When Crow met Cav

There is a page on Facebook called Holiday Inn Stay You. An odd name BUT an advert/link was spotted by my wife within minutes of it going live-


Calling all cycling fans. We're giving you the chance to ride with World Champion and cycling legend Mark Cavendish. Click to register. Places are limited. The first 150 to register will be e-mailed full details.

So, she entered me and I got a place! I actually got a place! The date for the ride was today, 31 October, which is also the date GoWithCrow stops collecting money. It's been a loooong old slog, but finally got there. As I type, the running total, including Gift Aid is £1442.50... so close to the £1500 but never mind! Anyway, it just seemed right that this should happen today if you know what I mean.

So armed with my Willy Wonka Golden ticket, off I set at 0430 for an 0800 registration and 0830 start. Got there in plenty of time despite the rubbish traffic as I approached London (how people commute every day I have no idea!!)

And as surreal as the morning was, it was well organised... just the right amount of people without it being crowded. The venue was Redbridge Cycling Centre near Ilford and Chigwell- great little set up with a 2km circuit- we were to do 20k with Mr Cavendish. So after a few autographs and pictures we were all lined up at the start for a photocall. For some reason, I ended up on the front row (must be my boyish good looks!)- pics done and off we went. 

The first couple of laps were a bit hairy as alot of people weren't used to riding in a group but eventually, we all spread out and the downhills were great for a bit o speed. In fact the course was excellent! I even overtook Cav!....well sort of :)

Lucky old Cav being photographed with me!

What happened was I got lapped by Mr Cavendish (it turns out on my 9th lap- his final) half way round the circuit. I then caught him up and rode alongside. First thing that blurted out of my mouth was "any idea how many laps we've done?" (all of a sudden I thought what a stupid thing to ask- is that the best you've got Crow, you nob!) and to my relief he says "no idea pal, I'm just waiting for someone to tell me to stop!" I then decided to cut my losses before making a total d**k of myself, so shot off and crossed the finish before him! We were then all offered breakfast whilst Cav did interviews and more pics. 

"Can you sign this to Phil and Helen please."

"Sure no problem."

"Oh and could you put Go With Crow underneath?"

"yer what?! Go with... wha...crow?  c..r..o..w?"

"erm [grins] yeah, it's this charity thing I've been doing for Intensive Care..."

"There you go pal."

"Thanks Mark- nice to meet you!"

And that, as they say, was it. Like I said, a very surreal way to finish 6 months of fundraising.

I'll be posting more as things are still going on and as long as someone is reading this drivel, I'll keep posting it. There's more up and coming events to chat about- decisions to be made about which foreign event to do in 2012, more thoughts on my counselling (3rd session tomorrow!) and the process I'm undertaking PLUS, of course, what ICU decide to do with the money!

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

Not much to say. Steve was one of the world's greatest tech visionaries. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and this guy was imitated! From the Mac operating system (Windows OS was always 5 paces behind Apple- a poor man's OS yet marketed as ground breaking. We saw right through you Mr Gates!)
to Pixar to the OSX followed by the iMac, iPod, iPhone and of course the iPad. Genius and a hard act to follow. RIP Mr Jobs from a photographer that has been kitted out by your company since 1995

Random stuff

James Cracknell and Jerone Walters record attempt was a cracker this weekend. Starting on Saturday at 3am, Cracknell and Walters were trying for the Land's End to John O'Groats (LEJOG) world record on a tandem. The record to be broken has stood since 1966 at 50hrs 14mins and 25 secs. Over the entire weekend, it looked like they were on track to smash this BUT with only 68 miles to John O'Groats, their safety team stopped them and called it off. At the moment, Cracknells blog is vague to say the least but suggests that his heart simply wasn't in it.

"[The team] detected a 'laissez faire' attitude to the record that hadn't been there over the previous two days," he said. "It was my reaction to being stopped within 60 miles of John o'Groats and a new record that was telling. Previously I may have protested or tried to argue my case but in recovering from my accident last year I've learnt to trust and rely on people around me a lot more."

The press release from the main sponsor, Project7Racing says "Richard Gorman, crew chief for the attempt run by Project 7 Racing, took the decision to call a halt to the ride at 1.15am when it became clear that sheer mental fatigue was beginning to seriously compromise the safety on the road of both riders.

“It’s the most heart breaking and difficult moment you can possibly imagine,” commented Gorman, “After 773 miles of riding not a single member of the team or crew want it to come but I had make a call on the safety of the riders and we will just have to come back again even more prepared in the future.” 
...Drama then ensued when the pair broke a crank near the Forth Bridge; having switched to spare tandem Rocket 1 while Rocket 2 was repaired, the duo lost over 20 minutes when Rocket 1 punctured in the middle of the Forth Bridge.

With just 68 miles left to the end of the record run all the calculations indicated that the pair would be within minutes of beating the existing record of 50 hours, 14 mins, 25 seconds set in 1966 by Pete Swinden & John Withers, making the decision to abandon even harder to bear.
“No-one said breaking records is easy. I’m just so terribly proud of James and Jerone and the whole crew for their ability to get so far.”

And on another note -and an important one at that...potholes. Bloody potholes. My village is one big sodding pothole. No? Well try it on a bike, then you'll see! Anyway, a new iPhone app has come to light to help report the state of our nations roads. So, all you iPhone users, download it here and get snapping! If I find any humongous ones (what do I mean if....when!)- I'll post them here.
Also, another site all about potholes- how exciting...

Finally, just adding this picture- one of the best pics I've seen for a while and an image to make us Brits feel proud. 

Well done Cav on bringing the rainbow jersey home- looking forward to the Olympics- no pressure mate!! Though I still think Bradley Wiggins for SPOTY for one of the most amazing lead outs in the Worlds. Great team, great race!