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  Update 14th June 2010
Hello
 
As I send this it is the end of day 5 and everyone is tired and has gone to bead early following 2 really tough days.
 
In this update is some information on our journey to date, thanks for your interest and continued support.
 
Alan
 
Alan Sadler
JGGM Fundraising
Pride becomes before a fall
Team
So the Rome 2 Home ride has begun. Though only six kilometres from the hotel, the trip to take the riders down to the Coliseum took nearly an hour. Unless you have been to Rome you cannot imagine the traffic. The rules are simple - there are no rules. With a weather eye on safety and because a start from the hotel represented the same distance on the day, the Coliseum start was photographed and filmed and the riders immediately reloaded the RV to start from the marginally safer road outside hotel.

You may recall that I reported the loss of two mobile phones and speculated whether this might be a theme of the ride. Well today it was my turn to lose my bag with not one but two phones. Oh and my camcorder and camera. Did I mention my passport and driving licence were in there too? Basically, my whole life in a camera bag. On taking team two out to their start point nearly sixty miles from the hotel, we agreed to use a toll road to save a little time on reaching Marina Vilca, the start point. Now because the vehicle is right-hand drive and the toll booths are on the left, I had to drop the euros in a small slot in the machine. Not being able to reach, I opened the door a crack which was how over a grands worth of cameras and phones came to end up lying in the middle of the autostrada!

HillsAfter about twenty minutes of driving I became aware that my bag was missing and I instantly knew where it had been lost. Not being much of a church goer, I put my faith in my team mates - specifically team one who at that point were about two miles from the toll road, a highway cyclists may not use. Nevertheless, dodging HGV's and Fiat 500's they headed for the toll booth where, sure enough, my bag had been spotted and handed in to security. Would that have happened on the M6 Toll - my arse! Upon hearing the news via Gary Richards (Remember my phone was thirty miles back), I confess I felt obliged to utter a prayer of thanks.
 
At this point, I also spotted Mike Derham's rosary hanging from the rear view mirror. The Lord may move in mysterious ways but on day one he was looking out for yours truly and maybe teaching me a lesson about pride given my offhand comments about Mark Sheldon and Andrew Glover losing their phones.

ASFWith the D*ck of the Day in the bag, I set out to keep as low a profile as possible and when reunited with the contents of my life at the Hotel in Grosetto, I was suitably appreciative in the knowledge that the bright pink DOD shirt and accompanying garden gnome on a rope (Doddy) would grace my shoulders that night. The surprise arrival of the Glazine's Tony Higgin and his wife Linda from their place in Northern Italy lifted my spirits only for me to realize that not only was I guaranteed D*ck of the Day, there was a bloody journalist from the UK to witness it.
 
As the two RV's pulled out of the Hotel, with everyone ready for a festive night at my expense, I was minded to offer driver, Gary Morton the option of me assisting him in negotiating the narrow bridge off the site. Spotting my pathetic effort to ingratiate myself, he dismissed my assistance with a curt "Need your help? I'm a class one HGV driver you know!"

ASFThe following bang as Morty tore off the rear bumper and virtually destroyed a wall was obvious to everyone on the motorhome, except him. "Something must have fallen over in the back" said he. A quick inspection revealed that the damage was pretty severe. My immediate reaction was to think the curse of the lost RV was about to return but the team pulled together and copious amounts of gaffer tape later, the rear bumper was back on.
 
In all the commotion it took Alan Sadler to remind me that I had probably escaped D*ck of the Day by the skin of my teeth. Not for the first time today, this agnostic gave a little prayer of thanks. We took dinner in a fabulous open air restaurant and in the end I missed DOD by eight votes. Gary was magnanimous, after all he always wins DOD on the first day but at least this time he earned it!
 
 
Five fascinating facts about the second 24 hours of R2H.
1.     Team two started their stint seven miles farther from the hotel than they should and only spent two miles on the route Iain McInnes spent 100 hours preparing, driving largely on the Autostrada where cycling is forbidden.
2.     News of Brocko's bag being recovered arrived before the second toll plaza but in broken English the attendant explained to us that we had lost cameras and documents thirty miles back. The offer of a reward was declined. He was happy enough to know Brocko got his bag back - Imagine that happening on the tube.
3.     Team one had a slap up lunch by the seaside courtesy of Dave Thomas, RV Driver extraordinaire. Team two found a pork roll stand in the middle of nowhere for lunch. Morale - always choose an ex-rider for your RV driver.
4.     Some team members who did not know how to flush the RV loo just didn't bother and in nearly 30 degrees of heat that can be nasty so number ones must be flushed every time and number two's are banned.
5.     Genoa sounds great in Shakespeare's texts but it is the dirtiest, most violent, doghole I have ever seen. Cruise ships attract hookers and thieves like flies to...er sugar?
 
