New Bike

Wow - first post on the personal blogosphere! This has nothing at all to do with snow. Instead it's a brief snippet about my new (to me) bike that I'm intending to ride the length of Britain for the Orchid Cancer charity. I'm planning to ride Cape to Cape - that's Cape Cornwall in, well, Cornwall to Cape Wrath in the north east of Scotland. A little detour via London, Essex, Chester, Glasgow and Inverness to visit friends will take the total mileage to around 1500 miles.

If you'd like to sponsor me on this ride, please visit my JustGiving page to make a donation.

Here's the bike I found locally for 65 smackeroonies:

Seems ideal for long-distance cruising (sorry!), with mudguards, rack, comfy seat. Time for a few mods:

• Chain guard, dynamo, light set and ugly decals had to go
• The 7-speed transmission was upgraded to 21 speed by fitting a 3-piece crankset
• Drop handlebars (£5 from Edinburgh Bike Station) with Shimano Sora integrated shifters (a lot more than £5 from ChainReactionCycles)
• Upgraded pedals with toe-clips

Cap it off with a bottle cage and some rad red tape and it's starting to look the business:

I intend to start riding on 17th August from Cape Cornwall and be at Cape Wrath on 3rd September. I'll hopefully get to update this blog along the way with some reports and pictures - stay tuned...