Thank You One And All

Well folks that's about it. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the course of the last 10 months or so since we decided to take part in the Monster. We appreciate the generosity, encouragement and kindness received and could not have done it without you. THANKS.

So what now? The Monster was a unique and rewarding experience. From that perspective, who knows if we will do it again, would it be the same the second time around? Could our wee legs take it? Over the last 15 months I have been involved with various family and friends in initiatives that have raised £20k for cancer charities - £13k of that for Maggies (and the amount is still rising!!!). Whilst we will definitely continue to support Maggies, it might be something other than the Monster. I am going to give my family and friends a wee break before pestering them again for the 'next big thing'.

Alan is still in training and ran a 10k at the weekend in about 48mins. My bike has sat in the shed since May 8th. One team member has confessed to still being 'off the diet', another has said he 'feels like a blob' and the other has noticed that all his 'spare chins' have came back!

Thanks for reading the blog. We were quite surprised by how many people did, especially the woman we met during silver who recognised us as the 'blog boys'. Is another blog in the pipeline? Will keep you posted.

In the meantime, I await the phone call that starts 'here, you fancy getting involved in this'....

"We'll talk again!"

Drumnadrochit -> Inverness (Part 2)

After downing a quick cup of coffee at the top of THAT HILL, the rest of the stage is a bit of a blur. Until the final mile and half walking through the streets of Inverness to the Aquadrome, we walked in single file - Alan, wee gap, Steven, wee gap, Scott - with each of us turning round at regular intervals to see if we were still in range.

It rained for much of the gold stage - it didnt seem to matter though, in fact it was quite refreshing. At about 64-65 mile stage my eyes started to get really heavy, the caffeine was wearing off and the wind on the moors was howling along. For reasons only known to be, I got Trevor to interview me about my Monster experiences. Yes, Trevor was indeed me talking out loud and no, I have no idea where he came from either but he did the job and it kept me going until I got to the next stage for more coffee, cake and soup.

I knew as soon as we set off for Inverness that we would make it, I just didnt know how long it would take. I mean, after going through all that, it would have taken something pretty serious to get you off that hill.

Remember when Scotland got the penalty in Euro96 against England and there was wild celebrations. By the time the celebrations stopped, not only had McAllister missed but Gazza was going up the other end to kill the game. That seem feeling of elation to dejection in a split second happened to us. We came into a checkpoint and Alan thought we had two miles to go. We hugged and high fived and then realised it said we had walked two miles since last stop (no way!) and that we had 6 miles to go. Ach well we shrugged, necked some more soup and cake, dug deep and off we went.

The last checkpoint at the bottom of the hill on the outskirts of Inverness automatically became one of my favourite places in the world. Despite the tent nearly blowing away, the volunteers still made us one last cuppa before sending us on their way. By this stage we knew that 1 mile really meant 2 and that 5 minutes away really meant 15 :-)

We walked the last few miles together, feeling absolutely brilliant, looking back on the day. We walked through the streets, three lads from Dunfermline dressed up to the nines with our walking stuff and TLDADS fitba strips. Truth be told, we looked a bit out of place. We spot a guy walking towards us, zig-zagging across the street obviously coming home from a party. I thought I looked a bit of a clown with deerstalker hat on but this boy had a pink sparkly stetson round his neck. He nodded 'alright' to us. We nodded 'alright' back and we went on our merry way...Got five minutes down the road and then erupted with laughter.

Entering the Aquadrome and walking onto the track 300metres from home was a memory that I will treasure forever. Even more so when I spotted wee girl dressed in pink with a torch tied to her, come running out onto the track to meet us. I looked up, thanked my dad and me and Robyn took the last few steps together. Meeting all the family and friends felt great, the adrenalin and excitement of it all was immense.

...An hour or so later the adrenalin/caffeine wore off and the tiredness kicked in. After the massage, the shivering started. Scott went to the Red Cross area feeling a bit dizzy and me and Alan couldnt see green cheese. I fell asleep, woke up and felt dizzy. We got put onto nice wee beds (SO comfy), got blood pressure checked out and had a few wee blasts of oxygen until we felt a bit better. Thank you Red Cross!

Drumnadrochit - Inverness (Part 1)

We all felt pretty good coming into the checkpoint and seeing everyone gave us a bit of a pick-me-up. Having said that, the first port of call was the massage table. Words cannot describe how guid it felt afterwards and my legs felt brand new. However, it was only after that, that I realised how sore my feet were. Luckily for me, Scott's wife Laura used her marathon running experience to out my plates of meat with various bits and pieces. I am convinced that bought me an extra few miles. I was surprised to see that Laura was not rewarded in the Queen's Honour's list for her services to feet.

We were fed, watered, massaged and changed and our family and friends lined up to give us a guard of honour as we set off for Inverness and the most surreal Saturday night of our lives.

About three steps into the stage I felt a sharp pain in my left ankle which stayed with me until the end. The whole mind over matter thing really does kick in as there are so many aches and pains going on and your body just learnt to accept them. I kept hearing a wee voice in my head saying 'Git ower it min' (Get over it man).

'THAT HILL' at the start of the Gold Stage was where we probably all thought we might not be able to finish it. Having wrapped up warm to deal with the temperatures that were due to drop, we ended up stripping down to our t-shirts as the sweat poured off us and we scrambled up the hill, asking the course stewards 'how far to the top?' Not one of them told us the truth ;-)

However they did say that after THAT HILL, we wouldnt encounter anything as steep again and thankfully that was true.

That's my lunchtime up, so will finish this off later!

Invermoriston - Drumnadrochit

In a bid to get the blog finished off before the next Monster, here goes with some observations from the Silver and Gold stages.

The silver stage started with another hill - it was a belter. This stage was the unofficial MP3 stage where the three of us stuck the choons on and got the heads down. I assumed the anchor role for much of this stage due to the fact that I kept having to stop to remove the stones that had popped down the sides of my well worn trainers.

At the start of both Bronze and Silver, I did have doubts as to whether or not I would finish it - Inverness seemed so far away. Last night I drove from Crail to Dunfermline - a distance of 37 miles over relatively flat land. I still cant believe we hiked 6 miles more than that after completing a 30 mile cycle. I think it will be a wee while before the chuffed-ness (new word) wears off. :-)

I enjoyed walking along singing out of tune to an assorted mix. A rogue Take That track (from the good lady wife) came on and Howard Donald told me to 'keep on walking....keep on walking baby!' - nae bother Howard. Baby.

The cake and drink stops were great although in hindsight we might have stopped too long at them - well, how can you walk with your poles whilst wolfing down chocolate and banana cake? Thanks to everyone who fed and watered us - Maggie's veterans were spot on with their tales of how good the food was.

The hill coming down into Drumnadrochit was a nightmare. We were all feeling quite good when we spotted the centre at the top of the hill and thought we would be there in no time but it seemed to go on forever and there was a fair bit pressure of the knees. Some brave souls were running down the hill to ease the pressure - we thought they had found out they were running out of stew.

We got into the checkpoint at around 7:30ish. Our support team were waiting for us, along with Stuart and his family and Scott's wife and his family (mine too!). I was pleased that Lee had kept Robyn up in Inverness - seeing them at the gold stage gave me something to aim for and look forward to.

WOW!

A massive thank you to Scott's employers Scottish Life (part of the Royal London Group) who have matched his fundraising efforts by £1000!!!!!!! As you can see, this has had a massive impact on the Justgiving total-o-meter.

