News is breaking this morning in relation to a potential doping scandal concerning team member Millerz.

The 33-year-old (Yeah whatever!) Brit has been at the centre of controversy during the Training since it was revealed he missed out-of-competition drugs tests.
Millerz looked odds-on to win the Tour after taking Wednesday's stage and increasing his lead over second-placed rider Chris.
But CHC have learnt he lied to them about his whereabouts in June.
Young Brit Chris now assumes the race lead with four days remaining.

Millerz admitted making a mistake in missing out-of-competition drugs tests but insisted he backed moves to make cycling drug-free.
As part of Tour de France policy, the race leader is tested after each stage and Millerz has worn Blue since his breakaway win in Droitwich last Sunday.

We would like to point out that at this stage these reports have eminated from the BBC news website and are at this stage unconfirmed. The Crazy Hamster Crew directors take all allegations of this nature seriously and an internal enquiry is to be held.

Comment from Millerz and the other members of the team will follow.

It's Sponsorship Time...

With a little over eight weeks to go, and training in full swing, it'a about time we started to get some dollar in the bag for the fine charities we're doing this for.

We have a fundraising site at www.justgiving.com/crazyhamstercrew. We're working on some raffle incentive where for every £2 donated online, you'll get a ticket for an opportunity to win some awesome prizes. Keep checking here for what they are but no.1 is a signed CrazyHamsterCrew t-shirt hmmmmmmmm!

Look, Gemma's supporting us...

If you think you can donate prizes then either email us, or just post them to the Hire-It address on the top left marked for CHRIS. Any companies helping out will get a personal mention here and if you send us your logo we'll put you on our T-Shirts.

That said, if you're a t-shirt printing firm and can help out here, please get in touch.

Please do all you can. The boys and I are grafting our socks of, getting soaking wet cramming training in where we can and you'll agree these are fantastic charities to support.

Keep checking the site, we aim to post every couple of days,

Chris

PS, when we break the £250 mark I'm going to upload some very funny photos of Andy that he think's I've destroyed. C'mon, get donating
PPS, If you're the 1000th Viewer, take a screen shot to prove it, press print screen and paste it into an email to one of us. You can have a CHC Tshirt too!

******NEWS FLASH******

Today, there has been a report that Lee has bought a copy of "Cycling Weekly" & started his training program.......
At first it was thought that this was a enormous hoax & a mentally ill person was detained for questioning. This is a magnificent day in history, keep watching this site for further details.

End of an era... (WSFC Students post here)

Well four days away in the mountains and the bike didn't even make it out of the car :o( Gutted. Well, only kind of. I went away, as I always do at this time of year, with my lovely students from Worcester Sixth Form College. I supervise their Gold Duke of Edinburgh's award expedition in the Rhinnog Mountains. This years trip went quite well, preparation lacked a bit but all the groups managed to complete their routes and passed their award. I guess they'll be reading this so - WELL DONE GUYS !!. The only problem for me was the fact that they all insisted on walking as late into the night as possible which meant I couldn't get out for a ride but never mind, I did a few hills on foot and the fresh air was great. I told them all to check out the blog so if you're a college student reading this, then add the site to your myspace/facebook/bebo and drop it out in conversation/email and start one of those chain texts I know you all do! Oh, and refrain from just one alcoholic beverage and sponsor us a couple of quid on our justgiving site!

Have a great summer, finish your DoE and enjoy work/uni. Make sure you comment on this post so I know you've checked it out. I'll cross reference posts against the list of those on the trip. God forbid anyone who doesn't look!!!!!

And the end of an era thing? well I've just given ten years service to the college. I volunteer which means I don't get paid. This trip has been my last :o(

The wanderer returns.....

Well, Chris is back from Germany and we are both off for the weekend for a spot of training. Chris will be camping ( i hope the weather improves) with his Duke of Edinburgh mob whilst I am having a couple of days away with the family, & my bike hopefully.
I've got to say that the last couple of rides have been in the recent inclement weather & i didn't realise how much fun it could be riding blind in torrential rain..... Just for the record, Chris & I were due to go for a leg stretch last night (thursday) but he bottled it due to the localised flooding. Needless to say, I still went out for the crack, insanity rules eh!

I'm craving training?

Well I'm back from my break and all sausage'd out. Those Germans really do know how to eat meat. For those adults of you out there please excuse any puns. I thought I'd have put on loads of weight but we must've walked a fair few K's each day which seems to have done the trick.

