PLM: On The Other Hand.

*Migrated From Peddling Like Mad Archives*

Seven days have passed by since Yazz, Patrick and I made our inaugural long distance cycling trip. Yazz is left with a fractured wrist that has left him out of play for the next week or so. My sunburn, pain now subsided, has resulted in an almost noticeable itch. I've been fascinated whilst disgusted at how the skin just seems to peel off...like glad wrap. I was nearly tempted to collect the skin peelings ala Goldmember, but decided it wasn't worth it just for the cultural reference. Training has been light, Patrick and I had our usual weights session last Sunday (23/03/08), Badminton was off because of Easter Sunday and we decided as a group that since Yazz cannot partake then we wouldn't do the rainbow park military drills (Yazz may or may not have agreed.) Tissue Face and I will be cycling from Yazz's to the city tonight. The following though is a mystery to me...

Each time we cycle from Yazz's to the city there's often a waiting period where the other two will wait for me to catch up, I was used to it, I made no excuses. But last week when going to coast for the most part I was able to keep up. I don't know if they were cycling slower or I faster, but they were never out of sight. So there's a chance I may be able to keep up with Patches tonight. If not at least he gets multiple rests.

In my previous post I mentioned my newly awakened reservations about the cycle trip later this year. I stated that it might not be fun at all to travel by myself, I still stand by that. But it doesn't mean I shouldn't go, I've forcibly removed that thought from my mind. I am going! The recent trip proved that I have the stamina to do it, which has been the other cause of my itchiness, the itch to leave as soon as possible. But those wishes are continuously hampered by the omnipresent lack of funds. Isn't that always the case? So I've initiated an in depth plan of what I need to accomplish as soon as possible. After making a list (slightly different to the one on this site) of things I need to buy and tasks to accomplish it's all a bit clearer.

I've started by focusing on how much it will initially cost to get on a bike and peddle out of Brisbane. The maximum price is approximately $4500, that includes a very decent road bike for over $1000, some savings to get me started and a lengthy list of equipment. That would be the ideal scenario. The minimum amount I would need to get out of here would be around the $1000 mark, that means using the bike I have, very few savings and cheap equipment. If all else fails then that will have to do.

Next Monday I'm hoping to get a new MP3 player with a memory of 40-80GB. I NEED a lot of space as I don't want to be listening to the same few dozen songs for a year. The prospect of taking electronics with me does worry me a tad. Most electronics these days and indeed the ones I'll be bringing use rechargable batteries and if there's one thing you'll have trouble when on the road or camping it's a power socket. So finding places to charge them may be few and far between. Then again it is not life threatening if that were to happen.

Obviously I'm not going to make that kind of money from government pay, so I may just remove myself from uni, get off Centrelink and find a full time job for a month or two. It's the only sensible solution. If I can make that $1000 then I'm set, if more that would be fantastic on an unprecedented level.

There are numerous other things I need to start planning for as well, including the location and likeliness of employment for fruit picking farms and mining stations around the country, preferably in Northern Queensland. I've made a pretty good map of fruit picking farms in numerous places around the country if I can't get work in a mine. I just need to find what sort of work I'd be qualified for if I did do mining. On top of that I need to check out the network of buses, trains and ferries for the country in case of emergencies. Camping sites and hostels. Mostly I'll make it up as I go along, that's where the real adventure lies.

Finally I've started to prepare the route I'll be taking. If there's one thing I learnt from last week it's that navigation can be difficult, we had to stop numerous times to see where we were, particularly when we were still in Brisbane. So I've decided to take a cheapish GPS device on which I can download all the maps of Australia and should therefore never get lost.

Being paranoid can have its benefits and I've spent the last few days thinking about all the horrible things that could happen, then I think of ways to stop them from happening. I'm pretty sure I've thought of everything, all that's left is for fate to take its toll. That's about all I can think of right now though I do want to have a rant about diets at some point in the future. It's the usual training for the next short period but soon we will surely have thought of a new challenge to undertake, one far more tiring than the Brisbane-Gold Coast trip. Although 10 weeks of training in itself is a pretty good accomplishment even if we have been a little bit more relaxed for the last few weeks. All right, that's more than enough.

Andy Scott

PLM: Deservedly Smug.