Happy Birthday Beanscene

The Beanscene in Haymarket celebrates its first birthday on Saturday. I love Beanscene. When I lived in Stirling there was one across the road from my flat. When I was at the Scotsman, there was one across the road from the office and the one in Haymarket is just along from my work, providing an 'oasis of calm'. Sitting listening to good choons, drinking nice coffee, watching Sky News (volume down with subtitles). Thats about as close to multi tasking as I am ever going to get!

Anyway, what this got to do with anything? Well to mark their first anniversary, they are having a day of fun stuff with all proceeds going to Maggie's. So if you are out and about near Haymarket on Saturday pop in and treat yourself to a coffee and a cake.

Long live the Beanscene.

Fort Augustus -> Invermoriston (8 miles)

As soon as the hiking boots went on, the pain came back. A couple of steps and I could feel the wee twinges. The boots had been pretty comfy during the training (and were well worn in) but it was clear I wasnt going anywhere with them. The alternative? The extremely well worn and falling to bits pair of nike cortez that I had cycled in. Pain in hiking boots vs No pain in trainers? No contest.

I spied a few big blisters as I got changed so went to see the first aid team armed with my compeed. As Jake said in his blog, the safety briefing advised us not to put it on unless you knew what you were doing. To the two first aiders who helped. Thanks. No-one should have to go near my feet voluntarily.

Mo and Tommo had assigned us bin bags to keep the dirty clothes separate from the clean kit (how organised I know!) and they made sure we got some scran and had our rucksacks all sorted. If we said it once, its worth saying again, they were stars. Your brain was too busy saying 'walk, walk, walk' that it wasnt really thinking about much else, nevermind sunglasses (I really didnt think I would need a pair up there).



I got paranoid about getting sunburnt/sunstroke (scarred for life after T in the Park in 1995 - one minute bouncing around to the prodigy's voodoo people, the next minute shivering to almighty in the back of a volvo 440!). That is why I have a pair of barcelona shorts round my neck. Thank you to the 93 people who pointed out to me that they had fell off onto the floor.

Everybody who followed our build up to event said roughly the same thing 'youse will be fine, you have done plenty of training'. True. But two observations.

1. We never cycled up 'proper' hills.
2. We never really 'hiked'

I would tell people it was a 30 mile cycle, 43 mile WALK. I thought the word hike was interchangeable. WRONG. A few minutes into the Bronze stage and I discovered that we were going to be HIKING not WALKING. I knew it was never going to be a walk in the park but it was going to be a bit tougher than first thought.

If you havent read Stuart's post (scroll down a bit) then have a look, as he explains this stage perfectly. We didnt want to get split up and go on, but when Stuart tells me something, I listen. My dad always treated Stuart like a son and I guess I treat him like a big brother. When Stuart decided that we were going on without him, it was the only part of the day that I shed a tear (although there were a few welling up moments). I gave him my dad's St Christopher that I had pinned to my back and told him I would get it from him later.

All the Monster virgins probably thought they were getting near to Bronze about 1 hour before they actually did. You heard the music in the distance and thought, yes, we are here. Only for you to keep walking, and walking and walking some more before you actually arrived. The one memorable thing from the Bronze stage was the alphabet music game. We walked in a line and the person on the left had to name an artist or band beginning with A, the next person in line B, then C and so on. Each walker got three lives and if they couldnt guess on a particular letter, they lost a life. I was chuffed to get the Zutons and Suzi Quattro out of the way. It whiled away a bit of time until we came to another hill. Everyone went silent. 'I take it we've stopped playing' I said. 'AYE' came the reply in stereo.

The Time Sponsored By Accurist...

or Maggie's is 20hrs 48mins for Team TLDADS. We have been telling everybody we did it in 20hrs 44mins - following advice from Big Stuarty who was timing us as we crossed the line. Well, I say crossed the line. The finishing post had blown away by the time we arrived but we filtered through the wee gate before Elizabeth from Maggie's took our numbers and got us checked in for the final time. I think the 4mins between official and unofficial time were spent cuddling family and friends. Not a bad way to spend 4 minutes it has to be said.

Start: Neptune's Staircase (30 miles)

Ok sports fans and fellow athletes, here we go. I have just read the final chapter of Jake and Paul's blog and felt compelled to catch up. If you havent read it, head over here. I guarantee you that many of the participants in this year's event will read it and find many of their experiences very familiar.

The alarm clocks on 5 separate mobiles woke us at 5am. I have never seen Scott get ready so quick in all his life. Our digs were a stones throw from the assembly point (fluke!) and we got down there in plenty of time. We had been fairly thorough in our preparations and bought/borrowed most of what was recommended for kit...except midgy repellent. 6am - tons of the wee blighters.

We were up at the start for what seemed like ages, but was probably only 20mins. Our man Dave - (David Fox-Pitt) who is surely born for radio voiceovers, gave us the last rallying call and off we went.

We tried to keep together as a four but this soon proved difficult. You were too busy concentrated on avoiding the big potholes and allowing room for those wanting to overtake. Shouts of 'coming through on your left/right/through the middle' became common place. It seemed like everyone was flying past me in the early stages.

I vowed after the cycle stage that from now on, no member of Team TLDADs could ever utter the phrase 'there is a hill coming up' on the Dunfermline Cycle Path. Compared to the Maggie's course, Dunfermline is the Netherlands. We had cycled 30 miles loads of times but never a route this challenging. Why I was so surprised that there was so many hills in the Highlands is beyond me, but after a few steep ones, I got off and pushed the bike up the hill. I figured if I was going to be out here for a day, I might as well save my energy early doors.

Cycling uphill was a nightmare but coming down them was a sheer adrenalin rush. I completely forgot that my bike was in danger of falling to bits and roared down the hills with no fear. I was skidding round the corners like Jason Crump (Speedway World Champion) and having a great time.

The last couple of miles heading down the canal path felt great. The hill section before that was not so good as there was a lot of traffic, people getting off the bike without warning and a lot of people falling over. As I headed towards Fort Augustus I realised that my leg was getting sunburnt and so began my obsession to avoid further exposure and sunstroke. As me and Scott were heading towards the checkpoint we saw a jetty up ahead and thought how refreshing it would be to just cycle right off the end of it into the drink. Had we not had other plans - hiking for 43 miles - we might just have done it.

As I came into Fort Augustus, I thought about what lay ahead and whether or not my foot was going to hold up. I wondered at what stage the pain across the foot that had KO'd my final prep would kick in. I didnt have to wonder for long...

Big Stuarty’s Experience

Arrived in Fort William on the Friday afternoon, after getting the bikes out to check we had few minor problems, I had a flat tyre renewing inner tube. Tommo from our support team promptly repaired it and was ready to go.

After the Pasta Party, the map for the challenge was on a board for all to see. It was then I realised that the route was not as flat as I had thought! A nice relaxing night in Fort William, after a not bad night’s sleep made our way to the start point 6:15am. Having said I had no nerves on Friday they certainly kicked in on the Sat am…made our way to Neptune Staircase and we were under starting orders.

We started dead on seven bells, the first 10 miles were relatively flat with plenty of potholes and being the gentleman of the road I let everyone pass me by. Plenty more hills up and down then arrived at the 2nd drink stop. Back on our merry way, it was then I discovered that the Great Glens were really hilly and bumpy. Up more steep hills when most participants had to get off the bikes and push, I was no exception. What goes up must come down and on coming down I hit a big boulder and somersaulted of the bike and landed in bushes. After getting some attention from the steward and a medic I dusted myself down to continue onto some flat terrain at Loch Oich with a relatively flat journey over to Fort Augustus.