I saw a new bike which I'd like to add to my collection (after I get a BMX). Check this out, and look they've got one for Andy:

How cool are they?!? Also whilst enjoying a fine German Weissenbier at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich we bumped into some lovely peeps from the good ol' US of A. Not sure how I managed to slip the Crazy Hamster Crew into conversation but hopefully we should be getting some kids from a school in Michigan following our progress now. All support is greatly appreciated so please, post away!

Right, back to the serious stuff. We need sponsorship now. If you can give us some cash, see the details at the top of the page. If you know anyone in cycling shops, outdoor brands or energy drinks etc and can get them to send us promo stuff please get in touch. Also, see this Pearl Izumi "Ernie and Burt" top I found in Munich:

They only had it in Small and I need a Medium one! Help! We're going to be getting some crazyhamstercrew.co.uk branded t-shirts made soon so if any company sends us stuff, we'll stick your logo on and send you some photos.

Oh, and yeah...I'm desperate to get out cycling again. I never thought this "roady" bug would get me but it's certainly creeping up!! Roll on tomorrow night, I get to see my steed again.

Mid-week update

No rides planned this week as I'm off to Germany for a few days but I think we've got one scheduled for next Thursday. Andy's been polishing the bikes and I know Lee's been cycling to work so the training continues. I see Andy has added a moral boosting image of one of the hairpins - thanks mate.

Had to visit my Doc today for a cycling related injury (and he contributed to the progress of the team in a way only he'll know! - cheers Doc, legend) and he suggested a JustGiving website. I was under the impression that they charged but read the page for charities (doh!) so here is our link:

www.justgiving.com/crazyhamstercrew

It's not just the ride we're doing. You can see by the Blog we are putting in many hours training and hope to have some Crazy Hamster Merchandise to flog soon. We'll have some competitions too. We hope we're entertaining you and that you'll pop a few quid in the pot.

This link will raise money for Epilepsy in Action, we're also putting some cash to the British Heart Foundation as they started it all off with the 'Crew's first outing London-Paris 2006. Choose as you will.

Bikeys on tour

This weekend, the crazy hamster crew temporarily became the crazy Bikey crew as Millers and Chris went off to the peak district to do some training. We arrived on Saturday afternoon at a site a couple of miles up the road from Leek and soon began pedalling. We took the road to Buxton, a mere 7 miles away. Only it had this hill in between us and the yellow town:

(Click on it to look at it close up) but anyway, it was a climb of almost 270 metres over the first few K's. We were going up hill for almost half an hour!

"This is were the England cycle team train" Millerz quipped as we pitched up in Buxton. Oh did I mention it was pouring it down all the way and at times we couldn't see past the end of our brake levers?

Well, after a quick chow on a GO (made by SIS - now sponsor us!) bar, we headed back to the pickey van. We dispatched the whole trip in about 1hr and a quarter, a total of 27K's but it was the hill training were were there for.

Today, Sunday saw us get up and do a quick jaunt to stretch the legs, about 19K's with some hefty hill work again before we returned and exchanged some foil wrapped heather with Fiona in exchange for a full cooked breaky. Good on you Mrs M!

Oh and for the record, I refused to sleep in the pikey van and instead crashed in that tent thing on the side. But it was a fairly nice van. Mr and Mrs M must've worked hard selling scrap metal over the last few months to afford it!

Another training ride

Boo-yak-asha, 'ere mi now. Maximum rispek. Me an my homey Millerz jus knocked bak 39K's hof North Worcestershire's hugest terrain. Dispatched in 1hour35 dis iz anotha one hout hof da way. Perfomance iz improvin an' we evun got hollers an' whistles from catshill's fittest bitches on da jaunt bak to Chez Millerz.

It's da Peak District to chek forward to hat da weekend, we're off to somewhere near leek so chek hout fe us. We'll be da ones dyin hat da side hof da road hat da top hof da hills :o)

Chek yous soon. Rispek

Real roadies ride on sundays............

Well, it looks like the old man of the team (well, not that old), was the only one to get some mileage in over the weekend. Just got back from a 65km ride in around two & half hours & feeling pretty good.
Chris felt obliged to see his girlfriend as he appears to have neglected her a tad just lately. He will probably need the extra rest to prepare himself for our Peak adventure next weekend.