*Migrated From Peddling Like Mad Archives*

Allow me to set the scene. It's Friday the 21st of March at 4am and I struggle to get my eyes open for the millionth time. A mere hour has passed since I actually got to sleep, mainly the result of a concert the night before and an irregular sleep pattern. In less than two hours I would be standing outside South Bank with the Yazz and two bikes. A few minutes later we were joined by Patrick. A few last minute checks caused a moment's delay, not an issue at the time as we were all feeling a tad nervous about the journey ahead of us. 100km from South Bank to the Gold Coast, theoretically very achievable, though we had not put that theory to practice as of that moment.

Reluctantly we put arses on bike seats and set off on what would prove to be a very painful journey. According to the directions we printed from Bikely we needed to enter the bus way at the mouth of West End. A long tunnel opened up to us and immediately we were worried about the lack of actual bike lanes. Too late to search for a different route we pressed forward praying to whatever god was on duty today that no buses would sneak up on us. Finally after around 15 minutes we'd made it through and saw that now familiar bike symbol on the road that gave us confidence to mount the roads. I forget what suburb we were in at this point and perhaps that isn't a bad thing as we passed a great number of suburbs and towns on the way, too tedious to list them all.

Once on the bike way it was simply a matter of sticking to it, but of course there were a number of times when we weren't sure we were on the right path. I was perhaps being a bit too generous with my estimates of distance passed at this point, generating numbers that were much higher than were truthful. I wanted to feel as if we'd gone a good distance without using too much body fuel, we did have a while to go.

The bike way was completely erratic, one moment you're safely on the side of the road, the next you're careening into a bush on some back passage. I don't blame the councils for this, in fact there's no one you could blame it on. To make proper bike ways would involve tearing up a lot of roads and sidewalks and that is totally unnecessary. We're luck enough that the council puts bike ways as a top priority as it is, how many cities in the world do that?

By now we're running parallel to the motorway, on the other side of the towering wall there were vehicles traveling at speeds that we wouldn't like to encounter up close. All we had to focus on was that we were sticking to the route and that there wasn't anything on our path that would puncture our tires, as we wouldn't have too much trouble changing them but we wouldn't precisely feel enthusiastic about it. A punctured tire would most likely be the exact moment when we would scream 'SCREW THIS!' and head home.

Around this time we approached what was supposed to be the highest point of the route. The peak near Griffith University, fortunately we still had energy to push our way up, that didn't stop it from being annoying steep...and loooong. It was here we had the first bike troubles. Shoving the three bikes into the back of a car maybe a great way of transporting them, but it is also an easy way for things to break. So something had happened to gears on Yazz's bike and anytime he would go to first gear the chain would just come off. If there's ever a time you don't want that to happen it's when you're going up hill. Yazz had to complete the journey only using the other gears. Sucks to be him I guess.

Thankfully there was a downhill equal to the uphill we'd just climbed and with that we'd completed approximately 11km...only 89km to go. I'm trying really hard right now to force back the memories of the next 35km, but all I remember are some roads and a lot of perspiration...oh and a moment when my brakes failed coming onto a busy roundabout. Many thanks to the driving skills of that person who narrowly avoided hitting me. But all you can do in a moment like that is get to the other side fast, then I got yelled at by some bogans. Everything else has been blocked out of my mind. You see, we may have been a bit eager to finish the trip as quickly as possible so we were barely taking any breaks. Every 5-10km we would rest for about 3-5 minutes before pushing on. I do remember when we reached the 30km point feeling proud as that was the furtherest distance we'd cycled. For me I was not imagining the finish line at the Coast, I was forcing myself to the half way point, the BP station at Yatala. That was where we decided to stop for a while, rest up and eat Maccas. Very important to give yourself goals along the way.

I do remember a sensation of desperation about 40ks in, the ground was strewn with empty fires and drink containers, we couldn't be that far off. Sure enough as we made our way to the top of what must have been the one hundredth hill we saw the familiar golden arches in the distance. That was a very emotional moment for the three of us and gave us the energy to force ourselves onwards. BP Station, Maccas, 50 KILOMETERS!

We locked up our trusty steeds and actually collapsed. We arrived at 10:30am, which on top of it meaning we had achieved 50km in 4.5 hours, it was also the moment when Maccas stopped their Breakfast menu. Fate or what? I sat listening to Patrick and Yazz half heartedly as they continued to have hope for the rest of the trek. They began to devise a plan on how to best finish the next 50km. I could only think of how I was wrecked, my legs hurt and I just wanted to find the nearest train station to go home. I'd used the last of my determination to get to that point. It was only when they decided that we should take a decent break after every 10ks there onward that I began to come around to their side. Perhaps I could make another 10km... So after an hour of rest time we got back on the bikes. Do you know what 50km and 4.5 hours of riding does to your arse? It doesn't help after relaxing for an hour to remount the seat. The pain was fairly intense, but we knew that after 10 minutes of riding we'd be numb again.

