Daz or Gaz?

Can someone please remind Gaz that people from Deutchland are not Dutch...

Congratulations Team!!

The Firebirds have landed at John O'Groats! How long have I waited to blog that?!!
Overcast skies, a strong headwind and drizzle made things tough initially, but we were all somewhat determined to reach our goal! Nothing could dampen our spirits. Except for the Berriedale braes. Locally renowned for breaking cyclists, these long, steep and demonic hills crept up on us without warning. Did they break us? Not a chance. We Firebirds are made of sterner stuff!
85 miles after setting off from Tain, we arrived six-abreast with nothing having stood in our way. Except for a truck. We claimed right of way and rode into the arms of our support crew with hand-shakes and back-slaps aplenty.

Congratulations cyclists and a huge, huge thanks to our great support crew. Well done team!!

We will be keeping the website (www.justgiving.com/cycleRAF) live for a couple of weeks yet, so if you haven't donated, please do so...if you would be so kind!

For info, we will also have a gazebo set up next to the AWC marquee, with a couple of static bikes and some raffle prizes etc at the Air Show. If you're there, please pop in and say hello!

Fellow Firebirds, please get your completed sponsorship forms and monies to me soonest, so that I can start to add up some totals. Thanks.

Finally, to those who have donated, and those who are about to, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Penultimate Day!

What a tough start to the day. Retreating 35 miles back to Huntly this morning was soul-destroying, but it was absolutely necessary in order that we didn't miss out a single metre of our epic journey. A solid headwind made the first 5.5 hrs to Inverness rather damn tough and saw our average speed drop to -7 mph!
Leigh's puncture-fixings skills would have been first-class, had it not been for his comedy rubber tyre-levers. Thankfully Dr Dougie had real ones to help him out. 
Leigh continues to delight his fellow cyclists with yet another comedy fall off his bike after politely letting other riders take the road route, kerbing his wheels, which sent his bike one way and him the other into a lush bed of nettles.
Shoey also had his moment of hilarity, after clipping Kenny's rear tyre on a quiet country road. Dougie reported the cartoon-esque sight of Shoey dancing around his bike at 15 mph, feet making like Scooby Doo, whilst bouncing both his testicles the length of his crossbar and back.
A sign pointing to Aberdeen, located just outside Inverness Caledonian's football ground gave Shoey an opportunity to show off his local knowledge... 'Is that Aberdeen's ground then?'
Once we turned the corner at Inverness and passed over the Kessock Bridge, the wind became a help rather than a hindrance and helped us nudge up our average speed. We even put an extra 15 miles today to reduce the mileage tomorrow...for our LAST DAY!

Andy and Ghost Rider slap on that sun lotion Oh and you too Tom, and stop having punctures.
Kenny don`t fall off again, Leigh no more stupid stunts. Dougie remember they are not Iron Men like you, have some mercy. Shoey keep your hands on the handle bars or else. Have a tremendous last day. Warmest Regards and of course a few Hugs and Kisses Mother Mew xx

The Penultimate blues

Day 11 starts with a 45 min journey to our drop off point. Spirits are as drained as our legs as we begrudgingly step out of the vans into a 15kt gusting cross wind. It's slow going but were making progress until Jonty the token Ginge stops as his chain comes off at the 36 mile point and then declares a pan as he has a puncture. In a huff he dails for the nearest Sgt and states that "there seems to be air escaping from my tyre"

Day 10 Down...Two to Go!

