Just another day at the office

It's been a couple of days since I last posted about the Pedal for Parkinson's Double End-to-End Cycle Challenge. The reasons for this literary lapse are numerous: since my last piece of balletic creative dismounting from the bike, which for those who don't know has left me with a broken collar bone (ouch!), I am having trouble using the computer with just my left hand. Reports from the front have been patchy too as my correspondent's (Team Leader David Greaves) dongle doesn't appear to function in Ireland (must be the moist atmosphere), eliminating our primary means of communication. Apologies therefore to those of you who have been checking the blog for updates. Happily, yesterday evening David and I were able to catch up via Skype again after a gap of 2 or 3 days.

Monday 4th July Malin to Enniskillen - 84 miles

Tuesday 5th July Enniskillen to Athlone - 73 miles and

Wednesday 6th July Athlone to Limerick - 72 miles

The summery weather of last week has now burnt itself out and the Team have been having to don their rainproofs again for most of the last three days. The route down through Ireland has so far proven to be geographically unremarkable and scenically fairly mundane. Moreover, the lads have been riding consistently into a stiff breeze, all of which has taken the gloss off things a little. Most of the time the Team have been following main roads that have been straight and heavy with traffic although, on the plus side, they have provided wide margins, which has afforded the lads some sense of security. So if up till Monday each new day had started with a sense of excitement and anticipation the last three have been more a case of "here we go again, another day at the office". To some extent this really has been true as whilst the bike riding has been uninspirational these last few days, the Team have been busy on the PR front and have been able to take advantage of a number of good publicity opportunities and in liaison with local Parkinson's groups have been taking part in receptions, interviews with local radio and press, etc. There will no doubt be a full report on these from David shortly.

The 4 remaining members of the Team are all getting fitter by the day. Mark in particular is a new man and is now holding his own with the others. What a difference a week makes! I am looking forward to hearing his slant on this dramatic transformation ; inspirational indeed.

Today the lads are riding 63 miles (no doubt wet ones) from Limerick to Killarney. Scope here for a bit of nonsense verse maybe? Contributions welcomed to be sure.