Though ten minutes later we were abruptly stopped by an elderly man. He'd been monitoring us on the roads and felt it his civic duty to stop and tell us everything that we were doing wrong. There may have been a time and place when we would have seriously been grateful for his advice, that was not then and there...very much a NO! We didn't exactly appreciate it mainly because there was no way to incorporate the advice until we'd gotten back to Brisbane. We'd be cycling along for the next few hours with the knowledge that it could have been a lot easier. Thanks random old guy!

The person who had created the route we were going by must be the type who is always positive in his outlook. We were promised a lessening of hills after Beenleigh and Yatala. Here's one of the descriptions he'd used 'At the top of one of very few hills on this route.' I would like to highlight the 'very few hills' part. In reality there were, from lack of a better adjective, SHITLOAD of hills. You couldn't go 1km without meeting one, sometimes there were several within in each kilometer. We all had issues with several of the descriptives including 'Gentle uphill', 'Up the long, but gentle slope towards Griffith Uni' and our personal favourite 'Rolling hills on the V1 ... this is just about the best section of the V1, with a great surface, little traffic, trees for shade.' He almost made it sound pleasant, rolling hills... more like depressing hills, because every time we saw another one you'd hear 'DAMN IT!'

Anyway... 10ks later we were at Ormeau and it actually felt like we could make it after all. My positivity returned even if I couldn't sit down on the ground as there wasn't a place that didn't have broken glass. We had our obligatory 20 minute break during which Yazz discovered that his wrist was broken. In the aforementioned moment when his chain fell off he apparently put all his weight onto his wrists and snap! He said it was only painful if he did any rotating or when we went uphill, credit for continuing.

The next city/town/suburb was Pimpama, I really don't know what they're called. It was pleasant being out in the bush areas, weather was pleasant and all that. But we didn't really have the opportunity to take it all in what with trying desperately to peddle the next 10ks. So we hardly noticed Pimpama. We did notice several things as we entered Coomera though. For one we cycled directly past the place where we went Zorbing last year, we had driven to that place FROM the coast and that had taken about 20 mins by car. We were definitely getting close! Our next confirmation was driving alongside Dreamworld, that's always one of the final sights before getting to Southport. We stopped at a petrol station next to Dreamworld and had another break. I think by this point we were running on pure adrenalin. At this point we were about 80km in!

Some harsh realities began to set in as we looked at the refedex. For one, although we were really close it would be another 25km till we reached Main Beach. Then it would be another 10-20km to the nearest train station. Potentially it could end up being 125km altogether. Initially we had chosen Main Beach as a finish line because that was where the route we had been using ended. That route however was created in 2006 and a lot has changed since then. Most importantly the V1 had been finished, the V1 is a bike path from Logan to the Coast. So for around 15km we had deviated from the route. Yes, we could still end up at Main beach but what would be the point? I don't think any of us were in the mood for swimming.

So we decided collectively to ride to the next train station, something which isn't a simple feat on the Gold Coast as it is in Brisbane. The closest train station from us was in Coomera, we could only have to ride 5-10km back to it. We agreed though that we shouldn't go back and should continue on to the next station after that in Helensvale, which we approximated to be 10km away...we were a little off. It felt good to know that we were now on the last leg of the journey, that in an hour's time we would be finished. But we still had to get there yet. This part of the motorway was very confusing, we actually had to cross the motorway four times before we got where we needed to. We saw Movieworld and Wet N' Wild on our right side, which meant that the bridge to take us to Helensvale was coming up. They had built a bike bridge crossing the motorway there which was great. Being that the bike bridge was all uphill was not so great. But by now Yazz and I had given up entirely on slopes and walked the whole way.

The slope continued on the other side gradually making it's way up an actual mountain. We started to go downhill and immediately got on our bikes. It basically went downhill for the remainder of the route. There was Westfield shopping town and we knew that the train station was across the road from there. Peddling furiously up the last slope, there it was, the diamond turd in our sights. We heard 'Brisbane train will arrive in 2 minutes', unfortunately we didn't make that one. It would have been an awesome finish, but hey, we'd made it. During the half hour wait for the next train it dawned on us of what we had just achieved. At the time we arrived it was 3:30pm, so we had cycled 100km in 9.5 hours. Nowhere near a world record, but not too bad for three guys who'd never done anything like it before.

