Please visit www.jogle.uk for updates.
If you have been following us intrepid JOGLER’s you may have noticed first our Blog disapear and then a total lack of updates.
Unfortunately Google made a false positive on our site as a spam blog on the day we left. This has certainly cost us sponsorship money for the Alzheimer’s Society as we had most people, including the papers and TV pointed to the Blogger blog.
In the meantime we have setup a blog using Word Press.
All packed and ready to go.
I have somehow managed to end up with some very heavy luggage, but i think this is down to the energy drink and carbo powder i am carrying, so at least it will get lighter every day.
I am carrying the bare essentials, hopefully i won't feel to cold walking around Scotland in my flip flops!
It will be good to get riding and have a feel for what we have let ourselves in for, it would be great to have some sunshine en-route as well.
I think my dad would have been proud of what we are doing and pleased that we can raise money to help others have more chance of fighting this disease in the future, hopefully he will be keeping an eye on our proceedings and wishing us bon-voyage.
Please excuse the lame video I am experimenting with video quality to post from the phone.
All packed and ready to go. This past few weeks have been a bit tense for me as I have been trying to pass my Part 3 exam to become a driving instructor.
Today I passed! Which means i can look forward to giving up the night shifts and start planning a new career on my return from the JOGLE. It also means I can enter the JOGLE on a high.
Not long to go now so I thought I had better make sure I could fit everything in. It is quite a juggling act deciding what to take and what to leave behind. I had to bring some technology as 9 days without the internet is going to be a challenge on its own.
I have a pocket PC with Memory map installed. This has the whole route on it. Also a Nokia N95 for photos and blogging on the move. Hopefully all pics will be geotagged as they are uploaded to Flickr so folk can see where we were. It will also prove that we are not just in my back garden pretending to be JOGLEing! Also packed is my Garmin Forerunner 305 which will give stats for each day and an iPod nano which will be loaded up with podcasts before the off.
My check list and what you see in the pic below is here . There is probably something vital I have missed. Time will tell...
All this packed down pretty well into the bags I have. There is even a little room left over to squeeze in a few energy bars/drinks etc...
Activity Road Biking Whitestone, United Kingdom MotionBased Dashboard
Had a couple of easy rides this weekend. Went out with a few guys this morning and did a gentle ride up some little Devon hills! (click on title for details).
The bike is now fully serviced and ready to go, another six weeks training and i should be fit as well.
My plan is to pack my gear tonight, i have put all my energy powder drinks in sealable bags, hopefully customs will realise that my 20 bags of white powder are perfectly legal.
Just a reminder to keep on donating, thanks.
Two other Jogles are starting today. Both of these guys are riding solo and have given us tips and inspiration in the build up to our JOGLE which starts on Friday. So good luck to Regie and Stuart:
Regie Butler of 2008jogle.blogspot.com fame is up in John O'Groats ready to start his Jogle right now! The counter on his site says 17mins to go.
Regie is updating his blog with photos and comments from his phone, so go over to his site and cheer him on.
All being well we should arrive at Lands End on the same day as Regie so may actually get to meet him in the flesh.
Stuart is doing the same, you can follow his progress at End to End. We will be in and around Whitchurch at the same time on the 25th so hopefully we can meet up with Stu then as well.
I am a bit worried that both of these fit guys have 5 days head start on us but we finish the same day as Regie and 2-3 days before Stuart. I hope we haven't bitten off more than we can chew!
Podcaster Tee Morris has had his Krakens Jersey Stolen. The evil Krakens Thief is threatening to tumble dry the Jersey on HOT if Tee doesn't complete certain tasks. the latest of which was to sing Jonathan Coulton's Re Your Brains song on a podcast.
Remember you can become a part of this Web 2.0 Adventure…
Just to add to Nicks thank you for all our donations.
It really is amazing to think that we have reached our target, however there is no reason why we cannot keep going and perhaps make the £2000 mark, so please don't stop donating as every penny is going to help fund this worthy charity and help find a cure for Alzheimers.
I did get filmed by Westcountry tv today, but the news went out at 4.15pm due to the football, so i missed it!! Did anyone see it?
Good luck to Regie who starts his jogle on Saturday.
Last night we made the £1000 target we set for our selves. Hurrah! This does not mean the fundraising is over by a long way, just that people have been more generous than we imagined so please if you feel inclined, don't be shy. Donate! No amount is too small and it all goes straight to the Alzheimer's Society.
We were only £11 short last night so I asked if anyone on Twitter would like to push us over and SynapticJam stepped up to the plate. Thankyou!
Below are our kind donors online so far:
| Heidi | 12/06/2008 | I hope the training pays off Steve |
All being well i will be filmed by Westcountry t.v. tomorrow morning and orbiting you living room tomorrow evening.
It would have been good if Nick and Steve could have been involved, although this way i get all the glory and fame.
Hopefully i will get a copy of the filming and we can put it on the blog.
Training is all but over now, just a couple of easy rides at the weekend and get kit organised and all the last minute details finalised.
Activity Road Biking Whitestone, United Kingdom MotionBased Dashboard
Managed a good weekends riding, two 50 milers back to back, the pay off was trip to Trago Mills! (yeuk)I obviously need to earn massive brownie points so i couldn't get out of not going and even worse i had to look faintly interested.