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"Doddy" is not a diddy man
Doddy 
Those familiar with previous GM Fundraising charity cycle rides will know about "D*ck of the Day". For those unfamiliar with DOD, every night the team hold a vote to select the person who in their view has messed up most that day or in my case sometimes the previous day.
 
Because the nominations are read out aloud by Alan Sadler, self appointed DOD Chairman and founder of ASF (Like a dark version of GMF), it serves as a device to allow people to let off steam anonymously. In that respect it has the effect of nipping potential problems in the bud. For example, if someone is not pulling their weight, often unknowingly, a DOD vote can get the message across without confrontation.

Throughout the night the DOD has to wear a special shirt (A bright pink T-shirt bearing DOD in huge black letters - think Wham in the Eighties) which is handed over the following evening to the next recipient. This year the DOD has also to carry around a totem of sorts in the shape of a garden gnome on a swing. "Doddy" as he is known, must not leave their side until after midnight and he must be safely handed over each day to ASF. Doddy can be seen going to the bar, accompanying DOD's to the loo and even sharing a meal.
 
He serves as a reminder that DOD, like the ride itself, is a bit of fun with a serious message.
 
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R2H Fashion
Red Shoes
The idea that seventeen different people of varying size, ability and background should come together as a unit, on the face of it may seem strange. That they should all wear the same lycra cycling gear is a fashion challenge even Gok Wan would decline. Remember too that most of the riders are successful businessmen used to expressing their personalities with flash cars and fancy watches. For them, being part of the herd is an anathema.

So how do you make a statement if all you have is the same gear as everyone else? Cycle fashion is how. It may be a jaunty bandana or in the case of Richard Gyde, shiny red shoes to match his shiny red bike. Each rider has accessorized his kit or bike in a bid to maintain a frisson of individuality, even if that means, in Tricky's case, looking like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.
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Cycling challenge ???
End of day 
Day four dawned early in Aix-en-Provence and breakfast was quieter than usual with thoughts turning to the huge task of climbing Mont Ventoux in the afternoon.
 
Despite Graeme Bailey's excellent, warts and all "Ride 4 Hope" book (Limited stock still available here .......
 
There is a misconception abroad, that on these charity rides everyone has a high old time and every night is a party. Nothing could be further from the truth.
 
On day three, we arrived in the city centre of Genoa at about 8.15 pm with nowhere to park and no restaurant in the hotel. We ended up having warm bottled beer and takeaway pizza. Next morning the alarm went off at 6 am and teams one and two arrived in Aix-en-Provence that evening at 10.30.
 
Despite this and because of the importance of getting our ducks in a row for Mont Ventoux, the whole team attended a meeting to discuss the climb at - wait for it - quarter past midnight. Nobody is pretending that there is not an element of fun in riding from Rome to Hope House but for sure it is a serious challenge that nobody on the team takes lightly.
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Meet the Team
Team

Glover's Groans

Glover

I did the ride across America 18 months ago with the GM team and it was the first time I had ever taken part in a proper, well organised charity event.  I didn't really know what to expect from it, I hadn't really done much cycling (in fact, I didn't really know how to cycle!), I had never been away a group of men that I didn't really know and I hadn't spent such a long time away from my wife and children before.
 
I remember feeling a bit lost on the first few days of the ride, not sure what to make of some of the people, wondering if they would let me in to there already well formed clan, but my worries and feeling were unfounded.  Everyone was great and we had an excellent adventure.
 
On the way back from America, plans had already been started on the next ride, this ride, Rome 2 Home.  Morty had already started to work his magic on the team, trying to convince them to join him on what promised to be another, even better adventure.
 
I don't think I gave in straight away, I am sure I resisted for a while, but I would expect that Gary already knew I would be joining him!!
 
So, that brought me back to the horrible job of raising money for the charity.  I found it very hard to ask people for the money on the Ride 4 Hope, but with my usual Yorkshire cheek, I got on with it and hit the target in no time.
 