After checking in I met up with my long lost team and after replenishing my fluids and food intake we left Fort Augustus. 5 mins into the walk another punishing hill!! I quickly realised that I would be holding my team mates back. After reaching the top of the hill we had a bit of a debate about walking as a team, I suggested that they go on ahead as I was beginning to think I would hinder them which would definitely take its toll further ahead. The pace the rest of the lads were going at was definitely more quickly than I would ever be able to do and I was struggling with my breathing. I think in my heart I knew that I would probably only manage Bronze and if the team kept up at my speed this would almost definitely impact upon their finishing times as they were striving for Gold.

When they finally agreed to go on without me it was like the ‘monkey was off my back’ so I took stock of the situation and carried on at my own pace and took in some of the breathtaking scenery. This was the life. I was appreciating these amazing sights on my doorstep. I had previously gave Laura & Melissa (my wife and daughter) a call on the mobile as they were travelling up to meet us. When I had spilt from the team, I got a bit emotional as it then struck home that I was only going to manage my best (Bronze). I had plenty thinking time remembering my best friend I had lost to cancer, this was what this was all about...

I put on my ipod and listened to some prepared music. I was listening to Charlotte Church, the Voice of an Angel. I text Laura saying I was walking with Charlotte in the woods”. We had a laugh later as my wife had casually said to her fellow travellers “Aw Stuart must have met a walker called Charlotte to keep him company!!” My daughter was quick to set the record straight “No mum it will be Charlotte Church on his ipod!!”

After walking for several hours I heard the band which sounded close by but turned out to be about 4 mile away. I finally reached Invermoriston and the first two people I saw was Tommo and Mo, our support team. I went into the check point to inform them I was retiring.

The entire experience for me was the biggest challenge of my life and also one of the best. The organisation from The Maggie’s Centre you could not fault. The support and generosity from my family, Laura, Andrew, Stuart & Melissa and friends has been amazing. A big Thank You to Tommo & Mo, they were absolutely superb. My Bronze medal now takes pride of place.

I would like to add that I take my hat off to me fellow team members, Steven, Alan & Scott. They were tremendous and showed true team spirit and determination and were rewarded with their Gold finish.

Finally there are rumours flying about that I am signing up for ‘The Great Wall of China’!!! The nearest I will get to that is the Chinese Restaurant in Lothian Road, Edinburgh… Dunfermline to Edinburgh – 18 miles…a dawdle!!!

Lazy Blogger

I know it has been a while between posts but the quiet time I thought I would get since the Monster hasnt materialised. A busy wee bee at the moment and seeing a fair bit of Edinburgh Airport - Friday-Sun - Northern Ireland, Monday - London, tomorrow and Wednesday Brussels (C'mon the Jupiler lager and Godiva chocolates!). Looking forward to bank holiday weekend to complete the blog adventure. I'd better hurry up, my memory aint what it used to be.

Away to the docs tomorrow to see about my knee. I was running for the train a week or so ago and it just gave out from underneath me. Going upstairs is a right sair one and my first thoughts that it would work itself out have not proved to be the case. Those walking poles might be come in handy far sooner than first thought.

In the meantime, I will post Stuart's Monster experience in its entirety. Its a great read....

Is That Nut Important Lads? Lads? Lads!!!

We headed up to Fort William on Friday afternoon. Team TLDADS travelled in style in one of Stuart's mini-vans and we all lay back watching comedy DVDs and admiring the cracking scenery on the way up. Mark and Lindsay followed behind us with the support vehicle and the bikes. We made good time - thanks to Charlie's driving but I was nearly spewing as he hurtled round the bends.

Arriving at our digs in Benavie, we unpacked and Mark started giving the bikes a quick once over. Having a mechanic in your midst certainly helped. The hostel was literally 50 yards from the registration area at Neptune's Staircase once again confirming my status as 'king of the digs'. Having fixed Stuarts tyre, I suggested to Mark that my pedals were making a clunking sound (technical explanation: when I pedalled, the pedals went clunk). Mark had a look and asked Alan to turn the nut gently. The nut snapped clean off. Everybody went silent, including my trusty mechanic. The heart started going and after several attempts to get someone to speak (Alan was now a whiter shade of pale), Mark assured me that he thought it would hold together. Good enough for me says I and gave it a wee test run....the clunking had stopped. Spent the rest of the night winding up Alan and wondering if he had recently taken out a life insurance policy in my name.

We set off for the Pasta Party and got ourselves registered. I was asked by Murray from Maggie's to go on stage and do a little interview. The best thing about that was that it allowed me to pick out my fellow blogger Jake and I went across to see him when I was finished. Was great to finally meet him after reading all his posts - an absolute gent. A sound friendly guy as his blog suggests and he wished me well and hoped my foot would hold up (Spoiler for the rest of the blog: It did, thanks to a pair of well worn Nike Cortez trainers!).

After the safety briefing, we headed off back to the digs, got the bags packed ready for the cycle and went down the pub....to watch Mark and Lindsay sink the pints whilst we stuck to soft drinks. Probably just as well we were not drinking as Alan nearly collapsed when the barmaid told him how much the round was! Back to the digs for 11am, alarms set for 5am. Apparently it was a frogs chorus of snores all night but I must have been one of the frogs as I was out like a (headtorch) light.

Wrapping Up.

Having finally come down off the high that I have experienced all week since the event, its time to start wrapping up the blog. The rest of the lads are working on an account of their experiences - Stuarty has completed his already (are you listening you pair!) and I will try to work out how best to post these in their entirety.

As you can see from the bar on the right hand side, we have most of our photos from the event added to a flickr account. If you want to see the whole selection, click on the button. I didnt take any photos on the actual route. The scenery was stunning and there were some cracking photo opps but I was spending my energy on trying to complete the course. However thanks to TLDADS official paparrazzi Mo for his sterling work. I wasnt pleased at how many vaseline shots he tried to get though.

Before I go any further a MONSTER thanks to Mark and Lindsay (Mo) for being quite simply brilliant as our support team. We didnt want for anything along the route and they even stopped at Invermoriston to see if we needed anything. They seemed to know what we wanted before we even asked for it. Any man that handles my 1000 mile socks after one of the stages deserves a knighthood. Cheers lads, we are more than happy to be your support team next year!

Also, hello to the lovely woman from Aberdour who we got talking to during Silver stage and then saw later during the last leg to Inverness. Despite talking to her for a good wee while, we didnt catch her name. If you are reading, please let us know. When we told her where we came from she said 'are you the blog boys' - brilliant! - that will be us up to 3 readers now.

Full Report To Follow

A comprehensive roundup of our Bike and Hike Experience will be posted over the next few days. All of Team TLDADS are going to be working on something and I will post it up as soon as I can. For now, I will say that the Monster was a thoroughly rewarding experience, one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life. But done with the invaluable help and support of a lot of other people. There is plenty of time to think during the event and one point that was continually reinforced throughout the walk was that I am fortunate to have a great support network of family and friends.

Stick around for our story, if you have enjoyed the blog up until now, you will like whats to come. If you are desperate for some post event reaction, get yourself over to Jake and Paul's blog for some excellent coverage.

Final Preparations

Yep, I have been trying to get all my kit together tonight and make sure I am well prepared for Saturday. The bike is clean and the MP3 player has been updated. No, I still dont have all my clothes bought and I need to find a cheap rucksack tomorrow but apart from that I am sorted. Off to ASDA tomorrow for the Red Bull and Pro Plus - just like being a student again.

We are all meeting tomorrow night to get the bikes loaded up and make sure we have remembered everything. Helmet, boots, radio for the football, that sort of thing.

This is the final blog post before we head off on Friday afternoon. To all our readers, thanks to you both :-) Looking forward to meeting my fellow Blogger Jake from the Kings of Leon and everyone else taking part. Will see you here bright and early on Saturday morning...

