FERRY HOME

Well thats it folks, we had a bit of a hazy morning leaving Andorra after a few shandy's the night before in the podium lounge, plus a wii sports tournament (got to get one they rule)! 

Plus we hit the tax free shop on the way out, the place is insane! two feet in the door and id already had two shots of god knows what, and then another of sangria! had to run away from the drinks section fast, only to stumble into the meat and cheese section where they stuff you full of that too, so once again a place where you can basically eat and drink for free that we had to leave, boo!

Loaded up we headed for the border, loaded up with spirits wine and baccy, rounded the corner and some dude is in full sprint in the middle of the road heading towards us with a coulple of cops giving a feeble chase, well it was raining and he was pretty quick they soon gave up and he jumped over the railings onto what was pretty much a cliff, not sure where he was going but fair play for effort.  We get to the checkpoint oursevles and the man immediately  asks if we are German, haha the power of the tour tache! 

him - you german?

us - no we are Welsh!

him - ahhh Welsh, you have anything to declare?

(phil stopped himself saying "yes I like having sex outside")

us - errr no!

him - you have any alcohol?

us - of course!!!

him - ok! any tobacco?

us - errm yep

him - (roll of the eyes thinking idiots) right on your way lads

well no one told us we had to declare beer and fags!!! 

  

Another super nice night at Sean and Lucy's place sleeping on a real mattress not even Ant snoring would keep me awake!!

Saw some bling motors on the way past le man with the 24hr just having been on, on the ferry now having a jar or two and using the spurious wifi 

heres a few shots of our last night

three welsh boys in andorra in an irish pub with a scottish landlady!!

look at the tour tache lol

the french boys

THE RESULTS ARE IN

CONGRATULATIONS TEAM SHORT WAY DOWN, EVEN IF WE SAY SO OURSELVES!!!!

- RACE 1   READ Phil   TEAM SHORT WAY DOWN / SANTA CRUZ VP-FREE 

                   (Grande Bretagne) - TIME 0:30:01,270 - POSITION 36

- RACE 2  READ Phil - TIME 0:29:55,090 - POSITION 27!!!!!! CRACKED THE HALF HOUR

- RACE 1  TAYLOR Anthony - TEAM SHORT WAY DOWN / (Grande Bretagne)                  TIME - 0:32:51,430 - POSITION 98

- RACE 2  TAYLOR Anthony - TIME 0:33:40,510 - POSITION 92

- RACE 1  ERRINGTON Richard TEAM SHORT WAY DOWN (Grande Bretagne) 

                  TIME 0:34:21,290 - POSITION 133

- RACE 2  ERRINGTON Richard - TIME 0:34:25,330 - POSITION 105

POSITIONS ARE OUT OF - RACE 1 HAD 210 RIDERS

                                                  RACE 2 HAD 150 RIDERS

R R R R RACE DAY ROCKS (GET YOUR BALLS OUT)

After a good qualifying yesterday we went to get our positioning letters, these would tell us where we would be in the starting grid, Phil got a j, me and Ant got an o, we got handed a piece of paper saying what time our letters were starting, confused I looked at the paper and asked the lady who handed it to me "how do we know which one we are in?" (there was one in the morning and one in the afternoon) she looked at me "both" she said laughing "f**k!" I said not laughing, and neither was phil when I told him, considering I was here expecting one race and a timed run for qualifying, we were now facing the fact that the qualifying we had just done was basically a race (100 let off at a time is not the timed run i was hoping for) and that we had to do it again tomorrow "TWICE"

TURNED OUT TO BE A HELL OF A DAY

Check it out

THE CUE FOR THE LIFT

STOOD ON THE START LINE

2365M AND FREEZING

(so cold infact when Ant hugged frenchie for warmth I wished he was hugging me, not something I ever thought I'd think)

SPOT THE PHIL

THE START LINE, OVER 150 BIKES WAITING TO GO

NOW THIS TAKES BALLS

ELBOWS OUT HEAD DOWN

(CANT BELIVE EARLIER TODAY WE DID THAT TWICE)

DOWN SAFE AND LOVING IT

ABOUT BLOODY TIME TOO

ANT AND BRIAN LOPEZ

THE FINISH LINE A SWEET SIGHT

QUALIFYING RESULTS

Qualifying results are in, the weather was dry thank god! 100 bikes all lined up ready to go, talk about a buzz
sooo tired now, we have to do it all over again tomorrow, TWICE!!!! ill tell you about it tomorrow too tired now. to give you an idea of how tired we are we have left the pasta party, which was giving us free food and beer, FREE BEER!! we walked away!! now thats tired

super super happy with my time, I would have been really happy with 40 mins + and id have been fine with a 50+

48 (16)SENI 236 READ Phil 0:30:53

72 (22)SENI 235 ERRINGTON Richard 0:35:12

74 (36)MAS1 237 TAYLOR Anthony 0:35:23

i just want to say as unenthusiastic as this little bit of blog is, it was absolutely amazing

p.s mum im super impressed with ure comment, good tech skills

promise tomorrows blog will be better.

