Bad Karma

There's not too much to report this week, although there have been a few changes to the expedition. We have thought about it, and decided to make some pretty big changes when it comes to the route and the time frame. (This new information can be found on our web page www.quadepic2010.org.uk). We also have a couple of new sponsors, which we are very happy to have supporting our expedition. Also, with these changes it opens up some new dates for possible 4th riders. 
 
Now for a funny/serious story that's slightly off topic but still connected to the trip. It happened on Tuesday 15th December at 5:36 pm. I was sitting down working out the new route and adding a few new dates along the way. I'd been at this now with my head deep in the maps for a few hours. During these hours I’d been receiving a number of phone calls on our land line. These calls were made by a lady with dementia who had the wrong number and thought I was her grandson (totally wasn't my gran). I was really polite to the lady and had a good chat with her, she was super cool to chat with the first few times, but then she kept calling and calling. I won’t lie, I found it slightly funny at first, but then it kind of annoyed me.

However, after the 5th time she called I let it ring and ring, but then thought that was mean so I got up and ran to the phone before she hung up. On running to the phone I ran in to the wooden arm on my chair… it dug deep into my right knee. The pain was out of this world (like stubbing your toe but x10).  I dropped to the ground next to the phone pretty much close to tears as the pain being so intense.  I did answer the phone, but she replied with "sorry i got the wrong number" and hung up. I was still rolling on the ground like a baby half an hour later.  But being a stubborn guy, and not a fan of hospitals, I put the visit to the hospital off until the next day, grabbed a bag of frozen peas and strapped them to my knee.
 
With a bad nights sleep out the way I decided I had to go to the hospital first thing. I grabbed my book "By Any Means" by Charley Boorman and hobbled into the taxi at 7:30 am (haven't seen this time in years). On arrival at the hospital and hobbling into A&E, I was dreading what serious damage I may have done to my knee. I was worried that depending on how serious the injury, it could mean me missing the start of the trip, joining later down the line or even worse the end of QuadEPIC for me. 
 
As usual with England's hospitals, I sat around for hours waiting in discomfort with no pain relief, but must say I like what they have done with the place.  It looks like the tax payers money has gone to good use on the decor (ha). Finally the doctor took me into the cubical, sat me down and examined my knee. She poked, pulled, twisted, made me shed a tear and asked the usual questions. The doctor was convinced that all I have done is heavily bruise the muscle above the knee cap. She said it’s hard to say what's up with it, and I will have to come back in a week’s time. I left with my knee all strapped up, without an x-ray, and still confused on how bad the damage is. Fingers crossed all will be well soon.  The major downside to this is that I was just getting into my training at the gym and know that's going to be set back for a week or two all depending.
 
I wonder if I got bad karma from the old lady......
 
 
To be continued.... 
 

York test ride footage is finally online!

There hasn't been much happening with the bike this week, but we did make The Grimsby Telegraph on Wednesday 25th November. With that article in the paper it gave us a huge number of hits on our web page and new group members. We have also released a number of videos on the web page this week from our second test ride that took place this time in Grimsby on 22nd November. 

http://www.quadepic2010.org.uk/news.html

I recently went over to Hull and picked the video footage from our very first test ride that took place on the 6th November near York. There are now two new videos on our website.  The first video is an interview that took place last month with a good friend called George from "The Three Blind Mice".  The second video is of the test ride, a few days later.  Check them out here.

I never got chance to take the bike out over the weekend sadly, but I have been making a few slight changes, mainly to do with the way the cranks and chains are set up. I've swapped around the cranks and pedals to a normal style bike set up. This way I'm saving on weight, as we have lost a few cranks and a large number of chain links.  Hopefully she will operate more smoothly.  I'm toying with a number of ideas on how I can also make the steering and front axles more efficient and stronger when the bike is in motion.