RAIN, RAIN & MORE RAIN.......

Well, what can I say. Last night Chris & I went for a short ride of around 26km. It was meant to be a 2 hour ride but due to the weather we had to change our plan. To say it was heavy rain is an understatement, it chucked it down for virtually all of the ride and we were soaked within about 30 seconds of starting.
Chris appears to have been sniffing something again as his legs seemed to have an endless supply of energy.....perhaps he's finally getting fit!!!!
Despite the conditions, it was a good spin out and I reckon we are actually on target the the final ride. The mileage is on the up and we are certainly attacking the hills with more vigour.
We are off to the Peak District next weekend for some "proper" hills, I suppose we will then see if the training is paying off.
As you can see in the photo, Chris never lets an opportunity pass to get himself on film even when wet and a little tired.
By the way, I had to clean and oil the bikes....god damm dirt monkeys just can't keep things clean.

27k's, one hour

Wow-wow-wee. Boy didn't we blast last night. Left my pad at 4.30 and returned at 5.30 having nailed 27k's of very mixed terrain. We headed out to Cutnall Green and then back though the lanes to Dodford, up into Chaddesley Wood, through Harvington and then I got a bit of pain in my groin. 5 Mins of stretching and then back on for home.

It was a great midweek ride which felt much longer. On our return I knocked up a super pasta dish to refuel and lubricate (ask millerz about the oil!).

Oh, and we managed to recruit a new member to the Crazy Hamster Team last night....more to follow at a later date (she's not cycling but will be playing a major part in the buildup).....

Current training progress

Well, a busy weekend for the team. Millers has been out again and according to US spy satellite imagery, so has Brighters. Although all that CTU could say was the bike "Looked wider than the average road bike and was likely to be of the mountainous variety".

I however, have been weight training. 60 Bloody slabs carried up my drive and into my back garden! Every bit helps!

So tomorrow is another planned training ride. We'll be around Kidderminster for a couple of hours after work before returning to Chez Chris for some carbo recovery - hmmmm Paaaaasta!

Check back for how we get on

Kilometer - O - Meter

We're half way through week 6 and I think it stands like this...

Chris
Training Rides: 6
Total Distance: 215
Andy
Training Rides: 13
Total Distance: 434
Lee
Training Rides: **LEE UPDATE THIS BIT**
Total Distance: **LEE UPDATE THIS BIT**

We've a ride planned for Tuesday and hopefully another before the end of next week. There's a Peak District Training camp in the pipeline and a 100miler which has been put back until September with BHF. If you know of any organised rides please let us know.

Another ride dispatched

Phew, that was a tough one. Tonight me and Millers caught up after work and went out for a 25K ride. The aim was to do some hill training so we bashed out the route over the Lickey's that we did a couple of weeks ago. Back then it took 90 Mins but after 60 today we had almost done it so we put in a few more K's and one more hill so I think we can say we're getting quicker. After the flu bugs we really need to start putting in the distance now so we have a ride planned for Tuesday followed by some Carbo loading pasta styleeee at Chez Chris!

By the way, we're low on offers of merchandise/lucozade/jelly belly etc. If you're reading this and you know someone who works for a company that could help out, please send them an email telling them about our blog. We'll be getting newspaper coverage, the blogs getting more hits, and we'll include their logos on our warm down t-shirts that we'll use after each day. These will feature on Lawrence's video diary and end of day interviews. C'mon guys, we need all the help we can get.

Show your support like Gemma

Check this...

We've managed to recruit my favourite model to support the Crazy Hamster Crew. Good on yer Gem'. Let's see if we can get some more hotties to champion our cause eh? Post/email away...

Tomorrow is a big day

Why? Because the team come together for the first time. It's a 90 miniter after work starting at Millers' house and no doubt involve the trek over the Lickeys. I've not ridden for three weeks with only football training been going down. I think Brighters has been sneaking out after dark on his new roady and Millers has been putting us all to shame (but then he is on reduced hours the lucky git!)

We'll get a new Kilometer-o-meter up tomorrow - but I don't think it's going to favour the two youngsters very well :o(

Where have we all been?

Phew... Finally I did some training today. Just got in from an hours five-a-side in the gym and I'm pooped. Can't believe how much flu takes it out of you. Anyway enough whinging, I'm back. I've got the bug again and need to go for a ride.