ONE OTHER SMALL THING

Please spare a thought for Team Short Way Down at about half two your time tomorrow, we will be bar to bar with a hundred other riders ready to set a qualifying time, I hope its dry because i am shit in the wet!

This is what we are here for and its about to get medieval on us!

SUCH A PADDY I MAY AS WELL BE IRISH

Todays riding, where to start? for me it was a mixed bag, after chilling for most of the day we went in to register for the race and pick up our plates, it went smoothly we handed our doctors notes over (which by the way if I come again ill be writing myself for all the attention she payed, £10 bloody quid that cost me the buggers at padarn), back to the cruz bus to armour up then we hit the mountain ready to ride, we got to the escalator up to the gondala (can you imagine them letting you take your bike up an escilator back home) only to find a massive cue, quite a difference from what we were used to as all week its been pretty quite on "our mountain" bloody tourists! another sobering moment seeing so many riders, it was good to see a few full on DH rigs, and tripple crowns, some uber bling v10's too.

THE FIRST PROPER TRIP TO THE TOP

The top lift opened for the first time today, shit me its high, but i get ahead of myself, we got to the middle lift via the wood park, eipc, the place was rammed with guys on super expensive super clean bikes and all the latest matching tops and what not, they all piled in to the woodpark just ahead of us, we dove in shortly after Phil first then Ant then me all in quick succession, after getting held up a little by a slow poke up ahead the way cleared and we were off, in the distance we could see "the three drops" up ahead and all the bling guys screeching to a halt just before them, Phil got his elbows out and powered down, the french boys started shouting at each other to get out of the way, Ant clipped one of them and then pretty much in formation one straight after the other all three of us launched off the middle drop to a flurry of camera flashes, cheesy I know but I shit you not that is how it went!

That was the good bit over now for more pain, considering when i got out of the tent this morning and stood up I nearly fell over because my legs have forgotten what they are supposed to do, and I cant laugh, cough, breathe deeply, bend over or sneeze without a big pain in my ribs after taking a handle bar to them, today after the woodpark was a string of offs for me, it was good to do the very top section because we haven't done it properly before but FFS how many times to I have to hit the dirt????????? now when I get close with a barrier, tree, boulder or what ever the chances are I've already landed on that bit of me and second/third time round its just not cricket, hence the paddy, I was so pissed of by the time I got to the road the helmet was off and thrown to the ground followed closely by the gloves, I had a big stomp around muttering obscenities with Ant doing his best not to laugh, quite a good job he did too, toys back in the pram we headed home.

To be fair it was a pretty epic back drop up the top, Ive been caught in a few thunder storms before but we were actually "in" this one, riding down chased by thunder oooh dramatic!! 

sorry I know Ive gone on now and your probably about to give yourself an electric shock cause your alseep and dribbling on the keyboard, but just one more thing, food intake is insane at the moment, breakfast (i never have breakfast) then power bars in town, then back for lunch (sausages and pasta or pork chops and rice or something pork based until yesterday when we ran out) to refuel before heading back out, then a sandwich when we get back from riding followed shortly by what is basically two main meals in the restaurant (usually a massive plate of macaroni cheese followed by steak and chips) and then (check this out bam ud be proud) I even have a pudding!!!!!

ok thats it you made it! whew eh

only the plates pics now

 

sorry about the long post, just had a lot to say today!

PHILS BIKINI WEARING ANTICS

Well the sun shone today and like true brits abroad we decided to make the most of it by applying no suntan lotion whatsoever and sitting in it for a while, mmmm british tourist red, a distinguished hue im sure you'll agree. 

Well maybe till you see this, his moobs, ehem sorry pecs must have cast a shadow, laugh i nearly cried.

 

THE CAMP, THE TACH

before anyone says anything i know it looks stupid (yes and ginger, very good!) thats the point of a tour tach see!!!!