We have received lots of helpful advice and tips from those who have been over the course before and who walk and cycle a lot. Its all been appreciated. However, I do like the advice that Maggie's provide for participants and I think its a mantra I will repeat more than once....

Thank You's

It's a bit like the Oscars really. You have a list of people t-h-i-s l-o-n-g that you want to thank but know that however hard you try, you will doubtless forget someone. That is why on behalf of all The TLDADS, I want to thank everyone who has supported our forthcoming attempt at the Monster. From attending/sponsoring the racenight, to sponsoring us, to providing us with supplies, to sending us your best wishes and encouragement, to reading this blog. THANKS.

The generosity of everyone has been amazing and we all truly appreciate it. As you can see from our Justgiving total, we have now reached 101% of our target (and we still have money to add to it). We will be giving 101% effort in return on Saturday.

I wanted to say a big thanks to everyone at Alex Quinn & Partners, the law accountants based in Edinburgh. They have donated their month's proceeds from their dress down days to our Bike and Hike attempt. I wonder if they all know that their colleague Stephen Johnston is a predatory assassin in front of goal (unless he is up against the Cat of course) and one of the Tuesday Night Legends at Sighthill. If he was Lithuanian, he would have surely got a call up from Uncle Vladimir.

A big thanks too, to Jacko's Ices (Dunfermline's Number 1 Ice Cream Van) for providing us with energy drinks. Also to our friend Robert Bruce for providing us with chocolate and water. Whether or not our support team actually leave any of this for us at the checkpoints, we shall wait and see.

Hurry Up Saturday!!!

Not only is it a big week for Scotland - there is an election tomorrow apparently - it is a big week for all the Monster participants and their support teams. With a few days to go, I am sure most of those taking part, especially those doing it for the first time, are thinking about it more and more. Nerves, excitement, panic (and worry about this foot of mine) are all coming round in equal doses. Like a wee boy at Christmas, I am just counting the days and willing Saturday to come.

I am sure it will be a pretty emotional day for a lot of people and our team will be no different. The event is a physical challenge and that is a big motivation but we are all motivated by other factors. For me, it is a simple way of saying thank you to the Maggie's Centre for their support and kindness at a time when my life was turned upside down. It is also something I want to do in memory of my dad and other members of my family who have we have lost to cancer.

I heard a story about one participant who battled against cancer and was given the all clear only to be told that recently that it had returned. I am not capable of putting into words the courage and strength of character that this person is showing by insisting on taking part on Saturday and refusing to let their illness stop them. If my foot starts hurting, I think I have found my source of inspiration to allow me to carry on.

How Many Lights Do You See?

'How many lights do you see?', sang Conor Oberst of the excellent Bright Eyes in the song of the same name. Well depending on my mood next Saturday night, fellow Bike and Hikers might see 1, 8 or 21 LEDs' lighting up the night sky. I got my head torch the other day and what a contraption it is. It also has 'disco mode' (flashing on and off), so if you are in the inverness area next week dont worry, its not an illegal rave, just DJ Blog giving it some 'big fish, little fish, cardboard box'!

On the subject of choons, our mate Barry - DJ Iceman for the purposes of this blog - is compiling a cracking playlist to help get us through the night. A veritable melting pot of rave, britpop with a dash of indie disco and a couple of timeless classics and we will be all the road. Wonder if there will be any Proclaimers?

Back to the head torch. I am glad everyone doing the gold stage has to wear one. That way we can all look like idiots together. I dont think anyone is capable of looking good wearing one and actually carrying it off. Walking poles and a head torch? Not a good look. But still, better than carrying one of these around in public...

Three bags between them but who forgot to pack the zinc oxide tape?

The Friday Foot Update

The pain in my foot came back during our walk on Sunday. I wasnt a happy bunny it has to be said. I decided at the start of this week that I would bring a premature end to the training and hope that a week or so worth of rest would do the job.

With a week to go, I am starting to get a wee bit apprehensive about it all. The pain is still there - but not as sharp - and only really hurts if I point my foot down the way. The middle of my foot (whatever the technical term for it is) is a bit tender too.

I am still trying to work out if ice, strapping, an ankle support, deep heat or prayer is the best solution but any ideas let me know. Otherwise, keep your fingers crossed for me a week on Saturday....it might be a LONG 73 miles. If you have magical healing hands, please get in touch!

On a positive note, my wee girl has offered to stand in for me as a late replacement and looks raring to go...

I did like the suggestion from one friend that I could do the event wearing a pair of fur-lined baffies. If anyone has a few pairs going spare, get in touch :-)

Come On Ye Pars!

Very little to do with the Bike and Hike but a MONSTER win for the Pars tonight. As two of your team are Pars fans (and one is probably dancing the night away in Mount Florida) one is a so-called part time Par, and your team are called The Dunfy Boys I thought I would post this...



If we show the same level of team spirit a week on Saturday, we will be just fine. If any of us start to struggle, we could maybe attach a cup final ticket to the end of a fishing rod and have it dangled in front of us as we stoat along the road.

However your scribe here isnt a fan of Celtic Dunfermline finals. Celtic win, I have to hide from the wife, mother in law, and plenty of others. Celtic lose and I definitely have to hide from the wife, mother in law and the rest of the town. Having attended her first game earlier this season, my wee girl Robyn will probably be learning how to give me stick. I did enjoy listening to her tonight though, "Come on the Pars!!"

McIntyre 0 - 1 - Hibernian v Dunfermline
Uploaded by samgoff

Perth. 28 Miles!

It seems like yesterday I wrote the words 'In exactly 9 months time it will all be over'. Now I am writing 'In exactly two weeks time it will all be over'. The excitement is now starting to build but there are still thoughts of 'where did all the time go' and '73 miles? in a day!'.

We were at the Fishing Club Dance on Friday night. A rather excellent buffet at the Civil Service club and a few pints put paid to any training on Saturday morning. Your bike and hikers didnt win any prizes incidentally, but then thats no real surprise...none of us fish! I have set my sights on winning a prize next year...biggest fish supper consumed.

With Scott down in London and Stuart working, myself and Alan went out today walking the same route as last Sunday. I made Alan stop at the side of the road and 'Hold the 40'...



The bad news is that the pain in my foot came back today after about 8 or 9 miles. All was going well up until then. We made it to the 12 mile mark and then I called it a day. A wee bit worried about it but will try to work out what might be causing it and not overdo it in the run up to the 5th.

As we waited on the support vehicle (Lee and Robyn) we crossed a flyover on the M90. We spotted a road sign displaying: Perth 28. We then realised that having done the 12 miles today, if we were to complete the Gold Stage we would need to walk to Perth (and then add on another 3 miles). Oh yeah, and we would already had to have cycled the 30 miles as well! Despite all the training we have done, I still cannot comprehend walking to Perth, let alone all the other additional miles of cycling and walking. Today, I couldnt have walked another 28 feet, let alone 28 miles.

Will spend the rest of the weekend trying not to freak out. I might get a curry.

Who Are You? David Bailey?

You've probably noticed that I like taking photos. My wee Sony Ericsson phone has taken over 2000 of them. A lot of the recent ones feature my fellow bike and hike comrades. When we were out cycling on Thursday I tried to get a few 'Action Shots' of Alan and Scott in full flight whilst still on my bike. I now have full respect for the cameramen who cover the Tour De France but to be fair, they aren't trying to ride the bike whilst holding the camera.

Having narrowly avoided crashing into Alan on more than one occasion, I was able to get a few pics...

