Happy Birthday Megan

My beautiful daughter Megan was 19 this Sunday and after returning from her Saturday night birthday celebrations in Weston-super-Mare, will have had a small tea party with the rest of the family. I am looking forward to taking her to lunch next Sunday and then on Christmas Day morning opening our presents, together with Robert, Brett, Clare and Grainne.

Whilst here in Nottingham, I went off-road with some of QUAFF from last night's do at the On Inn. It was cold and thick shiggy soon clogged tyres, so after 20 odd miles with only Maryke on her new bike having punctured, we were happy to roll back on in to meet the others and enjoy a truly great chilli!

When we left, Maryke found that her rear tyre had also punctured and was flat!

Names, Megan means Strong and is Welsh. Whilst Maryke's name is Dutch and is now thought to originate with a female Chinese War Lord! Both names aptly suit the ladies!

Sherwood Forest

Sherwood Forest exists today as a national nature reserve, a tiny part of what once existed. It is still large enough to get lost in for twenty minutes or more and you can have a long pleasant ride through it. Better still is Sherwood Pines to the south, equally large and encompassing more than twenty kilometers of rolling mountain bike single track between its closely spaced trees. I am spending a weekend here to check out potential mountain bike trails within and around the separate Sherwoods for NashBash 2010, a weekend enduro event that will encompass riding our bikes, shooting some arrows, dancing to bands and drinking real ale.

Saturday sees me and Blow enjoying a cold ride, swooping along narrow winding foot wide trails to dodge beneath branches, swerve around tree after tree, being whipped and ripped at by the JC!

Blow, ex-Army and the principal organiser, is the highly focused chair of our committee. My role is to recce the trails, lay them out and marshal them with a small troop of volunteers. We meet tonight to discuss what is planned, agree our different roles, put words to our outside-of-the-box thoughts and then to bond over some beers before being joined by late arriving party goers!

Please regard this as training for 'Father Christmas cycles Lon Las Cymru' and I will pick up another sponsor or two whilst here - but in truth its all about enjoying the company of friends on or out of the saddle, isn't it?

www.justgiving.com/davidthomas10

Why a target of £3000 in sponsorship?

When asked this question by a Sponsor today, I told her that I estimated it on the basis of effort as a mile in the cold against a headwind up a mountain track had to be worth £10!

So 300 miles times £10 equals........ You got it, £3000.

My costs to get to Holyhead, any B&B's, food n drink, the investment in survival kit are yes, being paid by me.

It is not a holiday for me, yet there will be a buzz and a sense of achievement from doing it which the daily grind does not deliver. A problem or difficult situation will add spice to the challenge. A young me might have crossed the Sahara, escaped from a Libyan Secret Service cell, taken an old long wheel base down the spine of Sumatra a decade before Landrover launched such an expedition and the trans Sumatran highway came into being.... and much much more! But I am older and stiffer now so Lon Los Cymru in winter is a sensible challenge.

Alone is not ideal and there is just the chance that the Grinch will join me. Although, I suspect its mainly to be able to try an unusual chat-up line on the opposite sex: "Yes, green all over"!

Two days running doesn't make me a blogger, that title will be Father Christmas's from Boxing Day until the 2nd of January 2009. Is it as addictive as football and sex? See Georgina Best's blog using the links from this one, as it is an addictive read!

This was a practice blog by iphone enroute to Nottingham with MTB on the Cardiff to Nottingham train. Now in Beeston awaiting a late S.K's!?

Goodnight - it's time to follow Georgina's latest football blog.