Patrick was simply amazing, never at any point did it seem like he was tired. Any time we got to a hill you'd always see him 30-50 meters ahead powering his way up. I got so used to seeing him in the distance that it felt weird whenever he was up close. Great work there mate, I'm really glad you're on the team but it just doesn't feel right calling you Team Unfit. Yazz's stubbornness once again got him till the end, I don't know another person who would be so determined to keep going after suffering a broken wrist or any bone for that matter. That same stubbornness that is admirable is clearly going to be same stubbornness that will be the end of him one day.

As for me I think it's nothing short of a miracle I made it. Previously to our training which began nine weeks ago I was one of the least active people. Rarely playing sport or moving if it wasn't unnecessary and despite my size I had very little muscle. So you can imagine my excitement when I realized that I was now able to cycle 100km. But if I have one regret it is that I didn't use sunscreen, because my arms have not stopped hurting since yesterday. What should have been a blissful slumber turned into me waking every 1-2 hours because of the burns. I'm patiently awaiting for some Aloe Vera to arrive.

It also brought up some other thoughts, some that may affect the future. Ultimately I would label yesterday as fun. Despite the pain, we really did have a great time cycling to the coast. But most of that fun was from camaraderie, being amongst friends. If I honestly imagine doing the exact same trip by myself I don't think it would be anywhere near as fun. That throws a major wrench into my plans for my trip around Oz. But as of now I am still planning to make the trip, but I may make some conditions. Mainly I need to find someone to make the trip with me, if there was someone there I think it would be worth it. If not, then I may have to alter my plans and think of something else I could be doing. I'll know more within the next month or so. For now the training must continue and Team Unfit will be back at it sometime soon. I am going to sit back, rub some Aloe on my burns and grin a champion's grin.

Andy Scott

PLM: What Me Worry?

*Migrated From Peddling Like Mad Archives*
I've been without the luxury of a net connection for most of the week, that however is not the reason why it's been quiet around here. Team Unfit has been laying dormant, preserving our energy... For tomorrow we put shoe to pedal and blindly make our way 100km south to the promiseland that is Main Beach. Does it sate your curiousity to know that there is a lot of clenching going on right about now? I hope so.

The bikes, or steeds as they may be reffered to from now on, are stabled at Yazz's house. But getting the bikes to the start line at South Bank is his duty, all I have to do is be on the train to Indooropilly at 5:30am. Actually I was a bit surprised there was a train at 5:30am. Once we arrive at South Bank I suppose we just get it underway. What does that entail? Well take a gander at this!

2006 Wilson HTM Brisbane to the Gold Coast Cycle Challenge route

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

That's right it's THE world famous Wilson HTM Brisbane to the Gold Coast Cyle Challenge route, the very one they used in 2006. We flogged it from Bikely, so thanks to whomever did all that work labelling 1237 points along the route, muchos gracias.

I've bought a new backpack, one that will hopefully hold steady this time. I've got my spare inner tubes, because I don't particulalry feel like breaking down in Beenleigh. My self confidence? Well I'm sure it's lying around here somewhere.

Here are the cold hard facts. The furtherest we've ever travelled: approx 35km. Distance for this trip: 100km. We have compensated for that by leaving very early and giving ourselves the whole day to try and finish it. But as I've said before time is not the issue, it's all about how many kms can your body get through before succumbing to exhaustion. Hopefully we're all at a fitness level where we can manage it. Now I may not strictly believe in God, but I do know how he works. Suffice it to say, I'm sure we can expect storm clouds in the morning, followed by crazy Good Friday traffic, several punctures and worst of all...for some reason the highway Macca's is closed. And I tell you now if I do not get my half-way point Double Quarter Pounder I may have to go on a rampage.

I think I've said all that needs to be. I may try and get some more sleep in, seeing as tonight I'm going to see Ozzy Osbourne in concert and chances of me getting to sleep afterwards are slim. Nothing like diving into a mosh pit mere hours before a long distance cycle tour. I can't wait to see how this pans out, going to be one hell of a story! Tune it next time for - Roadkill: Before and After...

Andy Scott

PLM: Ouch...

*Migrated From Peddling Like Mad Archives*

I haven't spoken with Yazz or Patrick yet today, but judging by the level of pain I'm in I think I could accurately guess how their day has been so far. My major issue right now is that I'm about to describe the routine we forced ourselves through yesterday, which means reliving it and also remembering the fact that we'll be doing it all over again next week. Perhaps it would be therapeutic then to list all the positive factors involved as well.