Scott mapped out our cycle at just over 15 miles. Apart from it being a bit chilly, it was a great run and we were nearly tempted to go round again (I didnt fancy Waterloo Road on the telly). There is a new feature on Map My Run which charts the elevation of your route as well as the distance. As you can see, we were going 'Into the Valley!' C'mon the Pars for Tuesday night!

Yee-haa!

First things first, the pain in my foot is gone and I have passed the fitness test (sort of) with no ill effects from the cycle tonight. It was freezing to begin with, but it was great to be out there. Don't know how far we travelled - cue Scott and his Map My Run - but will post the route later.

Some of the downhill sections were great - the road down to Dunfermline Building Society HQ is a beauty, no pedalling from top to bottom. The flip side is that you usually have to come back up the hill at some stage and we chose one of the steepest in the town - East Baldridge Drive. Its neverending but fair play to Alan, he got all the way to the top so we have duly crowned him 'King of The Mountains'...



It was good to go somewhere other than along the cycle path and Scott's magical mystery tour was far more enjoyable (and less scary) than when he took us along the Cuddyhouse Road from Kingseat to Cowdenbeath. His bike has now been re-named 'The Hogwarts Express' (see post below) and thanks to the guy at Halfords waving his magic wand and spanner, it now goes like a dream.

In the pursuit of great photography I took some action shots of your Monster tamers on their trusty steeds tonight - whilst on my bike. I nearly crashed into Alan a few times, but think the pics are worth it. Will post them tomorrow.

But for now, I must dash, there is a Dominos pizza winging its way up here with my name on it (well, half of it).

Harry Potter and the Fort William Midges

I have enjoyed ready the comments left by family and friends who sponsored us via our Justgiving page - www.justgiving.com/thedunfyboys

Was VERY interested to see a comment left by one of Scott's work colleagues...



All of the lads have at least one celebrity look-a-like but we had never noted the resemblance between Scott and the wee wizard Harry Potter, although he does do a mean version of Brian Potter. (Jerry! Jerry! The Clubs on Fire!).

For those blessed with ginger hair (and it truly is a blessing you know), anyone who also has ginger hair is considered a potential look-a-like, even if they have no facial similarities. That's why myself and Fraz usually get referred to as Tin Tin and Jimmy Somerville. Chucky from Rugrats is another nice one for me - apparently I look just like him with my glasses on.

So following this twisted logic I must also look like Harry's pal, Ron Weasley. Scott has decided that we should bin all previous bike and hike nicknames and have Harry Potter themed ones from now on. I don't know any of the other characters so if anyone has any suggestions for Stuart or Alan, let me know via the comments. As a possible starter for five...


Alan and Scott help Steven get to the next Checkpoint.

Proclaimers Revisited

Just walked past Craig Reid of The Proclaimers AGAIN, coming back to the office with my lunch (panini and soup for those interested - very nice). Who knows, if I see him again, I might even say hello...or da da da da!

Fordell Firs

I had never walked through Fordell woods in my life and neither had Stuart before today. Scott's wife Laura joined us for a walk this morning and took us on the most picturesque route we have been on since the training started. It helped that the nice weather continued and your scribe even had the Factor 15 on his neck and his temples - since the hairline started to go north the temples have been particularly vulnerable!

Here's a picture of our band of merry men - and woman - trekking through the woods near Fordell Castle.

This time next week, Laura will have completed the London Marathon and Scott will be dutifully tending to her blisters. After our event, we all have a few days off before going back to work. Laura's reward for running the world's most famous roadrace? Back to work the next day with a class full of primary kids. Hope they dont have PE first thing on a Monday.

Our route took us down on to the coastal path at Dalgety Bay with some cracking views over the Forth and some equalling cracking looking houses. We have all picked out the ones which Stuart will be buying for us when his numbers come up - swimming pool for me please!

The 1000 mile socks have failed in their promise and I have had to deal with some big blisters over the weekend. I was thinking about sending the socks back - unwashed - demanding a refund, but still think they are better than a pair of white sports socks from kinross market. The employees of the 1000 mile sock company can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

I have a sprain like pain going across the middle of my right foot and had to call it a day today after 11 or 12 miles. Well done to Scott and Laura for going the full distance. Having a rest for a few days to give it a chance to get better. Will keep posting how the others are getting on. Note to Fife Council employees - we didnt pinch your 40mph sign found lying at the roadside.

Bridge Over Foggy Waters

I dont like heights. Planes I can handle. Top of the Empire State building I could handle - because you are inside. Outside, anything could happen to you. Freak gust of wind, slip on a banana skin, anything like that. Therefore, despite living close by for all my life, I have always resisted requests to go for walks over the Forth Road Bridge. For some bizarre reason yesterday, once it became obvious that Scott's bike is still goosed, I suggested we walked down across the bridge and back and off we went.

Despite being a scorcher from lunchtime onwards, the day started off really foggy and we could hardly see much in front of us. No photos from yesterday as there was basically nothing to see. I had a peek over the rail once or twice and couldnt see the water below. But I am sure it is still all there. I walked dead centre in the middle of the path all the way there and back - wasnt as freaked out as I thought I would be, but in no real hurry to do it again.

Thanks for all the messages of support received from passing motorists yesterday. A few of them picked up on the fact that we had left our poles behind and helpfully pointed out to us that we need two of them. At least that's what it looked like they were trying to tell us....

I'm Gonna Be (43 Miles)

Hey there pop pickers. Out and about doing a bit of celeb spotting in Edinburgh's West End on Friday and sure enough, current chart topping artist Craig Reid from The Proclaimers walks past. I had this near unstoppable urge to go up to him and shout 'da da da da, da da da da, da da da da, da da da da, da da dum da da dum da da dum da dada' (no sure if I have all the da's and dum's there but you know what I mean). Needless to say I was able to restrain myself and instead grinned like an idiot and continued walking.

I have sang this song at Scotland games on numerous occasions during the half time interval. Yet, I have never really sat down and thought about the lyrics too much - its hard to believe but bloggers really do have a life!

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked a 1000 miles
To fall down at your door

This week I have walked a total of 50 miles over 4 days. I am struggling to comprehend doing 43 in a day, let alone 500. Can't see me singing this song with quite so much gusto after the 5th of May :-)

Da, da, da, da

Have You Seen This Man?

WANTED
Name: Stuart Wilson
Hometown: Dunfermline
Age: Older than me ;-)
Possible sightings: Doncaster, Manchester
Rumoured to be on the run with ex Scotland international goalkeeper, Alan Rough and his lawyer (below). Reported as AWOL and required to return to training duties.

Reward For Capture: Exercise is a reward in itself !

Poles Apart

Looking ridiculous is not something particularly new to me. I have walked the entire length of both Edinburgh and Schipol Airports wearing a flowery dress, timberland boots, mascara and a set of pearls. I have stood up in the middle of the German end of the Westfallon Stadium in Dortmund clad in a Saltire to sing the Scottish national anthem (badly) surrounded by thousands of home supporters. I have even worn the aforementioned frock with a brides veil to a Edinburgh / Glasgow speedway match at Armadale.

But nothing comes close to walking along the cycle path that we have traversed many times, passing familiar faces, with a set of walking poles. Alan and I thought we really needed to try the poles out before the day but couldn't bring ourselves to walk round Dunfermline with them. The cycle path seemed like a good idea, but the pair of us just looked like choppers - and uncoordinated choppers at that. A few jokey remarks, but mainly just a lot of very straight faces trying not to laugh.

During various stages of our two mile ordeal (we walked the rest of the 7 1/2 miles without them), we proclaimed that we had 'Found our Rhythm' but I looked it up in the dictionary later and can confirm that neither of us actually had. Ministry of Silly Walks, yes, Rhythm, no.