 We also have some new riders for the 4th seat. Amanda, Melanie and Katelyn I personally know from my travels over the last 3 years. Joel is a friend of Neil's back in Canada and Brittany is a friend of Amanda's, the pair met each other on their travels in Mexico. I've been blown away with the amount of interest QuadEPIC is getting from potential riders for the 4th seat, for some reason I was not expecting this amount of interest. We still have many places left that need filling, so if you're reading this and feel the need for a challenge, adventure and possible life changing experience with crazy cats like myself, Dan, and Neil, please contact us at enquiries@quadepic2010.org.uk

A few updates in one

Wednesday 18th November

The much needed front derailleur's arrived at Woods Cycle Shop in Cleethorpes. Now I can finally finish off the gearing system. This is the third set of derailleur's I've bought and thankfully these will be the last due to them being the correct ones. I did have to make up my own bracket to fix the derailleur's too, from scrap metal I had left from the main frame. It took me about 3-4 hours to make the bracket and line up the derailleur, the second only took 1 hour 30 minutes to make the following day. With them finally sorted the next test ride will be a lot smoother and easier on the legs.

Sunday 22nd November

This was the day of the second test ride. This time with much needed improvements from the first test ride, and a wider range of gears to choose from unlike last time. I managed to get two good friends from Grimsby to help me out and pedal with me. Lee who was up early and round with out any hassle and Paul who was nursing a hangover and a bad back after walking in to a sign while slightly intoxicated on the night before.

While waiting for Paul to arrive (time unknown) Lee and I made some last minute adjustments and the two of us set off on the bike to Waltham, the next village to were I live. With only the two of us pedalling it was hard work with a nasty headwind, but we pushed on up the hill and down the next. We decided that with bad winds and rain on the way, we best go back home and wait for Paul to arrive. This was mainly due to me feeling rather sick and a little tired from the pedalling (note to self join a gym). Lee is super fit compared to me and the bike does need 3 or 4 people to get the best out of it.

Paul turned up on his bike looking rather sorry for himself. We only rode a 3 mile loop up to my old school, Waltham Road, Toll Bar, then down Louth Road and back home. We didn't get one bad vibe from cars passing by as we cycled down the road, or from people on the foot path as we passed them. There were even a few times when passing people would shout out asking for a lift. A 2 minute video and photo's will be on our web page soon from this test ride.

Monday 23rd November

Today was our first interview with the media. My local paper 'The Grimsby Telegraph' came round to interview me and take photos of the bike. I wont lie, I was rather nervous as I've never done anything like this before. The reporter was asking question after question and I was answering as well as possibly could.

At one point when the reporter asked about who the other two people were and where they are from, I started to stutter and I totally forgot what Neil's last name is! Thankfully I had my trusty laptop next to me to save the day opened on the riders page of our web page.

Once the reporter was finished with me, I went outside with the papers photographer to take a few pictures of me next to the bike (with my lucky hat on). I'm hoping they do a good job and that I didn't come across as a crazed nut. As soon as it's in the paper I will get a link/ copy posted on our web page.

Test ride photos

Here are a couple of photos of Paul and some friends on a recent test ride.

Troubleshooting

On the Saturday the day after our first test ride, I had the bike stripped down and started drilling new holes for the realignment of the crank sets.  I worked out a new way to tighten up the chain, by using some the left over aluminium channel and making 1" slits in the frame.  When the rear bottom brackets are in place, they can be moved back and forth slightly and will tighten the chain to stop it slipping off.

Today I have placed an order for more aluminium to fix the problem with the seats.  Later on I will be going to BnQ to get more nuts and bolts to fix the steering.  I'm happy that I found all these faults on Friday's test drive, it's given me something to do over the next week.  I'm hoping I will have her up and running again for next weekend, and might even start on the canopy and roof frame.  Also, I must put in an order for the front derailleurs so the second test run has full gear range.

Will keep you posted on how things are going throughout the week, and also new pictures will be uploaded of the changes.

Its ALIVE!!!

This blog is the story of QuadEPIC’s first ever test ride! I hope you enjoy....

On Friday, 6th November 2009, the bike took off on its first ever trial run. Before this day I had only taken it 20ft down my driveway, with just myself riding her.

At about 11:15am this morning, my friend George arrived with the help of his friend Ash Corner. Someone, who I will not name, let me down, big time. This ‘so called friend’ was supposed to take me to York, to meet up with George and the ‘3 Blind mice’ crew on Thursday night. This 'friend' left me stranded at the last minute, so sadly I couldn't make it. Thankfully on Friday morning, Ash came to save the day with his white van and a hired trailer.

We got the trailer loaded up and the bike strapped down, and were on the road to York at 11:30. During the drive to our starting point, I had the most random feelings throughout my body: pride, nervousness, and that sick feeling you get when you go pick up that girl you met out one night for the first ever date. I had so many people relying on me to make this work right… I was super scared and didn’t want to let them or myself down.