For starters the change of pace was very welcome, things had started to become tedious using the same routine each week. We've now discontinued our previous gym session involving the crunches, leg ups, push ups, biceps, star jumps and chest press. I've spoken of it before in detail and may have mentioned the fact that it was not pleasurable. This new routine seems to be on the same level of difficulty, but in a twisted way...it was more fun.

We started by driving to Rainbow Park close to Yazz's house, driving was necessary so we wouldn't have to lug the punching bag down there using brute strength. For the first activity we designated a 10 meter path and placed the punching bag at one end. One person would lift the punching bag into their arms preferably placing the strain solely on the biceps, they would then sprint towards the 10 meter mark and put the punching bag on the ground. After that they sprint the 10 meters back to the starting point. The second person would sprint to the punching bag, lift it and carry it back to the start. It would keep going in similar fashion until the 15 minutes we'd allocated ourselves was up.

Towards the end sprinting drifted into jogging and eventually became a walk. It became a lesson in determination, how many laps could you finish in 15 minutes. You didn't want to slow down as it would take longer and you're not being 'fair' to the other two. Needless to say there were smiles all round when that timer went off.

Onto the second part of our gauntlet. In this part we incorporate several of the exercises from our discontinued training routine. From the starting point we sprint 10 meters, drop to the ground for 5 push ups and then roll over for 5 crunches. That's not all though, you have to sprint back to the starting point for 15 rapid star jumps, it was supposed to be skipping but we didn't have three ropes. Once again we'd continue this for 15 minutes. With these exercises it was a lot harder to find the drive to continue. Crunches involves lying down on your back, other activities that involve lying down on your back mainly include sleeping. So once the crunches were over the greatest challenge of all was to stand up again. Thus concluded all the running and we wept in joy.

Part three was to use the punching bag as it was intended to be used i.e. beat the crap out of it. We hung it from one of the park's chin up bars and began the three sets. Set one involved a rapid succession of punches from left and right hands. Left, left, RIGHT! You lure the punching bag into a false sense of security with your two left jabs and when the guard is down, WALLOP it with your right. All the while practicing your defensiveness by blocking your face and kidney from attack. Second set, a simple left/right/left/right sequence for twenty punches. Finally the third set, one person would pull the punching bag back and then let it go so it would swing towards you. With the reflexes of a cat you lean to one side as to dodge the strike and as a parting gift punch it so it returns to sender.

We cut this particular part short because a) we didn't have boxing gloves, b) it was getting pretty dark, c) my left wrist has still been acting up and d) we were really, really, really tired. So we went back to Yazz's house for the fourth and final part of the routine, biceps. On our Sunday gym session when we do biceps on the weight machine it's most about doing repetitions until you're tired. For this part it's about taking it to a weight that is heavier than you're used to and really going to town. We'd do one set on a high weight and try to do 3-5 reps before passing out. The second set we'd try to make it to at least 7 reps. For the third set we'd take it down to a low weight and do as many reps as was physically possible. After which we collapsed on chairs and panted for a while.

This routine can easily be summed up as 'full on'. For the rest of the evening I was having random muscle spasms in my left arm, I also found it difficult to do intricate things with my fingers such as rolling a smoke, the muscles would just spring open again. We've certainly made up for last week's laziness.

This Thursday we'll be getting back on the bikes and once again going to the city. I'm especially looking forward to this, I've grown attached to cycling now which can only be a major benefit for someone who's planning on making a long distance journey by bike. For now I think I'd like to go lie down for a few hours and not think about how we're going to do this again next week. Urgh...

Andy Scott

PLM: A Moment's Rest.

*Migrated From Peddling Like Mad Archives*

Team Unfit took the opportunity to be lazy this week after Yazz accidentally introduced his lungs to particles of fiberglass. The particles and the lungs did not immediately get on well. He's all right now though, which is why the training has once again commenced. Earlier this week I lost an astounding 2kg of mass...from my brain...after watching Meet The Spartans. There's a handy piece of advice for you, do not watch Meet The Spartans, you're going to have to trust me on that one.

We did the usual Sunday gym session working our upper body. When I thought about how far we've come in the last several weeks I realize just how much we've progressed. I'm now pretty much able to lift twice the weight I could when I began. It doesn't say much as I really had little muscle mass to begin with, but not for long at this rate.