Having a handy utility belt on his bag, Alan offered to carry the poles home. Or as he is now called - Quick Draw McGraw.....



After something to eat, we decided to go out again, doing our agreed 10 mile walk round the outskirts of our fair town. The walk stimulates a diverse range of discussion topics which help take your mind off the walk.

• Will that woman be knitting in her front room watching the telly? (she wasn't this week!)
• Did you hear the one about the snake draped across the ford fiesta bonnet.
• Plans to finally open the mothballed Hyundai plant and achieve world domination involving the sale of carpets.
• Rumours of the new garden centre selling pints of lager!

Anyway, we completed the 10.3 miles in about 2 hrs 25mins, and we did the 9.5 miles in 2hrs 15mins. Pretty good going (especially considering I had a Chicken Bhuna, rice and nan bread in between!). But as noted in a previous post, my feet were aching by the time I got home. Fair play to the 1000 mile socks though, not one blister.

Life On Mars

Have just finished watching the last ever episode of Life on Mars. If you haven't seen it before, go out and get the box sets. It has been worth this year's licence fee. Anyway, this is the reason why this post isn't going to be too big (hurray, I hear you shout) but I am tired and off to my kip. Will post more about Monday's training tomorrow with a couple of good pictures.

On the programme tonight, when asked how you can tell if everything around you is real, one of the characters explains that the only way you can tell if you're alive, is if you can feel it. Well, if the pain in my feet last night was anything to go by, I am alive and well and this training is very, very real indeed. They felt alright today, but I wonder if the pains will come back tomorrow when we go out again. Will soon find out...

Midweek Madness

We walked 10.3 miles in just over 2 1/2 hours last night. Not bad going, and not bad for a school night. Slept like a log last night and felt good this morning. We are aiming to do two sessions during the week of a similar distance and then a big session at the weekend. Basically, if we can find some spare time, we will be training. In a desperate bid to improve my fitness, I am getting a set of skipping ropes. I used to skip when I went to boxing many, many, moons ago but I imagine it will be quite a sight trying to recreate the old magic! I think attempts at crossovers will end up with a trip to A&E.

In the interests of entertainment, I might post a you tube clip of my best efforts - and those of my team mates if I can persuade them!

The Clock's Ticking Boys

34 Days To Go Until The Big Day. It's quite a scary thought and we are all starting to have wee mild panic attacks wondering if we are going to be ready. Just to add to our anxiety, I have added a wee countdown timer to the bottom of the blog. Scroll right down to the bottom to see how long we have until Judgement Day!

Gartmoran Dam

We went to Gartmoran Dam yesterday. It's very similar to Gartmoor Dam except its spelled correctly! No wonder some people didn't have a clue where it was when I told them a few weeks ago, I am making up Clackmannanshire landmarks for the fun of it.

I took Lee and Robyn back there today (in the car) to feed the swans. The place was hoaching with midges but we managed to steer clear of them.

Back to yesterday, the trip to Alloa was pretty quick and incident free. Apart from when we got chased by one of those huge dogs that are the size of ponies. I am still laughing at the line uttered by one of my colleagues '****** me, I hear paws!'

Scott had a bit of a 'mare with his bike yesterday, culminating in his chain snapping about a mile from home. It could have been worse, if it had snapped at Gartmoran, I think Scott would have thrown the bike in the drink!

Meanwhile, Alan had employed a new setup for yesterday's outing (it almost sounds professional dont ya think!). Me? I had plenty of Nobby's Nuts and Boost bars to keep me going and was having a ball until we came home when the wind was awful...Alan just couldn't help himself :-)

It didnt seem like there was any wind at all, but it felt like we were going backwards between Bogside and Oakley. Add to the fact that Scott's bike went from having 18 gears to one gear, and you can imagine it was fun and games for us yesterday.

I will leave you with a wee story from yesterday. Stopping for a breather just outside Blairhall, we meet a woman who tells us this is the first time she has been cycling for 3 years and this was her first time on the cycle path. The exchange went something like this.

Woman: 'I thought there would have been a few more rest stops along the way'
My colleague 'What, do you mean for horses?'
Woman: 'Naw, for me! I am knackered'

Despite being inadvertently referred to as a horse, our new friend didnt seem to take offence and set off for Blairhall where we told her there was a place she could stop...provided the horses hadn't got their first.

These photos were taken before Scott's chain snapped yesterday :-)

Our Friends In The West

Things have been pretty hectic the last few weeks with other commitments limiting the training a bit. With 34 days to go until the big day, I'm sure things will start to pick up again. They NEED to!

When we first signed up for this (many moons ago), our mate Fraz said that we would need to cycle to his house and pay him a visit. Fraz stays in Alloa which is a bit of a trek and when he said it, we laughed and couldn't quite envisage cycling all the way to his house. It takes long enough in the car.

But yesterday we thought it would be a bit of a fun to chap his door just before 9am. It took him a few rings to answer. Turns out we woke him up, which is probably why we didnt get invited in for tea and biscuits or some nice bacon rolls. As you can see, both myself and Alan have 'helmet hair' but not to be outdone, Fraz has the bed head!



As our mate Mo lives a few streets away, we thought it would be rude not to pay him a visit too - that plus the fact that none of us really fancied the cycle home! We were worried that Mo might answer the door in his newly aquired Borat wrestling atire but luckily he was wearing these fetching pj tartan trews instead. And yes, Scott is wearing shorts. It will take more than sub-zero temperatures to put off us tough Fifers!

And just to dispel the myth that all Dundonians are tight - Mo offered us tea and toast. Tempting as it was, we said farewell to Alloa and set off for home...

Blogger Bugs

Blogger has been playing up for me over the last week. It has deleted one of our posts - Going For Bronze (dont worry we haven't scaled down our ambitions, its still gold or bust!) - which was a shame as we had someone post a message of support. To you, anonymous Bike and Hiker, thanks, it was much appreciated. If you see us at the event, come and say hello. We are the four gormless looking ones from Dunfermline!

I will try to get things up to date over the next few days. We went out for a wee walk last night (I never thought I would say that about 7 mile walks!) and Scott and Alan went out on Saturday. I couldnt make it but planned to go out on Sunday morning. However, Alan's 30th Birthday Celebrations put paid to that as I finally surfaced at 12:40pm on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully I can get back on the wagon, or the bike, this weekend.

Going Off Road

'A token effort this weekend' says the Corporal (Alan). Stuart and Scott couldnt make it so the plan was a wee cycle and then home. With that in mind I got tucked into the indian takeaway feast that we had for my wife's birthday.

The token effort turned into a 30 miler which took three hours. Couple of miles into the journey it started to rain. A lot. So by the time we got to bogside we were soaked. Then it stopped and the wind kicked up so we dried out. When we got to the end of the cycle path the corporal suggested we head for Gartmoor Dam (which I didnt know existed until a few weeks ago). Its only 2.5km further on and it looks like its tarmac all the way. WRONG! Pretty soon we were on a bumpy, muddy, pot hole covered farm road and then we were into the forest and into the serious off road stuff. The route was filled with little bridges to cross the fast flowing burn and if you didnt line the wheels up, there was a fair shout you were going to end up in the drink.
It was muddy, a wee bit scary in places but great fun and I was laughing like a wee kid going along at some parts. Having said that it did cross my mind that I would be in big trouble if I copped a puncture 20km away from home.

Gartmoor Dam is set in beautiful surroundings...even if it is near Alloa - sorry Mo and Fraz and the fine people of Alloa. The pics below were trying to give the impression that we have became so majestic on the bikes, that like the swans in Gartmoor, we can literally cruise on water :-)

However, I realise that we just look like a couple of rejects from a mountain bike accessories catalogue.