For this ride, the target was �2500.  On the face of it, it shouldn't be that hard to get.  You have to bare in mind though, that I work within an industry that is in (possibly at the end) a very bad recession, so getting people to throw money into a charity pot is very difficult.  A couple of months back, I took the decision to just put the money in myself and save all the uncomfortable conversations with my friends and suppliers.
 
Well, after a family holiday a week or so ago, I sat down and thought to myself about the ride and realised that I would be again taking myself away from my home and family, leaving work to my management team and I should really be letting people know about the commitments I have made, in the hope that they might want to contribute a small, much appreciated contribution.  Well, I was surprised by just how willing people have been to donate some of there hard earned cash (thank you everyone that is reading this).
 
So this comes down to the title of these words on paper 'I've got that guilty feeling'.
 
I looked at all the plans, studied the maps and talked to the organisers about what we would be doing.  I kind of thought that this would be easy, a walk in the park, in comparison to the Ride 4 Hope.  I sort of felt guilty about asking people to give me there money for what seemed to be another holiday away with the lads.
 
We arrived in Rome on Wednesday lunch time.  After already drinking 2 pints of lager in the airport we booked ourselves into our rooms and quickly met in the bar to discuss the rest of the day.  A plan was hatched to go out for some lunch to a local restaurant and then have a stroll out to see some of the sights. 
 
The following day, we continued to take in some of the sights that Rome. The rest of the team arrived with the RV's, our kit bags and our bikes, so we all went out to talk about the adventure we where about to start.
 
Day 1 came, we had a early start from the Coliseum and then rode out of Rome across to the coast.  I was in a team of 8 or 9 people, most of them had done the Ride 4 Hope, so I knew them very well.  The riding was easy, the sights were fantastic and the banter was flowing.  We sat on a beach front to have our lunch, all laughing and enjoying the sun.  A great day all in all.
 
I then had to get on to my computer and type my email update for the people that had sponsored me.  I had to tell them about the day and about how tough it had been.  I mean, we had cycled 60 or so miles, it must be tough.
 
Well it wasn't, it was easy, we had all had a great day, in fact, we had had 3 great days.  That is when I started to feel guilty.  Guilty for asking people for money, guilty for asking my family to allow me to take more time away from them and guilty for putting the pressure on my business and management team, again!!
 
I went to bed that night and even though about giving the money back to the people that had kindly donated and going back to plan one of paying myself.
 
We started early on day 2, we looked at the route and it seemed as though we would have another day the same as day one.  Loads of coast road, plenty to see and not too hilly, great.  We set off, my legs felt okay, I generally felt as though  this was going to be another easy day.  How wrong was I!!!  The route turned out to be all away from the coast, some of the roads we had planned to go on turned out to be motorways, so we had to try and navigate our way through with a very limited map.  The traffic was horrendous and we seemed to be invisible to all drivers.  What had started out as an easy day (on paper), turned out to be tough, very tough.
 
The hotel we had been booked into was a dump.  It was right in the middle of town, which took us over an hour to find.  The RV couldn't be parked there over night so had to be parked a couple of miles away and to top the day off, England drew against the USA!!
 
Day 3 came.  We woke up to find that the RV had been broken into, with quite a bit of stuff going missing.  Today, we had to cover 250 miles, so Iain split us up into 4 teams of which I was out last.  This meant a 180 mile drive before I could start.  We finally got there and got off at 2.15.  We knew before we started that we would be hitting some hills, so the best thing to do is fill up with food and peddle away.  We had a small sandwich before we left and planned a late lunch at about 20 miles, followed by another snack at 45 miles.
 
In France, on a Sunday, there are very places open.  We ended up going 45 miles without finding as much as a petrol station to fill up on food and water.  I had completely run out of fuel, my legs felt like dying and my head was in peices.  Not a good day at all.  We got back to the hotel at 8.00pm to find that the rest of the team had had a similar day.
 
I sit here now, after a bad nights sleep and waking up at 5.00am, thinking about our up and coming day, day 4 - the big one.  Today we have to climb Mount Ventoux.  A 16 mile up hill climb which is one of the hardest parts of the Tour De France. My legs are still aching from the last 3 days riding and I know that I am going to find it very hard today.
 
To top it all off, I checked my emails this morning and had had one from my eldest daughter, Ella (9 years old) telling me how much she loves me and how much she is missing me, which makes me more determined to carry on. 
 
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