This afternoon in all probability will herald the arrival of our new training session. The term 'difficult' has been thrown around to describe the routine along with random descriptives such as 'sudden bursts', 'sprinting' and 'most people vomit afterwards.' That is all sorts of fantastic right there. Anyway, we're meeting up this afternoon and going to a park near Yazz's house for the first part of the exercise. I'm internally debating whether I should cycle to his house...I miss cycling, but it might be wiser to preserve all my energy for these Herculean tasks ahead of us.

Other notes: It is now less than two weeks until we cycle to the coast and I should solidify my viewpoint on this particular exercise. Negative as it is I just don't think we're going to make it. It is possible for a well weathered cyclist to travel the distance between Brisbane and the Gold Coast in one day, but we're not well weathered cyclists. We're amateurs, beginners, loud and proud. That being said, my negative stand is not going to stop me from getting on that bike and giving my absolute best. I've made a promise to Yazz and that is to not give up until he does and seeing as Yazz is one of the most stubborn men alive I may be in trouble. He will work himself into the ground before giving up. So I either look to him as inspiration to keep peddling or try and find ways to sabotage him. Yes I am maniacally laughing right now.

I guess I'll be back here tomorrow to report on the torturous goings on of today...that is if I'm still breathing. Toodles.

Andy Scott

PLM: Keeping The Spark.

*Migrated From Peddling Like Mad Archives*

I had been prepared for a week void of diversity and when it proved to be just so my heart sank just a bit. The next few weeks are going to be the most worrisome thus far, we've set into routine now as a tick would some poor individual's scalp. What's wrong with routine you might ask, well whenever something becomes routine it tends to mean that the initial excitement has run it's course and all that's left is the thought that it would be more responsible to continue on the same path. For some people that's not a problem, for me that's when I get bored and slowly trail off.

That being said I enjoyed myself immensely this week. We had the usual bike ride to the city, two gym sessions and a badminton tournament. I should probably have underlined the word 'usual' for added emphasis, I think we may need to start spicing up our training schedule. In fact we do have a mystery gym session that Yazz has devised which he will unveil this Thursday hopefully. All I know of it is that it was the type of training Yazz used to do when he was into boxing, I'm allowed to have sugar beforehand as we will be losing around 2,000 calories and there's a punching bag involved. Apparently it's going to be exhausting, that should help quite a bit.

Back to cycling, last week I got my new bike and I gave it a test ride last Thursday (28/02/08). I do have one or two comments about it, even after adjusting the seat it was still too low, but I think with further adjustments I can get it to a far more suitable height. The rubber handle bar covers were fantastic, even when I held on at my tightest the blood restriction to my hands was only minimal. It makes it just that much more comfortable. The seat however...is so far the worst I've used. It didn't take long for the pangs to set in and by the end of our trip sitting down was excruciating. Even now less than a week later I wince a little when I have to sit down. There's not much you can do about that though, perhaps I'll eventually get used to it or become so numb that it hardly phases me anymore. Of course there is the option of buying another seat, they just don't make comfortable bike seats en masse. Ah well, it is a small issue.

Finding a new route is an important chore at the moment as we'll be riding to the city yet again tomorrow night. Now I really enjoy this particular route, but we've already done it about four times. The Darra circle route was a disaster because on top of being dull it was dangerous and frustrating. I will have to spend the next few days looking over Brisbane maps to see if I can find a new and exciting path.

Yesterday we had an intra-tournament at our badminton club. Yazz, Jolie and I all took part. Yazz in the top category, Jolie in the second category and I in the fourth and final group. Half the competitors from my group didn't turn up so it was sort of on the smaller side. From here I'll skip to the end so as to pass over my totally embarrassing loss, though I did get a magic eight ball as a consolation prize...whoopee. The day wasn't a waste however as I got to play two hours of fairly full on games, so much so that my boxers tore to the point where it became a skirt. Fairly amusing when I found that out.

After badminton we went back to Yazz's for our 2nd gym session of the week and now you can just sense the apathy. We're six weeks in now and though it is still exhausting, the rush from previous weeks has gone. But with Yazz's new training techniques to be unveiled and a brand new cycling route coming up I think we may be able to liven up our week. On top of all that it's only three weeks until we're attempting our ride to the coast, my nerves are starting to rattle over that particular challenge.

Well I'm beginning to bore myself with this, so I imagine you guys dozed off several paragraphs ago. I'm going back to the TV...

Andy Scott