Off to register today and get our race plates, exiting stuff! Ive also discovered that if we had camped 20 yards from where we are Id have got full wifi reception instead of none and am considering moving my tent, as it is Ive been sat down by the hostel hiding under fire escapes when its raining, writing this blog, getting strange looks off the locals, bugger.

some photos will follow this eve of us all plated up and looking like we are about to poo, one day till qualifying aaarrrggghhhh, as my good friend Cyn would say "MAN THE FU*K UP BOYS, ROOOOOCCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!! YEEEE HAW!!!!" and many other things that involve taking hulk hogans stance and getting his rock horns out!! dont worry Cyn I can hear it now! rock!

A good day on the mountain today, Phil hit the big ramp in the woodpark and i hit the middle one, both for the first time! plus hit another big one (for me), Ant was launching big (again), a few bike problems today though, Phil lost a couple of nuts form his big ring!! cost him 22.50€ for new nuts! luckily he could fit them himself, had to check they were tight every now and then but he assures us their fine, Ant had to replace his pads after only 24 hrs use and has given up on ceramic 25€ (dont buy ceramic kids it doesnt pay), I bust a spoke 30c ace. On the not so ace side my legs are slowly turning purple, at first it was a little bruise here and there but they seem to be joining each other via cuts and other bruises, had to give in today only so many times you can get that involved with the scenery before something bad happens, not this late in the game sunshine, not on my watch!!!

THE MAXI APPROACHES
The camp site is slowly filling up with bikers all ready for the race (there you go i said it) first official practice day tomorrow so we will see if we have the stamina, we did from the top of skippy's to nearly the bottom today in about 25mins thats pretty much my time Im sure the boys would have been quicker, its a tough call, not many people will be doing it on full DH rigs, most will be using enduro's or freeride bikes but eh, who gives a shit were here for the fun of it and to raise money for our charities. turns out the girl who works on the site here is entering too, balls shes bound to beat me!

head cam tash man

HEAD CAM-IKAZE

Got the head cam out today for the first time today, bit of a pain in the ass but it worked in the end, its also a sure fire way to get you face planting, which is exactly what i did (at the mini steg as we call it) should be funny not quite £50 quids worth i think, but hopefully some of the footage might be ok, none of it will be sorted till i get back though cause a takes an age and its not long till the r r r r...... no i cant bring myself to say it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

will do more over tea today but off now for a shower, im covered in mountain!

CAROLINNE CHAUSON WE SALUTE YOU

Its a battle that goes something like this......

brain and body - OI THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN DO THIS

the voices -          GO ON YOU KNOW YOU CAN

brain and body - SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT (any of the following) DROP,                                       KICKER, BOULDER, RAMP, HOLE, ROCK GARDEN, ROOT SECTION, GAP                                   OR WHATEVER... YOU CANT DO IT!!!!

the voices -          I CAN DO IT AND YOUR COMING WITH ME

brain and body - NO WE ARE NOT

the voices -          TOO LATE WE JUST DID IT YOU LOSE AGAIN

On this trip the above happens in my head more times than I can keep count of, I love it!!!

(ooh I've just noticed my blog takes up two pages so if your new go to the bottom and click older posts to start at the beginning)

What can I say about today?..... f**cking epic, nope that doesn't come close

First thing when we hit the mountain we did 3/4 of the maxi twice in a row, it gave me hope. i think i might even be able to finish the race, which is all Im here to do, my arms held out, im learning not to grip the bars like Im about to die and learning to pass the pain barrier when my lungs and heart say stop, I changed my tires this morning and am now running Maxxis Swamp things, they are awsome, after that we were ready for dinner, i cooked up some pasta and pork gloop while the boys got to work servicing the bikes.

Work Done

bled brakes and refilled on Ant and mine

straightened Ants brake leaver

pumped up Ants shock after it had dropped 30psi

By this time the gloop was ready, it was necked and we hit the mountain again fully glooped up.

ROUTE 66

This is Carolinne's track, Tabletop after tabletop, burm after burm, and doubles thown in for fun, I can honestly say this is the most fun you can have with ure pants on, Ive never done anything like this before coming here, just a few drop offs, but today I was making landers and laughing out loud as I dropped and landed safe, Ant hit a tabletop infront of me so hard i swore outloud in my helmet (not to mention nearly touching the sky at the top of skippy's), Phil was in the zone today, just gone. His comment when we got back to the cruz bus, and i couldn't agree more was "if we had driven all the way here just for todays riding it would have been worth it", buzzed my tits off all day, I LOVE THIS PLACE.

