New year new project?

Whilst we all still meet up as a group of friends, there will be no massive BOB action this year. Various births, marriages and thankfully none of the other mean that group activity is on hold so to speak.

Warren and I are organising this however...

http://biketobestival.blogspot.com/

which will be raising equally large sums for Cancer Research UK. Sophie and Andrea will be helping to organise this and we hope to rope in others for the ride itself.

We hope to get out busking at some point over the summer though!

BOB Christmas charity gig

When we first floated the idea of doing a Christmas gig, we'd just arrived back from our Land's end to John O'groats adventure. The sun was still shining and it seemed such a long way off.

 Now it's just two weeks away and I'm almost bursting with excitement!!


Thanks to Jonny we now have an online ticketing service here

Save The Date - Christmas Gig

Save the date, our Christmas gig will be on December 1st at The Albany pub, Great Portland Street, London. Live music, xmas songs, support acts, seasonal treats, a great night...all raising money for Cancer Research UK. Help us hit our target of £10,000!

how the kit held up...

I mean't to do this just after we got back, but hindsight has softened my views on the failings that any of the kit had... I just think it's useful for anyone else undergoing a trip of this size to know what worked for someone else. These are personal experiences and not neccessarily BOB endorsements. The only kit we didn't pay for ourselves ended up being the Shutt VR Jerseys

 Kona Honky Tonk 2009 model

As an overall package this is fantastic all round bike. It held up without any real problems through rough road, high speed riding, light off road riding, hill climbing and riding in torrential rain on flooded roads. The gearing is a little high, and I found myself envious of Dan’s Charge Juicer with 3 front rings and mudguards, on a number of occasions. As complaints go that’s not really much is it. The bar tape and seat feel cheap, but do you know what, they work and are comfortable and hardwearing. I only needed to change the pedals and mount extras (pump, cages, saddlebag) to turn this into a proper lightweight tourer.

Shutt VR – Merino Cycling Jersey

I ended up wearing this for about 12 of the 17 days we were out. In the rain it kept me warm, in the sun it kept me cool. I had a backpack’s worth of stuff in the pockets, yet it still kept it’s shape. Mine was a gift from Shutt (we asked for kit and they kindly gave us a selection of samples as they were between seasons) and would have cost the same as my other shirts put together...however... In the end I could have managed with just this and a long sleeved top.

Bontrager Hard Case All Weather tyres 700x28

I pulled six shards of glass out of these the day before we left, numerous stones and thorns on the trip and not one puncture. Quite a hard ride but I had as much grip as I could ever expect in all conditions, on and off road. 1400 miles without a puncture. Enough said

Bontrager Classic Caps

A black technical one to wick the sweat from my head and keep the sun out of my eyes. A white merino one to keep my head warm in the rain. Both worked a treat. My trip would have been less comfortable by far without these.

Shimano – Sora Drive train, Pedals, Shoes

The only components I had problems with were all Shimano. The rear derailleur bent and the cleats in my right shoe broke when the pedal release mechanism seized. All fixable, nothing permanently broken. I was very unhappy at the time, but this is all entry level kit asked to do a 1,000 mile tour. Things break

B-twin bib shorts

£29.99 and the reason I still have a working bottom. A head and shoulders above the other shorts at this price, and the cheapest bibs I found.

Cancer Research

Last Thursday several of the BOB guys went along to the Angel building, in er... Angel to take part in a volunteers evening.

There was an inspiring talk by Tony Selman and a presentation on recent developments by the research team.

We got up and told our story, before playing a couple of songs. Thanks to @kaz_staff for the pic, and the support she brought whilst we were on the road. Good to finally meet you.

Watch this space

It's been a couple of long weeks since we returned from John O'Groats now. We have had a night out to reaquaint ourselves and discuss recovery and complain about being back at our desks.

Warren's article has now been published in the independent sister paper the "I", and is available as a text only story here

I'll try and scan it in so you can see it in all it's technicolour glory.

We are off to meet the guys at cancer research on thursday to talk to potential volunteers and fundraisers. Let's hope we inspire some more stupid pub ideas to become a reality.

Invershin

I'm afraid that due to the mobile reception and general feeling of weather fatigue we haven't managed to keep the blog up to date... Or in the right order.

3 days before the end of our adventure we pulled into invershin. Far and away the easiest gig to organise. The youth hostel had a roof based incident that didn't allow for our stay, so we rang the inversion hotel. Warren asked Cheryl if there was anywhere she could suggest locally to play. There was. The hotel itself.

From the warm welcome, the music playing in the bar, the suprising number of extremely talented musicians who turned up to play, this turned out to be a very special night for us all.

This is also the pub Shaun should have picked to escape the oncoming zombie hordes. (rifles, bear traps and superior food, drinks and snacks... Plus clear views from the top of the hill.)

Highlights for me me included...

A stonking version of fishermens blues (and copperhead road)

Beautiful violin playing

Teenage kicks...And psychokiller... Folk style

Snacks at midnight...

Sitting in the bar after the customers had gone home and singing a king of the road/I kissed a girl mash-up.

Being persuaded to stay up until 02:30am when most night we were in bed by 22:00

Thank you for a lovely eve Cheryl and Angus of the invershin hotel.