“The Far-cical” Progress report,

Its 70 days to the event and the training needs to be stepped up a bit. Last week I did my first cycle out of the gym environment of about 15km from my apartment in Harolds Cross to the M5O via Walkinstown Roundabout (if you know this roundabout, you know it better as an accident scene at rush-hour) well yes that’s when I decided to launch into this death trap..but thank god I survived the experience..!!

It was my first time cycling in the big smoke and a couple of things struck me…
You can’t cycle in the middle of the road weaving over and back like you can in the lazy back roads of Clare, where you’re biggest enemy is the neighbour’s dog biting at your feet. No you have to stay in the cycle lane which is at the side of the road where you feel every pot-hole or man-hole and your biggest enemy is that pr**k that parked his/her car in the lane therefore pushing you onto the main road or the footpath. I managed okay apart from one time when I got caught in two minds and nearly hit a lamppost, which would have been some story.

The rest of the week I was in the gym, although I have to admit one of those ‘gym’ days I only got as far as reception where I spent an hour reading the newspaper. I reckon it’s a critical part of the training, you get depressed after that and you try make up for it the next day.
Which didn’t really happen because last weekend I was at the U2 concert and I was worse for wear all weekend. So on Monday morning after dropping Erin to the airport I went to the gym with Connor Lawlor at 6.30am which felt great. I did 45mins on the bike which was 15km again plus other cardio. Although cycling in the gym and on the road are two different animals. I get very bored in the gym after about 20 mins whereas on the road you are always concentrating on traffic and roundabouts etc, you also have hills, rain and wind to contend with, but I actually prefer being on the road even though it tougher.

I was back on the bike again the week and cycled to Dundrum, then onto Ranleagh, along by the canal to Rathmines and was meant to go home but I felt I could do more so I went up Wexford St to George St along Dame St and back down Christchurch, then along the south circular to Dolphins Barn and back to the canal and home. I haven’t measured the distance yet on Google maps but I reckon it was definitely over 20km. I felt fine after it and could see that my knee is getting stronger from the endurance.

In terms of organisation I had to order more sponsorship cards as I have ran out of them which is encouraging. Let’s hope the on-line fundraising will pick up, especially as pay day is today. There are so many other things to do yet; like getting Gardai permission, getting a First Aid person for the day, someone to collect the bikes when we head for the pub, renting bikes and helmets, people and cars to help with support on the day etc.. I never realised there was some much organising to do. It’s almost daunting.

There is a possibility I might have to move to London in the coming weeks so I hope I will be able to keep the training and organising up.
I will be home this weekend for the bank holiday and I’m going to drive the route to see what lays ahead for us all taking part. I’ll report my findings on Monday.

The Clare Cycle Challenge

Welcome to my Blog page, which I hope to use to update everyone on my progress as I get ready to fundraise for my charity cycle in October. I’m a blogger virgin and it might not take off, but I will give it a lash. I know I will be slagged for this but its for charity so go easy. Plus it can entertain you at work.

As some of you already know I will be fundraising for two charities these are Acquired Brain Injury Ireland and Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland.The aim of this blog is;
1. To raise awareness for my fundraising and maximise donations.
2. To raise awareness of the Charities and their importance to the people affected.
3. To update all the followers of the blog/cycle with my training progress or lack thereof, I’m sure there will be some funny stories so please stay tuned.

Below are two links where you can read more about the charities and also donate to the 'cause'.
http://www.mycharity.ie/event/diarmuid_killeen_event/
http://www.mycharity.ie/event/diarmuid_killeens_event/

So, how did this come about, I suppose I better acknowledge the people who helped this idea to come a reality.

It started with an AC/DC concert and will most likely end with blistered feet, a sore ass (from the saddle of course), aching thighs, and shaky knees.
It seems like a strange place to discuss a charity event but on the bus to an AC/DC concert drinking large amounts of vodka and lucozade (a deadly combination) Daragh Clancy, Dara Shannon and myself stumbled on the topic. We all had thought about doing something for a neighbour and Daragh's cousin with CF, I also wanted to do something to raise awareness for Acquired Brain Injuries as my brother had been in a car crash when he was 17 and the charity are very good to him.

I had wanted to do a skydive or bungee jump. But then I thought people wouldn’t donate money so you could enjoy something, plus I had a knee operation at the start of the year to reconstruct my knee (ACL, check it out on youtube, I can only get about 30 seconds into the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tshaqHudsNw&feature=related) and I needed a goal to recover.
Neill my brother then came home one day and was complaining about his 2hr daily walk to and from work and decided to buy a bike. He was also talking about his friend who did a charity cycle and from there it sparked. The idea was born; we were going to do a charity cycle.

So here I am looking for your attention and money… I never thought I would ever be a blogger, although I always knew I was a bit of a bogger alright!!!

Founding members and people taking part in the cycle thus far;
Rebecca Smith, Diarmuid Killeen, Daragh Clancy, Linda Mc Mahon, Dara Shannon, Conor Lawlor, Aine Mc Carthy, Declan Keane, Neill Killeen, Dominic Flaherty, Mike Finn, Connor Power (if around), Jonathan Fenn, and friends of friends.....