Friday 18 May 2012

Training Update

Training Update

Hello from Operation Leprechaun & Guinness HQ

I can’t believe it! Five weeks tomorrow and we’ll be on our way to the Emerald Isle and we still have a full complement of nine supreme athletes!

So having spoken to most of the team over the last few weeks I can inform you of the progress we’ve been making. I bumped in to Elliot last week in Didsbury. Now ordinarily this would’ve been a very hazardous experience. People have, after all, been known to bump in to Elliot and rebound several meters in to the path of vehicles but…no more. Ell’s training program has delivered a finely honed Adonis and a future candidate for the front page of Mens Health. Ryan has also approached training with the same degree of vigour and has taken to cycling shorts like a Geordie lass to a lycra boob-tube.  I dropped off some collecting tins at Marks bars where his staff were obviously in awe of his endeavours. Posters adorn the walls announcing the coming of Heaton Moors very own Chris Hoy. Unfortunately Mark wasn’t there to meet me as he was sleeping off a hangover; so it seems his training is going very much to plan. I’ve heard that Dave has also been putting the miles in but with the cost of petrol these days he’s trying not to overdo it. Jonny “Boyband” Leslie started his training in February and has covered 70 miles a week ever since. He’s now reached Dubrovnik! Jonny, you should turn around and head back now! Meanwhile back in Gods County, I spoke to Chris the other day. He’s an experienced rider and sees no reason to change a successful training regime. He’s focussed on those flat short sections with the occasional canal bridge he can get off and push over. Simon has approached the event with typical Olympian vigour and has just completed the infamous Pocklington 100k in which cyclists compete to ride exactly 100 times further than Eddie has in his training regime so far this year! Eddie, Chris said you can pick your bike up from his house anytime but that you may need to scrape the barnacles off it before you try riding!

Keep it up lads. We’ll be in the hills before we know it.

 

2 comments:

  1. Phil this is all well and good, but I think your devoted followers require a couple of questions answering about this latest bike trek.

    1. Has there been a miraculous repair/recovery/return of your beloved Fondriest c/w yellow Deutsche Post panniers. We all know how you almost wrote it off last year somewhere between North West England and Scotland.

    2. Is there safety in numbers and with the increase of all these new team members from last years event, are any of them ringers?

    3. Will you have any celebrity followers this year?

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  2. Good to have you back John.
    The Fondriest is back from the dead but no need for Panniers this time as Dave "The Van" our local Irish hero is carrying them for us.
    Bet365 are currently offering 2/1 on for Simon to finish the challenge without breaking sweat and 7/4 for Ryan to finish before midnight on the first day but if I were you I'd put my money on all riders being unseated before the canal turn.
    We hope to pick up a few celebs on the way although once they're in the van we can't promise to let them out!

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