This is a test. If i can moblog again then i shall post from the Bogle.

It’s nearly Bogle time. I did say I’d be cycling it this year but, well, I’m not. I’ve done no training at all. Even then I could get on my bike and do two loops of the route with ease. The thing is, I want to do four loops, so I’d feel like a failure. So this year I’m helping again, driving a silver bus and taking poor aching walkers home.

Clare is doing it, however. You can sponsor her, give me a little while and you’ll even be able to do it by PayPal.

Technorati tag: Bogle

My average speed when I did the Bogle in 2002 was higher than this year’s. I was in better shape that time, cycling to work most days, and the course was different. On the other hand it was pissing down the whole time. If the weather this weekend had been even half as bad as in 2002- hell, if it had rained at all- I don’t think I’d have completed the first loop let alone all three.

I say it every year, but I should get in training for next year’s Bogle so I can do it quicker and maybe even get in a fourth time around. (And persuade the organisers not to send me along Oldham Road. Eternity cycling along Oldham Road was becoming my definition of hell.)

Spinneyhead is back. There was a little downtime whilst Tim had to defraggle his server.

I only set out to do one loop of the Bogle Roll. But at the end of that first circuit I was so hyped I went around again. I told everyone I met that this was it, I was dropping out when I got back to the start. Then the ladies on the Finish desk talked me into doing another.

Vital Statistics:

Miles- 83.87 (I had to cycle home from the finish.)

Average Rolling speed- 11.5 mph (actual average speed, what with stopping to say hi at every checkpoint and rest breaks, will be much lower. I set off at 8am and got back to the house at about 6pm, work it out for yourself.)

Of course, now I expect you all to start giving me sponsor money. Use that little PayPal button at the top of the sidebar.

It’s the Bogle this weekend. I’m taking part in the Roll, hopefully 78 miles (three circuits of the top part of the route) on my bike. More about Bogle here. I’m taking sponsorhsip through PayPal, check out the button at the top of the left hand column.

29.38 miles, covered at an average rolling speed of 11.7 miles per hour. Actual average speed was much lower, thanks to stopping at every major junction to check I was going the right way and a few picture opportunities (1, 2, 3). Only two mistakes on the route notes, but if I hadn’t looked around at the right moment I’d still be cycling through Cheshire checking out every road on the right going “Where the hell has Acre Road gone?!”

I need to do at least one long ride every week in the build up to Bogle. Rides like today’s prove that I can get on th ebike after a few weeks of inactivity and do nearly thirty miles without too much pain, I just need to build up some stamina. (In fact, the first mile and a half is always the hardest. The ulcer lives up to its nickname of Little Bastard. It’s a bit like those gremlins in the adult education ads, lieing there going “Exercise isn’t for the likes of us! We want to sit at the computer and get DVT! Stop! If you don’t stop I’m going to make you want to throw up! See how you like that!” The nausea had passed before I got to Fallowfield, so I just churned on my way.)

Very soon I’m going to start asking you to sponsor me.

I’m off to get changed and drink a load of water then I’m going to try out the Bogle Southern Loop.

I may be some time.

I was going to do a training ride for Bogle, but it’s pissing down, so it’s time for writing and cartooning instead.

I got home at half past six yesterday morning and slept for about twelve hours, woke up just long enough to watch A Knight’s Tale (fun and very, very silly) and then slept for another nine or ten hours.

I can’t find anything on the BBC about a shooting on Friday night (I guess they’re just too common nowadays), but the peace march got a mention.

I still feel very, very rough, and I’ve still got databasing to be done.

No-one beat me up, but then, they didn’t have to. All the hacking coughs as I tried to exhale my lungs were quite painful enough, thank you. I just spent five hours on checkpoint three, sleeping in the driver’s seat with my head on the steering wheel.

I’m going home to sleep until Sunday.

And away. I’m off to checkpoint three in Victor Two. Hopefully not to get beaten up.

One thing about being stuck here in the control centre, is that you get to hear all the gossip and the latest panics. We’re currently reeling from the news that people on checkpoint one have been beaten up. An ambulance was called, and the rest of them have set off for CP 2 to get away from it.

Well, I’m still sat here, doing nowt. They don’t want me to go driving, I’m most miffed. Meanwhile, there’s been a shooting in Fallowfield and Wilmslow Road is closed off. We think that most of the walkers had got through before the cordon was thrown up (and we don’t think any of the walkers were involved, though you never know.) And tomorrow there’s an anti war march, along a stretch of the road the walk goes along. We could take pictures of that and claim it was Bogle, but I doubt anyone would believe us.

Tim has just shown me many embarrassing pictures from Beer Fest (including a couple where, for no good reason, I have my belt undone.) Prepare for a caption competition on oldhacks.co.uk.

And they’re off! 50 walkers just left the Students’ Association. Of course, this means there are almost as many marshalls and drivers as participants, which can’t be a good thing.

I have arrived at Bogle central, and it is a hive of inactivity. Nothing happens until after 7 o’clock anyway.

Well, it�s raining, which is never a good thing for Bogle. Fine weather would mean a few last minute entries, people who�ve been umming and ahhing about it for a while and don�t realise the horrendous toll 55 miles will have on untrained feet. But rain can mean that even some of the people who�ve paid their entry fees will decide not to bother. It�s also no fun for the people who have to man the checkpoints. They get all the disadvantages the walkers have- cold, wet, awake at a really stupid time of day- without the advantage of being able to move and generate a little body heat.

Which is why, as ever, I�m driving.

It could be worse. I remember one year there was a foot of snow on the ground.