Dunno where Lee's been, not seen him for a couple of weeks but hopefully he's got his bike now and we can get our first team ride next week.

Andy's nailed a few K's last week but then cought the dreaded bug over the weekend just in time for his week away in sheep land :o( so we gotta start grafting again now.

We've seen a 100miler Lancaster to York in August but if anyone knows of any good rides going off please post on here.

Oh no, Big Brother's starting, how am I gonna fit that around training?!?!?

British Heart Foundation - Cotswold Ride

Well, Andy and I have just dispatched a pretty hefty 62k's (40 miles) through the Cotswolds this morning - in under two and a half hours. Andy's training is obviously paying off as he flew up the hills and seemed fairly comfortable throughout whereas I was feeling quite drained from my week of flu. Although the ride certainly helped clear my lungs. Whatever I was coughing up seemed to trap all of the flies I was catching!!

The ride was really well organised and we're told about 4000 were in attendance. It wasn't a race but we reckon we were in the first 100 back. Our pace is improving, just need to keep up the miles now.

Brighters New Bike - Specialized Allez Elite.

Chris is not dead

Following on from Brighters' post earlier, I have been seemingly innundated with calls, texts and emails from wellwishers the world over asking how I am. I've had to turn down lucerative sponsorship deals from American Pharmaceutical companies however, I did inform Pfizer that it was Brighters who was interested in the liquid form of Viagra.

Fans, fellow cyclists, ladies, I am OK. Well, not really "OK" but my Mum says I'll live so I guess that's OK. I must have picked something up when I was physically down and dejected at my boys being the first team to lose a cup final at new Wembley.

The bucket of snotty tissues, the grapes, the TV remote are all evident of a pretty nasty virus which has ruled out any training for me this week. I see Millerz is keeping up the good work and hopefully Brighters' exercise bike training is paying off.

I can see a few catch up sessions on the horizon...

... by the way, does benylin make you fail a drugs test?

The Hare and The Tortoise !

Dearest Christopher,

Millers and I though that we would send you a post to cheer you up whilst you are suffering influenza (Slight Sniffle !)

We have discussed your training and think that you are doing too much too soon without any proper recovery and rest. You really must train within your limits so perhaps you should scale down to a walk to the shops most days with perhaps a power walk at weekends. You can get some of those special sticks to help you along and some red socks to fold over your boots.

Now whilst we have heard before that you tend to go off too fast, it really looks as if you have pushed youreslf too far this time. Now whilst you may be the young gun you must remember that Millers and I have experience and stamina, again we here that this may be a problem for you.

Off to get you a copy of the Beano, Millers is out training tonight and I am on the Turbo again (2nd session today may I add !) so dont worry about us guys we are fine.

Just remember The Hare and The Tortoise analogy !

Your Sympathetic Buddies

Kilometer - O - Meter

Well it's the end of week 2 and I think it stands like this...

Chris
Training Rides: 4
Total Distance: 128
Andy
Training Rides: 4
Total Distance: 133
Lee
Training Rides: 0
Total Distance: 0

There's a plan to do one on Thursday before our BHF event on Sunday. Other than that I think we'll be caning the gym again at lunchtimes.

Today's Training

Got to agree with you there Coddy. That was some ride. Yeah I had some fire in my belly today and sorry for going off a bit quick. Think I had something to prove to myself, which I think I did. I'm well happy with our pace and think we'll be eating those hills for breakfast in a couple of weeks.

Couple of things you failed to mention though. It pissed it down from about half way AND you did it on a road bike with tractor tyres.




AND AND AND.... Whilst you do look a bit of a stud in this photo, eyes to the left and take a look at that gradient - 12 per cent. 12 Bloody per cent I ask you?!?!

Right we've got a bit of a break over the weekend whilst we trip down to Wembley to watch the mighty Harriers (come on you Reds!) but we'll be back gyming it next week and look to get in at least one ride before the BHF event on Sunday.

Laterzzz

Hilly Ride.....

Oh my god......todays ride was quite a tester.
The road prodigy, formally known as Chris the dirt monkey, tested my old muscles on the first half of the ride. There was definitely anger in his system that needed burning off.......
It was an excellent "Warm up" on the first section, getting the body ready for the ride home.
So...... the first 20k took us around 50mins to complete but I've got to say that it was virtually all up hill. The journey home was almost a casual ride in the park save the DEATH ride thro Bewdley and the suicidal drivers.
Back at the "boys" house, there was home made bread (still reckon it was from Sainsbury's) which certainly helped refresh our fatigued bodies.
Today, we realized that the French hill (s) may be slightly more testing than we are used to. We will continue to beast our bodies to achieve our final goal....possibly death!
Just over a week until we go to Worcester to take part in the British Heart Foundation ride where we will ride 40 odd mile just for a laugh. We are hoping that there are loads of recreational riders to make us look fairly competent!!!!!!