The overnight stay at RM Condor was interesting! It certainly gave us an insight into the difficulties that the MoD face with falling accommodation standards (and the limitations of PAYD)!
The resident Marines, however, welcomed us to their home-made bar and we all watched a bit of footy with beer (for those not smacked up on Brufen!).
An early start saw Mrs M dropping off her son Dougie following his Full-English and comfortable overnight stay at home, but saw breakfast pass us less fortunate cyclists by (thanks PAYD!)...until the good old support guys could catch up with bacon butties from a Greasy Joes...yummy!
Sweeping coastlines, shimmering sea, sun beating down...the early morning ride from Arbroath was reminiscent of an idyllic Italian honeymoon (without the fun bits).
Andy, having ribbed Dougie all week for being Scottish, let a tiger out of the bag in Stonehaven (home of the deep-fried Mars Bar) when he was overheard muttering that he couldn't believe he had to pay 20p to have a No. 2 in his mum's home town... Credibility back down to zero!!
Half way through, we received a well-wishing phone call from the Boss, which was a really nice touch and gave us added incentive not to screw up!
We finished today's 88 miles with a 30 mph downhill dash, which saw us crack 5 miles in 10 mins, to catch the second half of the England v Germany game...I wish we hadn't bothered (just like the England team!).
A pleasant overnighter at Kinloss will be followed by an early morning drive 35 miles back to where we've just been to start again tomorrow for the penultimate day of about 80 miles.
I'm looking forward to the end now, our bodies are just about holding out (like the Support Crew's bellies).
Only 190 miles to go...

Building bridges

Dougie maybe Being tucked into bed by his mum with a hot cup of Irn Bru but us troopers are roughing it big style! What with fluff having to sleep on the floor after running round RM Condor with a bunch of keys to our rooms with no doors to put them in and Stoner stabbing himself with the butter knife!
Thankfully public relations officer extrodinaire Mandy does a quality bit of retuning on a guitar in 7 BTY Royal Artillery's bar and plays them a quick rendition of Pink Floyd's wish you were here to introduce the boys to the RAF. And thanks to kenny for slaughtering sex on fire by kings of leon..."it's me 'and it's numb from the ride!"
big thanks to Ray and the lads at 7 BTY for letting us watch the footie and have a chill out. 300 miles to go...And an early start tomorrow so it's ice on the knees and straight to bed.

Slightly Gultly

I am sitting here feeling a little guilty after leaving the rest of the team at RM Condor. I am now at my mum’s enjoying a nice meal while the others are stuck on camp in pretty poor accommodation, no washing machine or shower heads, having had a rubbish meal. On the plus side we are now ¾ of the way to John O’Groats! And I am confident we will all complete the final 3 days of cycling, despite Leigh’s best attempts’ to escape, heading off down the wrong road again today. See you all at 0700 for a 90ish mile ride to Huntley.

Quiet contemplation

With quiet contemplation and with a cheese and pickle roll in one hand and a bag of ice held on the knee in the other, Kenny and Andy look up at the hill/mountain they have to cycle up.
B******s!!!!

Day 8

Just a short blog tonight...v poor connection and a bit too knackered to give it justice, but the day started with a group pic with the 56 Sqn Phantom gate-guard at Boulmer, followed by 93 miles of hills...the majority of which were Scottish. If you were following the tracker today, you may have noticed it do an extra 6 miles or so. Nope, it wasn't a satellite glitch, it was a Leigh glitch that saw him overshoot a left turn so severely he was at Bamburgh Castle while the more observant cyclists were munching their butties! Sore knees and legs abound. Early bed with Brufen...

Things you find out about the higher echelons.

Nothing comes between Leigh Johnson and his Soreen...
Kenny Hemlin does the best inverted ET moon shot ever!

Och Aye the Noo

We made the Scottish border! Edinburgh next following mountains, Dreghorn Barracks, 50 miles in the future! Furry cows with bendy horns??

Day 8

Gaz starts the day with a quality quote " Have we got any force developement rubbish to do today?". He was suitably berrated by the OIC.

Sack the batman

Following my palatial stay in the Presidential Suite, I thought I had a man for that...

Did you forget something Sir?

After an executive stay in the Officers mess, somebody whose name sounds like Benny thought that the executive room service he had "acquired" meant that his bike would be magically transported to the start point at RAF Leeming. Er...wrong.

