Day 5 – Worcester to Newcastle-Under-Lyme 65 miles. The siblings fall out!
Today bike was happy with us, we stroked her, we caressed her and she was pleased with her boys! Once again we realised that our time management needed to be improved. Our late arrival times mean that all our pre-ride preparations are pushed into the morning. Day 5 was a day of hills, traffic queues, roundabouts and brothers falling out. Nevertheless we achieved another top day of distance pushing all the way into Newcastle-Under-Lyme. We arrived at our destination at 2130 hrs.
Day 5 and our hosts of 214 Battery Royal Artillery (104 Regt RA) were just superb. Jonathan was up at 0830 hrs and was immediately launched into a live breakfast show with Dune FM. Alistair and Tony did their ‘naked man rub down’ whilst pretending that it was all professional. (Ed – I will allow the readers to draw their own conclusions from the pictures).
The blog does take time. Jonathan, or as the rest of the team call him ‘Anal Boy’ is in charge of the official recording of the attempt and collation of data. Every stop and broken bike episode is recorded. Mark also endured the pleasure of having several needles in him while the final preparations were completed. Captain Dave Morgan and Clive Doughty the caretaker were up to see us off. After a couple of pictures we departed. Sadly our time again was late 
1330hrs and we had approx 65 miles to cover; this was going to be emotional. Worcester was fabulous to cycle through, the day was gorgeous and everyone was pleased to see us. The A449 was going to be our friend for some hours…as Tony said…’lets have it’ We cracked on.
We were now looking quite battle hardened and smelt as bad as we looked! All the lads had 5 day moustaches although Jonathan had gone for the Grizzly Adams look, the competition was still on – who would win with the bookies favourite being undoubtedly Jonathan! (guess who writes the blog?) As we climbed out of Worcester the bike felt like it was towing a couple of ships chains. We had no idea what it was; the head wind, the road surface or another sticking disc brake. Regardless we had to crack on and get some miles under the wheels…our destination; 
Newcastle. The only problem was that the only sustenance the team had consumed was 3 bags of scampi fries. No dinner – no breakfast and you don’t need to be Doctor Gillian McKeith (nutritional expert) to know that doing some endurance project on no food is not advisable! After 3 miles we pulled into a pub
‘The Mitre Oak’ on the A449. The manageress looked at Jonathan rather strange as he asked for free food as we were doing this UK Record Charity attempt. The request was refused, nevertheless the food was inhaled, barely touching the sides. We were so hungry we would have licked our plates if we felt we could get away with it. We departed
after speaking to another lady who ‘would have given us a donation if she had remembered her purse!’ I have been surprised how many people inadvertently forget their wallets. However a lovely lady pulled into the side of the bike and holding money out said ‘lads get yourselves a drink on us’, how very kind. Tony than asked Ali how much we had for the Kitty to discoiver that it was £5. Tony’s quote of the day..’F sake…does she think we drink water?’
The cycle that followed was cheeky! Time was against us but we needed to make progress fast otherwise we would be doing a knight Rider Night Mission, like last night. The brothers got abit snappy after Mark
accused of 
Jonathan of ‘treating us all like squaddies’ It was very amusing. Poor Ali then had knee problems that resulted in us ordering Ali on the support vehicle. He was gutted, especially after we reminded him that it was a sign of weakness that he had to use the ‘jack wagon’
The traffic was terrible, Tony was now driving and doing a top job although as driver he was reminded that he couldn’t wave at the pretty ladies. The team push on and arrived at their destination at 2130 hrs. We a top effort and achieved a maximum ‘single stage push’ of 25 miles in a single bound.
The Military Guard Force (MGF) opened the TA site and main hall. Camp cots and sleeping bags were collected – what a top fella. We decided on a quick turn around. Showered and out to find dinner – an awesome curry house. 
Morale was high as we laughed and laughed. Bed – 0140 hrs. Southport here we com e!
Today bike was happy with us, we stroked her, we caressed her and she was pleased with her boys! Once again we realised that our time management needed to be improved. Our late arrival times mean that all our pre-ride preparations are pushed into the morning. Day 5 was a day of hills, traffic queues, roundabouts and brothers falling out. Nevertheless we achieved another top day of distance pushing all the way into Newcastle-Under-Lyme. We arrived at our destination at 2130 hrs.Day 5 and our hosts of 214 Battery Royal Artillery (104 Regt RA) were just superb. Jonathan was up at 0830 hrs and was immediately launched into a live breakfast show with Dune FM. Alistair and Tony did their ‘naked man rub down’ whilst pretending that it was all professional. (Ed – I will allow the readers to draw their own conclusions from the pictures).
The blog does take time. Jonathan, or as the rest of the team call him ‘Anal Boy’ is in charge of the official recording of the attempt and collation of data. Every stop and broken bike episode is recorded. Mark also endured the pleasure of having several needles in him while the final preparations were completed. Captain Dave Morgan and Clive Doughty the caretaker were up to see us off. After a couple of pictures we departed. Sadly our time again was late 
1330hrs and we had approx 65 miles to cover; this was going to be emotional. Worcester was fabulous to cycle through, the day was gorgeous and everyone was pleased to see us. The A449 was going to be our friend for some hours…as Tony said…’lets have it’ We cracked on.
We were now looking quite battle hardened and smelt as bad as we looked! All the lads had 5 day moustaches although Jonathan had gone for the Grizzly Adams look, the competition was still on – who would win with the bookies favourite being undoubtedly Jonathan! (guess who writes the blog?) As we climbed out of Worcester the bike felt like it was towing a couple of ships chains. We had no idea what it was; the head wind, the road surface or another sticking disc brake. Regardless we had to crack on and get some miles under the wheels…our destination; 
Newcastle. The only problem was that the only sustenance the team had consumed was 3 bags of scampi fries. No dinner – no breakfast and you don’t need to be Doctor Gillian McKeith (nutritional expert) to know that doing some endurance project on no food is not advisable! After 3 miles we pulled into a pub
‘The Mitre Oak’ on the A449. The manageress looked at Jonathan rather strange as he asked for free food as we were doing this UK Record Charity attempt. The request was refused, nevertheless the food was inhaled, barely touching the sides. We were so hungry we would have licked our plates if we felt we could get away with it. We departed
after speaking to another lady who ‘would have given us a donation if she had remembered her purse!’ I have been surprised how many people inadvertently forget their wallets. However a lovely lady pulled into the side of the bike and holding money out said ‘lads get yourselves a drink on us’, how very kind. Tony than asked Ali how much we had for the Kitty to discoiver that it was £5. Tony’s quote of the day..’F sake…does she think we drink water?’The cycle that followed was cheeky! Time was against us but we needed to make progress fast otherwise we would be doing a knight Rider Night Mission, like last night. The brothers got abit snappy after Mark
accused of 
Jonathan of ‘treating us all like squaddies’ It was very amusing. Poor Ali then had knee problems that resulted in us ordering Ali on the support vehicle. He was gutted, especially after we reminded him that it was a sign of weakness that he had to use the ‘jack wagon’The traffic was terrible, Tony was now driving and doing a top job although as driver he was reminded that he couldn’t wave at the pretty ladies. The team push on and arrived at their destination at 2130 hrs. We a top effort and achieved a maximum ‘single stage push’ of 25 miles in a single bound.
The Military Guard Force (MGF) opened the TA site and main hall. Camp cots and sleeping bags were collected – what a top fella. We decided on a quick turn around. Showered and out to find dinner – an awesome curry house. 
Morale was high as we laughed and laughed. Bed – 0140 hrs. Southport here we com e! 
No comments:
Post a Comment