ANT VS THE WORLD

After my shapeless day yesterday and a bit of foot stamping in the woods, this morning it was Ants turn, at first he couldn't decide weather to be a downhiller or an athlete and did an involuntary forward somersault into some boulders, this ended up with 2 sore ankles, a sore shoulder and a very bent brake leaver, next his brake pads wore out, all good he's got spares, fits them then gets a leak, rides no back brakes nearly into a lift, then cracks a grub screw in his brake leaver, not to mention he tore his army boots, not a happy bunny, nearly calls it a day at dinner time (like I did yesterday) but then this afternoon happened......

THE GREEN MIST DIARIES

Until not long ago I used to think I could hold my own on the flatulence front, however since sharing the cruz bus and living quarters with Readie and Ant Ive found out I may as well be guffing pot puri, at their hands ive suffered temporary blindness, blisters of the face and extreme nausea, it would seem the only place im safe is on the bus (not the cruz bus)!!!

this is a  genuine photo I took on the bus into la massana.

RIC AND THE WOOD PARK SITTING IN A TREE K I S S I N G

Took my camera to the wood park today not to ride it just for pics check them out, shes a beaut!
i also saw someone riding it on a UNICYCLE!!! genius or insane you decide.

thats me jumping that is!!!!

How high do you like to berm?

Hi to all who are reading, thanks for following our trip,  please comment it makes me feel wanted!!! 

MY KNOBBLES FELL OFF

Not quite as painfull as it sounds but look at this

time for a tyre change me thinks!!!!

APPARENTLY ITS TUESDAY

Im loosing track of the days, i still havnt taken a camera up the mountain (might do that after this) its not really a good idea to take hundreds of pounds worth of camera up a hill ure abut to throw ureself off, got drunk for the firs time last night, 2 bottles of reoja + lots of beer (between us) = a pretty shapeles days riding, rode this morning but got pissed off with myself so ill use this excuse to go up the mountain with my camera, thanks for the comments dan, here are some more pics as you requested

im on pay per use wireless, and its running out so im off to get food then ill, take photos and ad more tonight

PHIL IS MADE OF RUBBER

So the rain keep poring and we just have to get on with it, Phil an Ant went out and hit the woodpark in the wet (nutters, wood + wet = slippy) phil managed to take a sideways dive of a 10ft north shore platform, luckily as it turns out Phil is Made of rubber and just bounced, although when ant asked him if he was ok he said his thumb hurt!! so that bit of him at least is mortal, have we found his weakness who knows? big hands, big thumb.

JOSHUA RHYS

BIGGEST BIGGEST CONGRATULATIONS TO CRAIG AND ALISON ON THEIR LITTLE BABY BOY JOSHUA RHYS, FORM ONE SUPER PROUD UNCLE, CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIM

WE'VE FOUND THE MAXI TRACK

Today we've found part of last years maxi track, it a glimmer of hope the part we have ridden is fairly similar to Dyfi where we train, its quite thin though so if we need to pass it could be hard, the second run of the day was Cedric Garcias world cup track a black run, bloody epic, although seeing as they had the world cup here last week its seen a lot of traffic its quite rutted and gnarley, we all had off's today, I had two one on to my wrist which is sore, my ankle is giving me a bit of jip too :-( phil's had his first one, and Ant landed after jumping a big sticky hole, only the bike stopped dead and his sac met the bar at quite a speed, he loked quite a funny color when I rounded the corner and saw him, but after a few wretches, he got down the bottom, and was ready to go again, fair play (sac update all looks ok its just a bit red, cheers for that Ant), im a bit worried about my arms bieng able to hold on till the end we will see......

balls its pissing it down we might not get our second ride now

well we headed out any way into the gloom, first track and im getting involved with the scenery already, im cold wet coverd in shit and over it for today (still smiling though after some insane tracks), hence im sat with a san mig in the ski lodge while the boys tear it up some more, looking forward to sausage casserol tonight, mmmmmm (Cheers sean and Lucy there going down a treat)

FIRST DAY RIDING AND WE ARE STILL ALIVE

After having a pretty chilled night we headed into town this morning to check it all out, see about banks to change cash, get shopping and see about a lift pass, turns out the shops and banks are shut, it sunday doh! only one thing left to do lift pass, we managed to stumble through getting a lift pass for all of us for 63€ after some confusion as to weather we were something to do with the organization of the maxi, should have been 70€ every little helps eh, not bad for a weeks riding, pretty funny watching us try and communicate!