Day 7 Ends

We finally made it to Boulmer after a long 118 miles. We had a couple of impromptu donations on the fly from well-wishers along our route no doubt thanks to the Media Officer at Leeming who has helped in spreading the word (not least on Metro FM!), and we had lots of good luck parps from passing cars!
Our 3 Leeming-based pace setters today were fab, but one of them (Al, who organised our gate collection at Leeming - TVM) unfortunately got a puncture after a couple of miles and never caught us up due to the blistering pace set by Greg McDonald (THE Iron Man!) and his mate.
The cyclists found the Scorton town sign for a photo and left the support crew to visit the actual Scorton site where 56 Sqn trained in 1944. Much later on in the day, the team all met up at the memorial and cemetry to RAF Acklington where 56 Sqn operated from between 1939 and 1945. A very sombre and moving experience for all and it was a pity we couldn't have stayed longer.
On a lighter note, Johnno's ma and pa met us in Sedgefield with refreshing cold drinks and yummy choccies. Leigh also found out from his Dad that his chimney needed re-pointing.
We're all missing Mother J, get well soon and we're looking forward to having you back xx

Pssssssssst

Tom, Tom the puncture man. 3 miles after lunch.

Day 7 Lunchtime

56 miles cycled and it's lunchtime at long last. Slightly cloudier today, the weather could be described as 'close'. Which is exactly what our destination isn't.
We're nearly half way to Boulmer (Hetton-le-Hole isn't half as bad as its name suggests). There's an outdoor speaker at the pub we've stopped at blurting out rave music. I reckon this particular stop will be a short one...

Guess what? The hills are back. With a vengeance

Man points!

Half way there with over 600 miles under our belts. If this doesn't qualify us for dark blue on the RAF annual fitness test for the next 2 years, I dont know what will!!

Half Way There!!

Following the blistering pace set at the start, our guest cyclists left us at Selby to race back to Lincoln. Whilst in Selby, Kenny's in-laws met us for much needed support (with added fund-raising!) and Liverpool chocolate (the BEST)! I forgot to mention earlier that not only did we get scrumptious packed lunches gratis from the Merry Melon (those gingerbread men were delicious!), we had a celebrity 'One Star' guest cyclist fly-past (with greetings) first thing as we set off from the AWC!
A long day of 119 miles interspersed with a few moments of light relief...
Dedicated to the cause, the team were to miss England's crucial, last group game to clock up the miles; however, our support crew kept us up to date with the score. No longer able to keep us English away from the footy (sorry Dougie, our Scottish liaison officer!), we initiated an emergency diversion into the Malt Shovel pub at Boroughbridge to catch the second half, which included soft drinks and a generous whip-round from 'Chimp' the ex-services proprietor who is a huge supporter of Help for Heroes. Thanks to you Sir, and your generous customers.
Not content with sticking to the UK road system, Dougie sent us off-road through South, then North, Yorkshire's answer to the Serengeti plain, notable for its lush grasslands, verdant forests, non-navigable river systems and rampaging wilderbeest (in this case, of the Freisian variety). Oh, and lots of barbed wire fences.
With only 15 miles to go, we had an unplanned, whistle-stop tour of RAF Dishforth's crash-gate system, only to retrace our track for the correct route. Thanks again Dougie!
In all seriousness, Dougie's doing a great job navigating us through the roadblocks and diversions.
Finally for today, I'd like to say a huge thanks to departing Azzy and Leigh S for their great work over the last week and welcome Fluff and Gaz to the Team...the support crew continue to be absolutely fantastic, a heart-felt thanks from the cyclists.

Day 6 Starts

This morning saw us set off from the Thomson Bldg with well-wishing waves from OC 56 and the XO. Two cycling guests (Dom and Andy) kindly offered to set the pace for the first 60 miles or so. A good pace so far, 80 miles to go today, then we're over half way!

NORTHWOOD

Some Pics

1.  Troy, our Red-Tailed Hawk, at the Raptor Foundation, Woodhurst.

2.  56 Sqn Hurricane Memorial at North Weald airfield.

3.  Gloster Meteor at Duxford, wearing 56 Sqn colours.

4.  A closer look at Troy (she's a female!).

Many thanks to the staff and Manager of Waitrose at Okehampton for your support in the early stages of our journey.

So just what is the record on how soon someone can get a puncture?  For the answer ask Kenny.

Finally some photos of the men doing the cycling.

It seems a life time ago since this photo was taken and I am just following in a van.

