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(