It's been a hard days night.

The Beatles are the greatest band ever, and will never be eclipsed. I won't waste time or space justifying that statement, because I could write a thesis on the subject. Please don't bother arguing, unless you are prepared to respond electronically (and sensibly) to my blog so that we can all read your comments. (This is designed to provoke The Cosmic Lawnmower).
Anyway, my favourite Beatles story concerns Ringo ..... during a TV interview a cheesy guy asked the boys, 'What do the band think about the generally accepted opinion that Ringo has become the greatest drummer in the world?' Quick as a flash John replied, ' The greatest drummer in the world?.. He's not even the greatest drummer in The Beatles! '

I used to live in Liverpool, near Penny Lane, where my mate Mugsy is a GP. Way back in about 1984 I bought my first mountain bike. It was a Muddy Fox, bought from Alex Andersen at Valhalla Custom. (He made custom windsurf boards). Actually, we bought two, a his and hers. My girlfriend (she's the wife now) and I used to take them to Angelsey, or The Trough of Bowland or out to the Delamere Forest, go riding, have pub grub, drink beer and generally do things together (apart from the obvious, giggles out loud).
It's difficult to remember what a huge impact these fancy-dan bikes had on the cycling scene. The radical steering geometry, bullet-proof construction, the fat tyres, the brakes and the low gears...it really revitalised my enjoyment of riding a bike. I could zip in and out of town too, across the broken glass, over the paths, through the parks and bump it up and down kerbs. Great for city riding, as long as you could ensure that the scallies didn't knick your bike. I left it in town U-chained to a lamppost by George Henry Lee's once, and some annoying little urchin stole the saddle. That was an uncomfortable ride home. I'll have to go through the box of old photos to see if I've got any good pictures of my original Muddy Fox.

When I moved to the Island I graduated to Marin. I broke one in 1994 when I crashed in a downhill race (broke my clavicle and dented the top tube). Then a few years ago Adrian at Extreme Cycles wouldn't let me leave the shop unless I bought a Whyte PRST-1. A terrific piece of kit. I was more than happy to take it out into the forest and trails near my house once a week or so, and I used to exercise the dog on it, but the longest ride I ever did would be an hour max. Obviously, off-road riding is nearly always more energy sapping than tarmac riding. I also know some horrific trails and paths, up some pretty steep hills, and when it's wet, the tyres just bog down and slip. But, the point is, if you had told me 10 weeks ago that I would regularly be doing rides of between 3 to 7 hours on the road, I would have guffawed loudly. and then laughed some more. How would I find the time? Impossible.

And yet, here I am, in the twinkling of the eye, transformed into a road riding machine.Sort of. You wouldn't believe the kit I've acquired.... here goes.... shoes, cleats, overshoes, long-legged Assos suit, short-legged bib thingy, leg warmers, arm warmers, base layers..long and short sleeved, gilet, gloves, helmet, pump, inner tubes, tyre levers, saddle bag, toolkit, a computer, a heart rate monitor, tons of special sports drink powder, two jerseys, two saddles, one bike and a pot of Assos anti-sore-bum cream.

PLEASE, PLEASE do not state the obvious and point out that I would have raised a lot more money for Prostate Cancer if I had added up the anticipated cost of all this kit and simply donated it to the charity.
So I'm ramping up the money raising effort. I'm not happy so far... less than £500 in the kitty to date is pathetic.

I've raised the bar to a £1000, and I'm going to get there.

First off, I've got some signed copies of the biking film Cobbles Baby! to give to the people who make the biggest donations. AND they're signed by the dude who made the film, Scott Coady. Check out his website on http://www.thetourbaby.com/ or http://www.cobblesbabymovie.com/ .
So come on you lot. Help me spread the word. Tell your mates at work, let the old fella know, and email my blog address to 10 people in your address book.

The Bike. It's serviced it, cleaned, polished and equipped with a new saddle. I've had 2 days (essential) rest, because Saturday's ride really took it out of me. Tomorrow will hopefully be a 20 mile speed session, weather permitting. Then 30 miles on Thursday. Next Sunday I'm riding The Hampshire Hilly 100.