Thanks Murray!

Murray at Maggie's has been sending out regular emails giving us a bit more info on this year's event. Last night, he sent out a mail publicising our blog and Jake and Paul's. Cheers Murray - I might have to start putting this through a spelling and grammar check if I actually think people are reading it!

If you are a new visitor to our blog, you are more than welcome - thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment. If you are a fellow Monster tamer and have set up your own blog, let us know about it and we will add you to our links section.

I have still to post last week's training update - I have plenty of excuses lined up for the delay - but will post this later on.

Have a good weekend!

Falling Off The Wagon

You're four times more likely to have an accident when you're on a mobile phone. So says the radio advert anyway. Last week, new legislation was introduced which meant drivers would be fined £60 and have 3 points added to their licence if they were caught using a mobile phone. Apparently, this legislation does not apply to cyclists, although they can be charged with careless cycling.

Just as well we train off the beaten track (or the bobby's beat) or one of our lot might have ended up with the aforementioned charge this weekend. To protect the guilty, I will not name the team member who tried to answer his phone whilst peddling along the cycle track, had a rummage in his pockets, lost his balance, came off the track and then off the bike. The Nokia was bruised but otherwise unhurt, police are appealing for witnesses (who wont laugh when telling the story!).

Tip for the day....Get A Helmet. Better still, from now on......

To Someone Very Special...

I will post all the details about our weekend exploits soon, tomorrow probably, as I am knackered today.

I just wanted to post a wee message of support to someone very special. This person has spent their whole life worrying about other people and making sure her family were all ok. She is one of lifes 'good people' - honest, friendly and her generosity knows no bounds. Like I said, she is always looking out for everyone else, but now has to be a bit selfish and focus on herself for a bit and the wee battle that lies ahead. She's up for the fight that's for sure, and we are all behind her.

Three Days On The Bounce

I was feeling good when I woke up on Sunday morning and decided to go out for a few hours on the bike. I think I need to get as much 'saddle time' as I can. I ended up going out to Bogside which was further than I planned and it was a good workout. Halfway there, in the middle of nowhere, I did contemplate how snookered I would be if I got a puncture and then resolved to get the spares needed before I go out again on my jack jones.

Over the weekend I got more kit including my new walking boots. I christened them last night by joining Scott and Alan for the first time on their Monday walk (6.33 miles for anyone who is interested). I was wearing my 1000 mile socks and whilst they helped me break in the shoes, they look wrecked. I have no idea how they will last the remaining 993.67 miles. Methinks I have been conned. To the makers of said socks, expect an unwashed pair to be winging their way to you soon for my refund.

Well done to Jake and Paul whose training exploits were featured in the Daily Record today. The full story can be found here

I am hoping the Record reporter was trying to spice up the piece, when she said "they will cycle across treacherous forest track for 30 miles". That's not what they told us at the information night! I am hoping that 0 was added by mistake.

Cup Fever!

"I know, lets get the train to Lochgelly and then walk home" Now there's a statement I never thought I would ever write, let alone actually agree to, but thats what we did on Saturday. Not content with walking the shortest route home, we went via Dalgety Bay (yes, it is a bit out of the way). Do you like my new Saltire tammy?



Two minutes after leaving the station, we bumped into the ex Dunfermline and now Partick Thistle manager, Dick Campbell, still in his baffies, on his way to get the morning papers (for the benefit of my friend Rob, baffies are slippers). Thistle were playing Dunfermline in the cup that afternoon so we had a bit of a chat with Dick about Thistle's chances (unlucky Dick, Pars won 2-0). He congratulated us on signing up for the Bike and Hike and said he admired us for what we were doing. I think Thistle have supported the Glasgow centre previously and Dick has done a fair bit for cancer charities in the past. I've met him a few times at sports dinners and fans' forums and he's always got time for anyone who wants to talk fitba - a top bloke.

Mossmorran aside, our walk took in some cracking scenery and views, which took my mind off the sore feet. Stuart and I did 13 1/2 miles, Scott and Alan, 16 odd. It felt a lot longer mind you, but felt quite good at the end. I got a bit of stick from the team for succumbing to temptation and getting a roll on sausage from Stephen's in Cowdenbeath High Street. Delicious. I do not feel guilty - I calculated that I burnt 1362 calories on the walk....I should have got two rolls.

Where is Stuart in this week's photos I hear you cry? Do you remember the entry from a few weeks ago, when none of my team would pose for a photo on the 'paint bike'? What a difference a few weeks make........................

The Bike and Hike Blogosphere

Dee at Maggie's has created an online forum for all bike and hikers to share their training and fundraising tips - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/maggies_monsters

Through the forum, I discovered Jake n Paul's Bike and Hike blog - (see our links section). Jake has kindly returned the favour and added our blog to their links section. In doing so, we have done our bit for the Bike and Hike Blogosphere!

What's a blogosphere I hear you say (assuming anybody is actually reading this blog). Well, according to Wikipedia its this...Blogosphere is the collective term encompassing all blogs as a community or social network. Many weblogs are densely interconnected; bloggers read others' blogs, link to them, reference them in their own writing, and post comments on each others' blogs. Because of this, the interconnected blogs have grown their own culture.

If anyone wants to join help develop our 'sphere, please post your links.

Kirkcaldy Maggie's Centre

2007 has been a pretty busy year so far. That is my very poor excuse for not adding a post about our visit to the new Maggie's Centre in the grounds of the Victoria hospital in Kirkcaldy a few weeks ago. Maggie's held a series of information evenings at its centres for those interested in signing up or for those who had already taken the plunge.

I have mixed memories of the Victoria. I had my adenoids out when I was wee and lost my first tooth when in residence at the Vic (amazingly the tooth fairly was able to retrieve my tooth from the drain pipe and leave 50p under my pillow - thanks nurse!).

But the Vic was where my dad was admitted to during his illness after he caught a blood infection and was in there for about a week. We joked that he was nearly on the penthouse floor (the hospital is a high-rise and my dad was up near the top with cracking views across Kirkcaldy and beyond). I was always able to laugh and crack a few jokes when I was visiting but it was a different story when walking back to the car park. Dad would wave to us from the window, probably making sure we were ok. You would put a brave face on and wave back enthusiastically, but it was breaking your heart inside. Saying that, I know it would have been far worse for my dad. When we visited the centre for the info night, I looked up and saw an empty window, though in my mind, I was sure he was waving back at me...

The Kirkcaldy centre is an amazing looking building. It was designed by Zaha Hadid and despite being based in London, the centre is her first building in the UK. For more info Google, Zaha Hadid and Maggie's - there are lots of good stories which chart the buildings development from conception to construction.

A big thank you to Elizabeth Adams, the centre's community fundraiser, for giving us a tour of the centre and to Murray Easton for answering all our questions - filling us with equal doses of dread and eager anticipation! The appearance of the building, inside and out, bares little resemblance to the Edinburgh centre I have visited several times, but both are inspirational places and you feel a million miles away from the hospital environment. Its great that the people of Fife now have such a facility on their doorstep.

The getting fit part of the Bike and Hike and the physical challenge are both really good incentives but helping to raise money to fund the centres' activities and to help build new ones are even more of a motivation.

Pic courtesy of the Daily Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/11/04/bazaha04.xml

First Milestone Achieved

We cycled 30 miles yesterday. I always find the first two miles of our regular route a real struggle and feel unbelievably unfit. After the legs get warmed up though, I seem to get a 2nd wind and feel good for the rest of the trip. We went out as far as Clackmannan, which for those not familiar with the local geography, is 17.5km from the start for the cycle path in Dunfermline.

