A lesson in how hard this is...

Sunday 19th Sept. -

A perfect day and one just made for a nice cycle around Jersey and with cycle trainer Paul Stone we set off St Aubin - Gorey - St Catherines - Flicquet - Rozel - Bouley Bay - Bonne Nuit Bay - St John - St Mary - St Peter - St Aubin. It wasn't the full circuit and we did stop in Gorey and for tea at the bottom of Bouley Bay, but a four hour peddle including the stops, that reminded me what this is going to be like - hell!

The weather , no doubt form the 6th -10th Oct will be more testing and there will be another hour and a half of cycling added to make a full circuit. Then of course - I will have to go again, doing another full circuit before the end of the day. Hmmmm this is not nice.

In a car you will drive Jersey at a gentle pace in under two hours.
On an Itex walk in 10-12 hours
On a bike, as a non cyclist - like me in - in 5 hours. I reckon I'm not exaggerating when I say that 2 or three times round on a bike is equal to once on foot 4-5mph walking and 8-10 mph average riding.
On those thoughts doing 2 times on a bike every day for 5 days is akin to doing 4 to 5 Itex walks one day after another.

Now I'm worried all right. One for the body, but more so on the fear that I don't want to do this for meagre sponsorship. Knowing the pain, it's difficult to get the message over, this is not a sponsored silence/sit in a bath of beans/have you legs waxed affair. There is a no hiding place and a tough ask of a fit keen cyclist - let alone an unfit fifty something short arsed fella who actually doesn't really do any cycling.

Interesting times. Halfway up Bouley Bay, all I could think of was Geldof on telly during live aid, and although. an untrue myth that he said these words "give me the F*****g money" ran through my mind.

Murray