Father Christmas (as of 26th December 08 to 1st January 09)

Father Christmas is dieting & cycling Lon Las Cymru this Christmas and New Year

I am an enthusiastic larger than the norm cyclist, who dressed all in red is planning to undertake a 300 mile sponsored lone-bike ride this Christmas and New Year, on behalf of the Prostate Cancer Charity and in support of Age Concern Gloucestershire's Local Health Projects – please visit my web page www.justgiving.com/davidthomas10

So soon after Christmas Day, I will pedal-off on the Lon Las Cymru cycle route from Holyhead in Anglesey, aiming to be back in Gloucestershire on the 2nd of January 09. The route takes me through Snowdonia National Park, over the Cambrian Mountains, to cycle past the source of the River Severn. Then I follow the Valleys of the River Wye from near to its source a little North of The Elan Valley, through Rhayader, then Builth Wells to Glasbury. There I turn due South to pedal over the Brecon Beacons to Brecon itself, dropping on down the Taff Trail to Pontypridd for New Years Eve! Then on home via Cardiff and Chepstow, to cross the rivers Wye and Severn for the last time on this ride – over the old Severn Bridge cycleway.

I started cycling again for health reasons with the intention to lose weight by getting more exercise. But having achieved a degree of fitness I made a momentous decision to change life style, give up the sledge and to start cycling to work whatever the weather - a return journey then of some 16 miles. Although I didn't get slim, I did lose weight and got fit enough to do the C2C (Coast-to-Coast) ride with the QUAFF in 2007 across the Lake District and Pennines. Next, I bought a mountain bike under the Ride to Work Scheme and started having a lot of fun, trail and mountain bike riding with friends n bashes around Britain - http://www.thecranks.co.uk/

This June, I had the energy to firstly cycle C2C Devon with the QUAFF, then to float across to France to do a 960 kilometer ride with my brother Gary on country lanes, tracks, river banks and canal paths down to and along The Loire. Then NW back to St Malo, using some 150 kilometers of shady track besides the Nantes to Brest Canal.

I have good reason to recommend the health benefits of moderate exercise, particularly regular cycling and swimming. Cycling leaves me feeling better in myself, more able to deal with life's misfortunes and has gifted me back a normal blood pressure and low cholesterol.

Although diagnosed a Diabetic, I proved to be on the cusp – due to plenty of exercise together with a highly recommended (by me) low sugar / low salt / low fat diet I call 'The Reading Food Labels, No Microwave Meals, No Fast Food Diet that got me discharged by the Diabetic Clinic'!

On our June cycle tour I burnt some 8-10,000 calories plus a day, enjoyed as much French food and drink as was possible and still lost a stone in weight! With the cold winter wind and climbs of up to 500 plus meters being a regular part of National Cycle Route 8 in Wales this Christmas, I hope to lose a little more.......

As well as a large Christmas Dinner, my preparation for this ride will include a higher level of bike maintenance; Ensuring I have tools and spare tubes, brake pads, chain etc to hand; Selecting the right clothes for wet cold and snowy conditions - endeavoring to keeping a spare set dry and to hand at all times; Stuffing my panniers with a mountain / military standard survival blanket, basha and survival shelters, bivi bag, petrol stove, plus lots of food and drink; Training will mean eating right, lots of hill work on the Cotswold Escarpment, winding up the 'W' in Nailsworth, plus circuits up and down Rodborough Hill.

A tip or two:

Should you plan a lone cycle tour, make space for a spare flexible lightweight saddle – a change is as good as a rest! Or have fun and go with others, on regular rides, Bash weekend events and Long Quaff’s like C2C’s.

It is amazing how your leg muscles start to retain and use energy very efficiently if you ride regularly. The week previous to your tour, do four to five training rides. By taking my own advice, I am hoping not to suffer tired legs during the first 3 days whilst waiting for my leg muscles to realize what’s going on!

All in all, it’s much more than just a bike ride and now being in my fifties, preparation and planning will be key to completing this ride. The weather might yet make it into an expedition and yes, it might be more fun in summer. So please wish me the Christmas Presents I most want: - Sponsorship and a Constant Tail-Wind.

This blog is being built to be used during the ride,

so until then my best wishes for a

Merry Christmas

&

Happy New Year

Father Christmas