One For The Ladies !

Hi Guys,

Well after the other two have done my knees I feel it only appropriate to post my first blog and set the scene for the forthcoming 5 months !

I guess I have been invited along for this event by the guys because of my looks, charisma and media potential. Last year they had Lizzie (How many stories have i heard about that, slipstreaming, Lycra etc !) but this year they have me !

Now whilst they will eagerly tell you about mileage, gradients and all things technical that they have been doing, I have been doing some secret training myself, Often at weekends I heavily carbo load and prefer to vary my type of cardio exercise to suit the often varying terrain :) and I have to say I have been doing really quite well !

Got a turbo in the garage which I look at lovingly on my way out and have been cutting down on units and fags, although Chris's fond memories of Phil's efforts last year, smoking whilst riding do provide me with a different incentive, perhaps one Marlboro light per switchback would be a good target.

In all seriousness (ahem) It's good to be involved with the guys and now we have gone public with this it has given me some much neded motivation.

I do need a road bike (darkside) so if you can help me with colours and and reflectors then that would be appreciated.

This is going to be interesting !

Brighters

Come on you roadies....!

Oh how those MTB dirt boys change their minds.......it was only a short time ago when young Christopher wouldn't be seen dead in lycra and now he wears it off his bike!
When we move into the next phase of training, we shall be hitting the hills more often. I have got some serious climbs in mind to test our progress and then we shall see if the mountain bikers can cut it. The friendly banter & rivalry, i'm sure will push the team up the Alpe D'Huez. I'm am still a little concerned that at my age, I am likely to need some serious medical attention at the top........
By the way, I only went to see the Albion as my dad wanted to go....honest!

Kilometer - O - Meter

This is the bit where we total things up so far...

Chris
Training Rides: 3
Total Distance: 92
Andy
Training Rides: 2
Total Distance: 67
Lee
Training Rides: 0
Total Distance: 0
(but practising for end of ride Pi$$ Up!)

One week down, three training sessions completed

...for Chris, for Chris that should read! I've just been out on a 20 miler in and around the Forest of Dean, including a pretty hefty jaunt from the river at Biblins up to the top of the Yat rock. In one go I hasten to add :o)
And what of the other two? Well Andy had an excuse that he'd already planned to to go and watch WBA but Lee was supposed to be in attendance however I think drink has go the better of him once again. He best have bought a road bike this weekend...

In the beginning

Well, urm, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Chris, they are Andy and Lee. Together we are the Crazy Hamster Crew. By now, you should have realised that we are doing the 2007 Alp d'Huez Challenge. 520 miles, 3 days, big hill into ski resort, used in Tour de France.

I got the idea for this blog from my mate Gordo who is doing the Vancouver Marathon this weekend and has kept a blog of their training. Good luck Gordo - Check out lostinpudding.blogspot.com to see how they get on.

So why are we here? Well, Andy and I get out on the bikes when we can and last year decided we needed a challenge. We signed up and completed the 2006 BHF London - Paris ride. It was awesome. We were really lucky enough (actaully very very lucky!) to have a team which included Liz from Regency Tea Rooms our local sarnie shop, and Phil, a chain smoking old school cyclist who started off having a fag at the start of the day, then when we went over the start line and then mastered smoking whilst riding!! The organisers faces were a sight! Smoking's bad for you kids, but Phil rocks. Anyway this is where the Crazy Hamster Crew was formed.

We decided we needed a new challenge this year but Liz didn't fancy the trip up the Alps so we've recruited Lee.

Andy is a hard core Roadie but Lee and I prefer the off road stuff. Because of the mix, our training is going to be varied. Andy and I have done two rides so far, Lee is still thinking about what colour road bike to buy. We've a plan to do a 40 mile BHF Road Ride on 20th May and a 24hr Mountian Bike Endurance event in August. In between we'll be getting out as often as we can.

We'll all be contibuting to the Blog as and when necessary but please, comment away......