Sports Massage

An enjoyable day on the bike today, lovely weather and not too many hills. Finished off with a great sports massage from Maddy Wilson. Maddy kindly offered her services free of charge to the cyclists! You can contact her on maddywilson21@hotmail.com

Day Five Lunch Time

Averaging 16 mph, we completed 57 miles before lunchtime, which was satisfying! Our last mile prior to our lunch stop was through a farmer's heavily gravelled track (how we didn't all get punctures I'll never know!). 35 miles to go before we can flop into our very own baths and, better still, our own beds!

Day 4 Precis

It's difficult to believe that this morning we were in West London, and now we're in Cambridgeshire! We're eating up those good old English counties, with 97 miles cycled today! The support crew have really looked after us well (again) and the fundraising has continued apace with something in excess of £600 collected at Tesco in Huntingdon. The locals have graciously dug deep and we're still counting! A big thanks to the store manager (Andrew Davies) for allowing Azzy to talk him into it!
On the Force Development front, we had a great day...visiting three locations with 56 Sqn connections: Hendon, North Weald and Duxford. Whilst at North Weald, we were honoured to lay a wreath at the Hurricane memorial site. The local historian, Arthur Moreton, would not let us take home our 56 Sqn Hurricane unfortunately!
The Imperial War Museum at Duxford welcomed us with open arms (and free ice creams - thanks Connie!) and allowed us a photo opportunity with their Gloster Meteor resplendent in 56 Sqn colours.
BREAKING NEWS: Total collected today - £942. Wow!!!

The bestest ice lollies in the world

Thanks to Connie that gave us the free ice lollies at Duxford. They were just what we needed. Watching Shoey scream like a 5 year old because he wanted the feast instead of a twister was a treat too.

Popped in to Duxford to visit our 56 Sqn Meteor. It's a few years since I've been here and it's even more amazing! I recommend a visit, I really do. A kind gentleman popped £20 in our mitts, as did a lady for a fiver, for the cause. Thank you both.

350 miles in to our journey, we stopped past North Weald Airfield to lay a wreath and show our respects to those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. The airfield manager (Darren Goodey) and the official historian (Arthur Moreton) made us very welcome...and even gave us tea with a donation! Great to see you guys.
Lots of sore muscles today, and a scraped forearm thanks to an uphill fall by Mr H. Nothing serious, just a mere flesh wound. 1400 hrs and 40 miles to go. 3 hours with this headwind I reckon...

Day 3 Ends...

We made it, finally. 124 miles...not your normal miles, these were especially long ones. benevolent to a fault, Johnno did 0.31 miles extra to tend to an injured baby bunny rabbit at the side of a country road. He flung it in a field to save it from being run over by a tractor. Also, it's nice to show the public how professional we cyclists are. Kenny (yes, me) decided to forget to free his cleats from his pedal at the lights only to expertly use Dougie to keep almost upright. Thankfully, Dougie saw it coming and halted proceedings! I've never seen this before, but once again, Mr Johnson came up trumps with yet another ace...20 miles from the end his pedal fell off his bike, but luckily was still attached to the bottom of his right foot! I'm surprised anything falls off his bike with all the bodge tape on it. Lastly, somewhere near Staines, the rear cyclists claim they saw the boxer Amir Khan in his Range Rover...well, today we had a puncture, and he's a puncher...see how things all tie in?

Nearly There

97 miles completed and we've just passed Bagshot. Big push for the last 22 miles! Not many demon hills today (wasn't he a racecar driver?) thankfully...or maybe, just maybe, we're getting fitter? No. Less hills.

Explosive!

Explosive. I'm not talking about our hill-climbing prowess. Oh no, I'm talking about Dougie's puncture. 56 miles to go and the sun has come out to have a laugh at our slow progress!

Day 3 - Making Slow Progress

We've stopped half way for lunch, after 60 miles. We're all suffering varying degrees of 'DOMS' - for those of you who don't know what that means, it's 'Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness' as I've just found out. Personally, I think the last word is a bit lame (like my legs).

1/6th of the Way There...

