Saturday, December 30, 2006

RIDERS QUICK FACT

A sustainable reliable maintenance system for four and two-wheel motorised vehicles means that health delivery is never undermined by vehicles failing, however harsh the conditions.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Recent donations

Apologies for neglecting my blog these past few weeks. There has been further good news on the fund raising front with donations coming in from Nautilus UK member Russ Garbutt and in a personal capacity Edmund Brookes of the Chamber of Shipping and also Robert Woods from P&O.

In the Isle of Man Anglo-Eastern have offered support and the staff of the Chamber of Shipping had a quiz night and donated the proceeds. I've tears in my eyes. I am overwhelmed by the generosity of you all, thank you!!

I hope I will not let you all down and actually manage to complete the challenge in 2008. By all accounts it is an extremnely tough event and my New Year resolutions include (a) losing weight (b) getting fit and (c) getting some off road experience in. Wish me luck!

Monday, December 04, 2006

News from the 2006 tour

MCN’s World Superbike reporter Michael Guy is currently on tour with the first Enduro Africa expedition, with 164 other fundraisers. Here’s his latest update courtesy of MCN: -

"Three days in, 550 miles covered, four casualties
From the beach of Port Elizabeth on Day 1 we're now located 9,000 ft up in Tiffindell, South Africa's one and only ski resort.
The ride here has been momentous, it started at 4.30 this morning when we saw lions in the game reserve we were staying in and even after that incredible start the rest of the day hasn't been an anti-climax.
After some initial road work we were soon riding through remote African villages over 50 miles away from the nearest town.
The people are poor and their houses are small made of a mixture of wood, bricks and corrugated iron, but their smiles are the biggest you've ever seen.
The enthusiasm in their faces and sparkle in their eyes makes up for the fact that you're entire body is aching and it doesn't matter if you're the first biker to ride through the village or the hundredth and thirtieth, their reaction is still the same.
We soon leave the locals behind and start to climb the air gets colder and thinner and the Yamaha AG200 and I start to wheeze.
At 8,000 ft with another 1,000 ft to go the road gets even steeper and for the first time on the trip we're using first and second gear, you can usually pull away in third!
Unfortunately the number of riders is starting to dwindle and apart from obvious bumps and scrapes there are now four people out of the Enduro.
Day two saw the first victim out with four broken ribs, day three was carnage with a broken shoulder, broken wrist plus some other serious knocks that required ice packs and stitches and today the latest casualty is out with a suspected broken foot.
Apparently the going gets tough tomorrow and the first 15 miles are reckoned to take two hours because it's not a road its a trials section – we're up a 4.30 for a 6o'clock start."