I went out with a couple of guys this morning, (click on title for details) Jerry and Mike, thanks for the ride, although Jerry took us up some nasty climbs, we had some stunning views and i rode a couple of places i haven't been before and it was good to have some company.
I think that has been one of the hardest things in training, long rides on your own, nothing wrong with a bit of solitude but when the legs start hurting the novelty wears off quick.
Good to see some sunshine as well, just have to remember to hydrate properly every day, make that another beer then.
Click to see a larger version.
Ascent 3790ft Descent 3754ft
Ascent 9234 ft Descent 9181 ft
Ascent 11269ft Descent 11362ft
Ascent 9167ft Descent 9134ft
Ascent 7298ft Descent 7278ft
Ascent 5964ft Descent 5847ft
Ascent 7354ft Descent 7529ft
Ascent 7522ft Descent 7475ftI took the afternoon off work again today so that I could do a long ride. It was my last chance to do a decent ride before joining the JOGLE team. It was also a nice sunny and warm day.
I cycled from St Andrews through Fife to Perth. Then behind the very scenic Sidlaw Hills to Dundee and then back to St Andrews.
According to mapmyride.com it was 73.75 miles. The miles passed quickly with the help of boagworld podcasts and Sunday talks from Holy Trinity Brompton. I managed to average 17.5 mph and felt a lot more comfortable compared to when I cycled 70 miles a few weeks ago. The new Endura shorts helped too! All bodes well for the forthcoming JOGLE ride through Scotland.
The size of the bike ride seems to become more and more apparent as it nears. I have been reasonably pleased with my training - last month I clocked about 720 miles without any twinges. However it dawned on me as I was riding in tonight, that my training is not enough to avoid pain. The 720 miles I did in the whole of last month will have to be covered in 6 - 7 days. Whats more it will include the Scottish Highlands and the Lake District. This is going to hurt. 
Hopefully it will be painful in a good, happy sort of way. So much is going to depend on the weather, especially the wind direction, a tail wind can make any ride a joyful experience but a head wind..... 
Taking it easy may well be one of our issues. Traditionally when we cycle together the egos take over and every hill is a competition, every descent a race. If we ride like that we will probably be in the broom wagon after 3 or 4 days. So all heroics will have to be saved for the last few miles of the last day. That is when I will lay the smack down on the remaining Joglers and establish my self as supreme Jogler. Or not.From the Telegraph:
German nursing homes are using a novel strategy to stop Alzheimer's patients from wandering off: phantom bus stops.
The idea was first tried at Benrath Senior Centre in Düsseldorf, which pitched an exact replica of a standard stop outside, with one small difference: buses do not use it.
The centre had been forced to rely on police to retrieve patients who wanted to return to their often non-existent homes and families. Then Benrath teamed up with a local care association called the "Old Lions". They went to the Rheinbahn transport network which supplied the bus stop.
JoGLE supporter and all round top guy Mike Bennett has unleashed a new promo video for Hall of Mirrors into the world. Stay around till the end to see just how scary those hooded trolls are......
This week Obsidian, the new project by JOGLE supporter JC Hutchins launched. It is a series of short stories written and narrated by some of the best known names in podcasting fiction. All the stories are set in the time of the 7th Son novel and the blackout across America that ensued. The series kicked off with a 2 parter by Tee Morris called " Miles to go Before I Get Home" Check out JC's site for these tales, the 7th Son Podcast, links to exclusive free Celldweller music and more. Also check out episode two for our Plug! Thanks JC!
Despite being slightly unwell this week i have managed to ride over the weekend.
Inspired by nicks ride with his rack, (i am using the same rack/pannier set up as Nick) i thought i had better take it out of the bag and see how the bike felt loaded up.
It felt quite weird at first but as long as you don't corner at high speed and sprint out off the saddle it all handled ok.
My bike, unfortunately, has not been as compliant. I have had a continuous problem with the rear hub and it is now beginning to sound like its about to explode at any minute. Fortunately Richard off Richards Bikes has been as helpful as ever and Specialized have come up with a replacement wheel set, which i will hopefully pick up tomorrow.
I have heard lots of good things about Roval wheels but from my experience so far their cross wheels don't seem that robust, and i've only taken them off road once, a muddy lane.
But like i said Specialized have come up trumps so hopefully problem sorted.
It's all beginning to feel a bit real with only a couple of weeks left until the start off our ride, we are trying to co-ordinate everything and sort out all those last minute details, and get every last bit off training in. All we need now is a month of guaranteed sunshine!
Nice story Justin, and thanks.
When I got home from my night shift this morning I found an email from Justin Lowmaster of The Space Turtle .Justin had been moved to want to do something to help fight Alzheimer's when he heard of Terry Pratchett's illness. A little later Justin heard about our little jaunt on Murder at Avedon Hill and decided to give us some support.
Not only has he given us a generous donation but he has also written a short story called Memory Remembered to help promote awareness of Alzheimer's. It is a quirky little tale about a Wizard with a failing memory. Please check it out and the rest of Justin's work at The Space Turtle.
Thank you Justin!
Dave - a Community Mental Health nurse from Exeter. The ride was Daves brain child. Motivated by the loss of his Father to the disease last year.