Time To Ride

Enough of this drivel, we got our shit together, hit the park, its insane! first thing we did was hit the wood park, i was laughing my head off by the time i got to the bottom, always a good sign! we ended up doing carolinne chauson's track, rote 66 (epic, loads of jumps but so so long), carbonera, the wood park (top and bottom) its sick Check the pic, i had to steal it online because we didnt take any cameras up but this is what we were riding today,

the mood in the gondala as we went up the mountain was pretty funny, a mixture of exitement and general pant filling, the thing goes so high, all of us knew the only way down was on our trusty steeds, it was a good day and a lot of worries were put to bed, i had visions of unridable massive road gaps and 4mm wide north shore 50ft off the ground and to be fair it is all there but we didnt have to ride it today,  we got back to camp safe and sound

more cheese now.

quick service of the bikes when we got back, a very welcome shower, and now we're sat having a jar and doing web stuff.

ONE IMPORTANT THING TO SAY (sorry not trip related)

(craig phoned last night, things are about to happen, Alisons water has broken)

Craig and Alison, Im so proud of you two, good luck, Im really sorry (and gutted) Im cant be there for you two while the little one enters our world, I expect photos emailed as soon as (craig take the shots into stormies im sure they wont mind emailing them too me if u cant),

all my love to both of you see you +1 when i get back xxx    

FINALLY I HAVE WIRELESS

THE CRUZ BUS

5.6.08 19.30

Well we.re on the road all planning is planned, all checks are checked and if we've forgotten anything its tuff shit now! the van to shoulder ratio isnt as bad as id have thought so thats good, we've just passed swindon so as you can imagine not much has happened, so far we've only had to emergency air the van once (phil dealt it we all smelt it!), oooo we just passed two tanks too! riveted as im sure you are ill wait till something good happens b4 i carry on, i only wrote this cause im bored in a van!!

well we got on to the ferry fine, Almost got searched which would have been a pain in the ass but when she saw how much crap we were taking she gave up, the ferry is a pretty standard number, not much going on and despite my best efforts niether of the boys were into playing cards at the tables, good job really else id probably have lost a mint (craig you'd have been all over it), its about 2am and as i type im sat in my sleeping bag in the high class seating area, shhh snuck in what can they do! so im off to sleep now!

6.6.08

Got off the ferry and hit the road

One relentless (juiced) + one super peruvian coffee (Ant brought a kilo, nice one!) avec duo sucre + one jambon et fromage baguette + one almond cake thingy = brekkie, tidy!!

already met a guy from pembs in a petrol station just outside LA Harve, hes surfed up aber a few times, no escape eh, on our way to Shaun and lucy's boar farm now via Le mans, they kindly are letting us stay in their cottage for the night, and they have tinterweb im told so all this will hopefully be posted tonight all being well, maybe even with a few pics!
p.s girls are right, boys smell!!


well after dicking around trying to find the place for a while we found a nice lady who drew us a map to of how to get to Sean and Lucy's place, good job too as Phils memory didn't "all come flooding back" as he'd expected, much to our amusement and complete supprise!!

The place is nearly as stunning as the hospitality, really nice people! the farm is beautiful, we got to help out with the pig feeding (loved it), the 3/4 week old piglets were too sweet for words (perfect baguette size as Ant noted), they have loads of pigs (gloustershire old spot, landrace and saddle back (guys correct me if that isnt right) sheep, an old thoroughbred stalion who was born in Poland, raced in Italy and retired in France! he's a super cool dude! 5 mares, 2 goats, 2 chickens, a litter of kittens (that phil discovered whilst having a pee country style), two dogs (super sweet) finley and rex(??),
Those who know me will know i bloody loved all of em. heres a few.

In between looking after all of them Sean and Lucy have been busy making a small tribe of very cool little people, Patrick, Rosie, Gretta and the newest edition Shannon whos one!, we got to meet Lucy's ma and da, Wendy and Edward, had an amazing dinner of lemon chicken with ginger and garlic, wild rice, cheese and bread all finished off with strawberry and mango pavlova with creme fresh (cheers ladies it was a beaut) drank lots of very nice wine! and put the world to rights till the wee hours of the morning, after a good (all be it too breif) nights kip, after brekkie of super snags and bread and a wonder round the animals we were ready to hit the road, but not before we were loaded up with enough pork products to fuel a small army (cant thank you enough guys, a big cheers from Team Short Way Down)

(balls i forgot to aks if i could upload this on their web, will hunt for wireless today)
sat in the van now writing this on the way to la massana, ANDORRA WOOOHOOO!
got to find cheep veg oil first for the cruz bus to drink on the way (shes running a treat by the way no hiccups so far at 660 miles since leaving aber) so we are on the hunt for a carrefore.

