Let the mid-life crisis begin!

I am off for the trip of a lifetime.  I will be travelling 1000 miles, off-road by motorbike through the Sahara desert in early January.  We will be averaging 200 miles per day, for 5 days solid.  We will be following parts of the Paris-Dakar route. 

Now whilst this is the holiday of a lifetime for me, the charity I am supporting and seeking sponsorship for is a great charity that is making a real difference to the lives of people across Africa now.  Please check out www.riders.org for more information.

It is worth noting that any donation that you make goes straight to the charity.  I am paying the full costs of this trip, so none of your money goes towards me having a good time, assuming I am going to have a good time that is!

Special thanks to Julian and Debbie at Triple D Motorsport in Kendal for their continued support and sponsorship.  You can find them at www.D3-Racing.com  for great service and deals on all KTM models, spares and equipment.

Special thanks also to Dom and everybody at Kriega for supplying me with some fantastic equipment to get me and my luggage through the desert fully hydrated!

"Kriega packs are designed specifically for motorcyclist both in terms of features and performance.  The ergonomics of wearing a rucksack whilst riding a motorcycle are completely different to that when walking - a correctly adjusted Kriega rucksack will out-perform any other backpack on the market."

I can guarantee you will be delighted with your Kriega pack.  To get some fabulous Kriega gear go to www.kriega.com .

Thanks also to Lakeland Radio (100.1 and 100.8 FM) and the Westmoreland Gazette for their support.

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page. Please dig deep and sponsor me online.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Riders for Health will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now!

Many thanks for your support.

Clive
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Web log

7 December 2006

Not another bloody cold!  Is it too early to be making excuses?  I have decided to forge ahead with the training anyway.  I have been swimming, lifting up heavy things (I wouldn’t call it weight lifting) and lots of running.  I have been dosing up with vitamin C and some hippy nonsense; echinacea, for all the good it is doing.  I think a trip to the doctors might be in order, lovely antibiotics. 

I had a lovely package arrive from Kriega, fantastic stuff.  I wonder if they will ever branch out into clothing?  A Kriega enduro jacket would be brilliant. 
 

The Westmoreland Gazette will publish the article on my trip this Friday.  I really think this will help raise a few more pounds.  There are lots of people in the area that know me that I do not have email contact details for.  I hope they will add to my sponsorship total.

I have nearly reached the £500 pound mark, but will probably raise that to £1000.  Every little helps.   

I haven't actually done any training rides, it would be great to get out over Christmas for a day, but I am hoping my experience over the last couple of years will be enough to get me through.  Sand is very soft to land in anyway, how could it possibly hurt?!!  

I made the mistake of letting my wife watch Charly Boorman’s Dakar DVD last week.  There is a very sad scene in which one of the participants dies.  Rachel actually questioned whether or not I should be doing this event at all.  She might have a point.  

How do you justify riding a motorbike at all, especially when you have a young family?  I like the saying – “you’re here for a good time, not a long time.”  I guess you have to make the most of life, whilst minimising the risks.  If I did have a debilitating accident would I be able to say, it was worth the risk?  I doubt it.   
 

What really scares me though is the thought of being on one’s death bed at a very old age regretting that you didn’t actually make the most of the time you had.  I don’t know…

What I do know however is that before a  recent race, some poor chap was helicoptered out with a broken back, and I nearly turned around and went home, but didn’t.  After about a hundred yards of the race beginning, I stopped thinking about it and had a great time.  

Bring on the Sahara !  

26 November 2006
Another week gone without any training, unless you count kicking over the KTM to get used to kick starting the big 650 I will be riding in Morocco?  No, I thought not.

I great week for sponsorship though.  Thanks to everybody who has donated, you have been very generous.

I will be resuming training on Monday, I will be staying in a hotel 'darn sarf' so will try and avoid the lure of the restaurant and bar and go straight to the gym.

I am really please that Kriega have very kindly offered to sponsor me.  I am a big fan of Kriega kit (I already nearly have one of everything they make) and am delighted they have agreed to supply me with the missing products.  Check them out on the link above.

No story in the Gazette this week, I hope it will be in on Friday.  It will be interesting to see what difference it makes. 

I am waiting for a kit list from the trip organisers.  What are you supposed to wear in the desert when riding a motorcycle?  I have no idea whether it is going to be hot or cold in January.  They apparently get an average of 7 days of rain in Morocco in January, surely not in the desert though?  Temperatures range from 4 to 18 degrees C.  Layers I hear you say.  Who knows...

Now, where is that gym kit?


19 November 2006
Well, what on earth have I agreed to do?   I am pretty unfit at the moment with only 7 weeks to get in some kind of shape, other than the egg shape I currently find myself in.  Still, at least it's a good time of year to get fit in, what with all the Xmas parties and the always interesting Lakeland weather to go out running in.  Brilliant. 

Up until a few days ago I was training pretty well, running 5k every other day, but I have been laid up with a cold for the last few days.  Alcohol kills all known germs apparently.  We'll see.

I think 5 days of hard technical riding is going to be bloody tiring, so need to get a fit as I can in the time available.

I did interviews for Lakeland Radio and the Westmorelend Gazette last week, it may help to raise some more sponsorship.  I will be in the paper this Friday hopefully. 

The trip was mentioned on the radio on Sunday on the hourly local news bulletins.  Doesn't look like anybody sponsored me because of it yet though.

I did a 'photo session' with the Westmoreland Gazette on Friday, sitting on Juha Salminen's KTM in Triple D in Kendal.  Dressed in the full KTM kit, even orange boots.  Nice.  Let's hope the good people of Kendal respond accordingly.  Triple D have agreed to sponsor me, that is very good of them.  I like the irony of the fact that they sponsor possibly the best off road rider in the world - David Knight, and me, undoubtedly the worst!

Now riding in sand, that will be an interesting new experience.  I hope to get down to a sand quarry in Norfolk to give it a try.  Not quite as cool as Charley Boormans trip to Dubai ("The nearest place to experience desert conditions")  Try Norfolk next time Charley boy!