Day 2 down, 10 to go. Why are hills so bloody hilly?! I guess the clue is in the name! Have I been shot in the legs? Support crew have pulled another pearler...another £400 or so collected from Waitrose's customers in Dorchester. Many thanks to the store manager (and Azzy's amazing powers of persuasion!). Off to the local pub for grub and a well-earned pint. Just one, mind. Looking forward to tomorrow...it's a looong 115 miles, but only the first half is mountainous. Every cloud...!

Support team shining

Just stopped off after some demon hills for a well earned break. The support team are awesome with Jay running round like a proper Mum and Richie soaking up the rays! Thanks guys you really are making this bearable.

More Generosity!

35 miles in to day 2 and we've briefly stopped for body fuel at the Halfway Inn, East of Farringdon. Free drinks, fresh ice and a £20 donation from Tom, the manager, was very gratefully received...thank you!

Fundraising Update

The team collected £620 from Waitrose yesterday! Great effort! And that's not including the £5 Johnno (AKA Casper) got for a kiss enroute!

Day 2 Shananigans

2 metres into the second days ride, Kenny gets his first puncture inside okehampton camp, Doh!

Morning Two

This morning, I learnt a few new things...

1. The Mews are keen caravan spotters and are gold members of Britain's finest Caravan Club.

2. 'It was so windy last night that the curtains were vertical'. (Leigh Johnson)

3. Andy L snores like a randy hippo with a vuvuzela. (Shoey)

Only 90 hilly miles today.

1st Day

Well, that's 100 miles down. Does it count double if it was all uphill? Difficult, but successful day...more than I can say for England! Support crew did an amazing job looking after us cyclists and even got Waitrose in Okehampton (our night stop) to give us a shed load of free drinks and a stall to collect money...we reckon we may have collected near to £500 today! Total to be published tomorrow! Bed now, followed by counting sheep (literally!) and another early start tomorrow for more big hills. The phrase 'Jumping in at the deep end' comes to mind!! Sleep well team. We're going to need it!

And another one!

And puncture no 2 after 15.2 miles. Tom again!

First puncture!!!

11.5 miles into it....tom has his first puncture

Lead by example

After banging on about remembering to hand room keys in before we leave RAF St Mawgan, Kenny our glorious leader pats his pockets and sheepishly states...."erm...anyone seen my room key?"

This Is It!

An early rise and a light breakfast and we'll be heading to Land's End to start our challenge. The weather is looking great! Sunblock WILL be required today! Let's also hope for a 30 knot tailwind all the way!

Bring it on!

To tash or not to tash?

Latest news - First to pull out of charity tash competition is event organiser Neil Glover; he said "Like Kojaks head! It made me look stupid so i shaved it off".

Leigh Johnson can't spell

Apparently World wrestling Entertainment WWE should be spelt WRE. And whilst all the cyclists were busy checking tyre pressures and gear operations, Leigh was busy black nastying 2 pikey cameras to his bike!!!!

Motivation, motivation, motivation

The 3 M's. Andy is trying to fire himself up by listening to "On my way to the cage" by Rollins Band. Come on!!!!!

Lincs FM Media Piece

John Marshall of Lincs FM was kind enough to give me a couple of minutes airtime on his show this morning, nice chap! He asked whether we were just on a really big pub crawl lol.
You know...that gives me an idea!! I guess the 'crawl' bit will be pretty apt in the end..!

I was pretty worried that the guys in my office would try to 'hillariously' put me off, but thankfully they decided to let me fumble through it alone!

I'll be switching on our fancy Tracking Device from tomorrow morning!

Anyway...we're couped up in our vans and now we're only 6 hrs drive from Cornwall!

...Do you ever get that feeling that you've forgotten something??

On our way.

That's us on our way. Thanks to all that helped us. Really appreciated the turnout to see us off. See you soon.

Puncture

Now that is what I call a puncture, I pulled my bike out of the car found the tyre hanging off the rim and this inside!  At least it happened before we started the ride.

Butterflies!

The time is nearing...we leave for Land's End tomorrow (Thursday) to start the epic 1200 miles on Friday early morning.  Maybe I should squeeze some training in??  Sphincter's starting to twitch...

Charge!!!

Andy Lyons is Cocked Locked and ready to rock Chamone!