THE CARREFOUR DIARIES

Who would have thought the hunt for a carrefour would be so entertaining! we decided to use our dedicated shat nav (that we call garmon) to take us to carrefour, after logging on and finding the address on google maps (its bound to be the top one eh, its a boody big store) we traipse across Lemoinge in the cruz bus and round all the tiny back streets blindly following every little instruction garmon shouted at us, yay we found carrefour! great! only it wasn't great cause what it found was a tiny little bar in the city center called le carrefoure! bugger!!!!

Not quite the hypermarche we were looking for!!!

luckily after a more thorough check we found the real one less than 3 miles away!
only it wast lucky because we discovered that in France bloody veg oil is more expensive than diesel, great! so with about two hours or more wasted on this mini adventure we decide to head off, on a plus note though Phil and Ant took up the supermarche travelator challenge and became gladiators for the briefest of moments running the wrong way up an escalator without steps, result!! worth it in the end.
Next mission was find some toilets, we manage to find some on the A20, off Ant trots to have a piss finds the trough and gets involved, "aaahhhhh" its not till he see'e the lady walk past and do a double take that he thinks to himself "mmm maybe this isnt the urinal and notices the flush buttons are infact taps" oh dear he just pissed in the uni sex SINK!!!!!! with a very disgusted french women and a very very amused Team short Way Down we hit the road, still giggling as we drive, absolute classic!!!! (in his defense it was a long trough)


900.4 MILES FROM MORRISONS

The snow capped Pyrenees loomed into view, oh shit!!!! we might get broken, the chatter in the van even stopped for a while, I think its pretty real now, they are massive, im not sure how big the ones we are looking at are but its supprising how much snow there is on the ones in the distance, metallica orion full blast and can of relentless on the go, the old heat rate is up just a tad.
(dont worry mum, im just bigging it up honest!!!!!)

we got here we made camp i found wireless, too tired to blog now it took me ages to put these on, will update tomorrow hopefully

having a grand beir and a game of pool

CAMBRIAN NEWS FEATURE

(as always if you want to start at the beginning of our trip go to the bottom of the page and work up)
Check out our cheesy grins here....

(click here for larger image)

Plus a big thanks to Stormriders for the tees, they look a treat!!

OH NO ITS OFFICIAL!

Browsing the Maxi website today over a curry i noticed this.... 

(click HERE to make it big)

Damn it my secret hopes that somehow there had been a mistake and we weren't in the race have been smashed!! oh dear, on a plus note though we seem to have two more Welsh boys heading over there, plus an English bloke too, you can see one of the Welshies in the bottom of Ants form, so good luck to the One planet adventure boys! 

ITS REALLY REAL! 

And So It Begins!

FIRST OF ALL TEAM SHORT WAY DOWN WOULD LIKE TO SAY A BIG BIG BIG THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE SPONSORED AND HELPED US ALONG THE WAY

Team Short Way Down was created when Phil "the hands" Read decided to take part in the epic downhill bike race the Maxi Avalanche, He was gonna do it last year but took a pretty bad spill just before and was laid up for a bit and had to walk like frankenstein for a while, back to full health and ready to rip he's decided to do it again, only this time he's found two other mad gits to do it with him in the form of Ric and Ant!

LET THE MAYHEM COMMENCE!!

With tour tashes brewing (see link) and 3 days to go and all is sorted, race entry, ferry, insurance just one thing left to work out, the van to shoulder width equation, so i reckon its gonna go something like this! 

                              us         ('''''''''''''''''''''''''''')(''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''')(''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''')

                               +

                            van               [''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''']

                                                                        = bugger!!!

(id like to point out in its defence, that phil has a big van but we are pretty wide boys)

could be interesting, so google maps reckons 1,063 miles about 18hrs each way thats a whole load of veg oil!! (the vans on 100% now and running a treat)

The journey will be broken up though so all is not lost, 6hrs down to Portsmouth, then a ferry to La Harve (9 hrs) then down to Limoges to stay at a boar farm as far as I can tell, the generous people there are letting us stay in their cottage on the way down, then its off to La Massana to find a place to stay, get a lift pass and start training in the bike park and on the mountain, this of course is if we can stop Ant making us take some mad detours to pick up rare cheeses and wines and other mad food stuffs along the way.