Stuart was the pace setter for much of the outbound trip, with the rest of us quite happy to be part of the 'peloton'. We all have a go at attacking the pack and trying to carve out a bit of a lead (it is clearly a bloke thing!), and then watch as the rest of the group reign us back in. Good for the fitness levels and a bit of a laugh too. I have to say that my time out in front is relatively short lived and I am getting quite familiar with performing the 'anchor role' (fancy term for last!)

This was the first time any of us had travelled the full distance of the cycle path. For any Bike and Hikers living in Dunfermline, this is a great wee facility for the training, as long as its not too windy. Tarmac all the way, really peaceful and there are some great views along the way. If you have a cold or a bunged up nose, the smell of the great outdoors - and the cattle barn just past bogside - will clear it in no time.

The team all felt good at the end of the trip and this bodes well for the future. Honestly though, I have to say that I dont think I could have walked 43 miles after get off the bike yesterday. However, that's what the next few months is for - something to build on.

Just to prove the theory that no one looks good in a cycle helmet, here are a few photies from yesterday....

The Mini Bike and Hike

I didnt manage to post anything last week about our first mini bike and hike. We wanted to see what it would be like to cycle for a good distance and then set off on a walk. We did about 15 miles on the bike and then for various reasons, we did between 8-12 miles walking. Its not close to the real thing, but it was definitely a good shift.

This week I have contracted a fairly unpleasant ailment - a rash which looks like nettle stings and likes to flare up in the afternoon, annoy me all night and then go away in the morning. Feel free to post your jokes, I have heard most of them but let's hear them. I felt like Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk, no quite sure when I am going to go all blotchy, but knowing it was going to happen at some point. The expert opinion of the medical profession told me it could be either an allergy or a virus. I felt very reassured by this pinpoint diagnosis - the medical equivalent of mibbaes aye, mibbaes naw. Maybe I am allergy to exercise! Anti-hayfever tablets have been the order of the day and so far, so good.

25360 Steps!

Scott's Prediction: under 4 hours

Actual Time Taken: 3hrs 59mins - Come On!

14 odd miles, 25360 steps (Scott has a wee pedometer) later and its another decent training outing from the boys. As I write this, I have wee twinge in my right thigh but thats about it. Had a few wee aches and pains at various points during the morning but feeling no bad considering. Might be a different story when I wake up tomorrow mind you.
My wife and mother have both told me today that they notice a difference in me - which rougly translated means that I might have lost one of the chins, but there is still a few hanging about!

Next week we are aiming for doing our first mini bike and hike, with a bit of both included in the training run. The last two sessions have been pretty decent distances but we have yet to see what it feel like getting off the bike and then getting the hiking boots on. Time will tell.

I got our first squad photo taken today. I was trying to persuade one of them to lie on the deck and pretend to ride this wee bike, but they were having none of it. They said they would look like choppers....I am saying nothing :-D

Raising The Bar

Scott has found a nifty wee website www.mapmyrun.com which lets you plan your own routes for running - or walks and cycles in our case.

Our last walk, a few weeks ago was just under 11 miles. This week, Scott wants to raise the bar - up to 15 miles.

Here is the itinerary for Saturday morning....

Leaving at 8am sharp (maybe!) UPDATE: nearer 8:30am, YAWN!

Up into Kingseat and along the Cuddyhouse Road towards Cowdenbeath.

Into Cowden, down through Hill of Beath and through Crossgates.

Along the road to Fordell and then back into Dunfermline and a wee route that will add another 4 1/2 miles more on to the journey.

Distance: 14.79 miles - it sounds about 30 Sink, I am sure you are having us on.

Scott's prediction - under 4 hours.
Steven's prediction - sair legs.

Give Out, But Dont Give Up!

Our Saturday morning training sessions are becoming memorable, not just for the training but for what happens before we go out. Last week it was the cat being sick, this week it is a sleepless night in the Birrell household as wee Robyn has chickenpox. As I write this, she is well on the mend and has been a brave wee soul.

Saturday we were out on the bikes and my shiny new chariot got its first run out. I must admit after a couple of miles I was all for calling it a day and letting Scott and Alan crack on. I was way off the pace and even though it got better after tinkering with the bike, I was all for giving up.

But fair play to my team mates who gave me a fair bit of encouragement to keep going and I actually started to feel better the longer we went on. I might not be fit, but I aint going to quit.

Pleased to report that we managed a pretty impressive 22 1/2 miles . My legs felt like they were going to explode on Saturday night mind you, but amazingly I was feeling pretty good on Sunday morning....but not good enough to go out training :-)

'The Project'

I have now assigned nicknames to two of my team mates when we have been out training. Scott came along the road looking well dapper in his new gear ready for our first session on the bikes. New bike, helmet, gloves and backback, but best of all a bright yellow skin tight top...so he was immediately christened 'Lance' after the legendary Mr Armstrong.

Our man Alan is now known as Mr Motivator - by me anyway. Not only is he the fittest of the quartet by a fair bit, he is also the vocal one, encouraging the squad with his motivational mantras. 'If its no sair enough, you're no peddling hard enough' being my favourite. He is keen for us to 'feel the burn' and 'raise the bar'. Right now I would settle for propping one up.

On Saturday, after my lack of fitness was exposed for the umpteenth time, Alan declared that I am now 'The Project'. 'The Project' is a polite way of him telling me that he is going to knock this overweight, unfit reprobate into shape in time for the 5th of May. Hey who knows, we could maybe cash in and make one of those keep fit DVDs that seem to be flying off the shelves. Davina McCall, Jade Goody and Janice from Corrie would be no match for 'The Project - From Fat To Fit in 16 Weeks'. Alright, mibbae no'.

It's A Fair Old Trek

I was interviewed by a reporter from the Fife Free Press today. I think it is to help publicise an information night about the Bike and Hike taking place at the new centre in Kirkcaldy on Thursday night. Scott and I will be going along to find out more about what we have got ourselves into. I was reminded that the Monster is a massive challenge and was asked if I am a bit anxious about it. I go through phases to be honest, switching from being really pumped up to absolutely bricking it. Having a look at this map doesn't help mind you. The red dots represent our journey...and we are doing this in one day!

On a positive note, I think I have recovered from Saturday's cycling - no longer walking like Roy Rodgers.

Saddle Sores

My 29th birthday has been good, but it didnt start well.
It started with our wee cat Floyd being sick and me having to clean it up. Nice.
I then got a phone call from Alan, now re-named Mr Motivator for his inspirational slogans on our training runs. He reminded me that we were indeed getting on our bikes and going out cycling in a force 9 gale. So no birthday long lie for me. Maybe next year.

I haven't been on a bike in nearly 10 years - and it showed. I still have the imprint of the saddle on my derrier. We went about 10 miles, out to Oakley along the cycle track. Saw Dundee United manager Craig Levein out walking his dugs, but he tried to lower his head so he wouldnt be recognised. Its all right Craig, you dont have to worry about us stopping to talk to you and anyway...you wouldnt be getting our autographs anyway :-P

Also saw Scotland physio out walking his dugs and was tempted to see if he had a spare slot for an emergency appointment as the lactic acid was fair building up in my legs.

Today has proved that I seriously need to lose a bit of weight and up the fitness levels pronto. We walked 11 miles last week and I felt great, but today has proved that the 30 miles on the bike will be tough, tougher than I thought anyway.

Lee came home to tell me that I am the proud owner of a shiny new bike which I collect tomorrow. Going to give it a test drive on Monday. Sink has also got me one of those camel backpacks for storing liquids. Holds a fair amount but still trying to decide if it will be coke or tennents lager that I put in it.