We arrived with enough time to spare, and had a chance to test her out at a fire station car park. I won’t lie, there were a few problems to start with, but we sorted them out.

Helmets were on and cameras were rolling… we were off! Cars passing by, along with people walking, took a huge interest in what they were seeing! Cars were beeping their horns… having them wave us on was such a great feeling. It felt so good that people I have never met were taking so much interest in what I had built.

We got an hour out of town and then the chain popped off once again on the right rear! We pulled over and re-attached the chain.

Once again we were back on the road, and things were going great. We were getting some good speed, even though on one side we had 6 gears and the other only 4. The fronnt derailleurs haven't yet been installed. Suddenly, George told me to have a look behind us. I did and couldn’t stop laughing. There were about 25-30 cars waiting to get by (haha)! We pulled over and were waiting for the nasty hand gestures, but in our amazement people were laughing, waving, beeping and offering words of encouragement.

Eventually, we arrived in Hull and did a kind of victory lap in Hull city centre before returning home to Grimsby. I’ve learnt a lot from the first ever test ride, and I have more experience as to noticing problems before they occur.

The video of this day is coming soon, so stay tuned. I can wait to share it with you.

The bike is almost complete

So the bike is coming on nicely.  I still have a few things left to do, like putting on the tyres, brakes, gear cables and chains. The bike needs a few parts fabricated to hold the wheels and brakes in place. The hydraulic brake pipes need special T's engineered and fingers crossed they are done by Monday when the pipe arrives. 

  

Hopefully it will be complete by Wednesday 4th November, because on the 5th November my friend George would like to use it on his bike trip from York to Hull. George also popped around and interviewed me on camera for his trip "The Three Blind Mice".

If you go to our website: www.quadepic2010.org.uk you can find up to date pictures. Also our Facebook group has had a huge amount of new members joining. Feel free to pass on the word and help us grow in to something amazing.

Its been a while... but....

So its been a while since my last blog but I've been very busy with the building of the bike, and planning the route (which is finally complete).

The bike frame is now all welded up and painted black, as for the seats we're just waiting on 2 to be welded up and also the vinyl seat covers to be made. Fingers crossed that will be done by the end this week. Then the credit card will be out again buying the crankset, chains and gear system.

Last Thursday I was down in London at the bike show at Earls Court. Which turned out to be very helpful, i got a few numbers from a few companies and also met another guy who is cycling around the world next year by himself.  Have a look at Kevin's site by clicking here

The Final Route

The route is now complete!

The final route can be found here

The Start of Something Great.

So today's been fun,  the Aluminum and steel has finally arrived. So now over the weekend I will be slowly figuring out what goes where and bending the pipe to start forming the seats.

My plan is to get the most of it cut ready for next week so i can get it welded together.

Also a good friend of mine Dan from Austarlia has been putting together proposals for when I go to the bike show on the 8th October in London.  Dan will also be joining me on the trip so Im super excited about that as well.

Stickers anyone?

So today has seen the arrival of the bearings needed to move the rear wheels and also the WWF fundraising pack with lots and lots of stickers. Now im just waiting for the much needed aluminum and steel to arrive so we can start building this bike.

Day by Day.

Here's a day by day route of the first 9 weeks of our trip. Sadly I forgot to buy a map for Greece. So until tomorrow when I can get round to getting one from the shop I'm at a stand still.
Grimsby - Hull, then via ferry to:


Day 1- Rotterdam,            Neitherlands
Day 2- Tholen, 50km.
Day 3- Antwerpen, 50km.        Belguim
Day 4- Brussels, 50km.
Day 5- Brussels (day off)
Day 6- Namur, 50km.
Day 7- Champlon, 65km.
Day 8- Etleldruck, 65km.          Luxemburg
Day 9- Luxemburg City, 30km.
Day 10- Luxemburg City (day off).
Day 11- Sierck-les-bains, 35km.      France
Day 12- Brettriach, 40km.
Day 13- Francaltroff, 45km.
Day 14- Saverbe, 50km.
Day 15- Strasburg, 45km.
Day 16- Strasburg (day off).
Day 17- Freiburg, 80km.              Germany
Day 18- Schiuchsee, 50km.
Day 19- Zurich, 60km.         Switzerland
Day 20- Zurich (day off)
Day 21- Schuyz, 40km.
Day 22- Wattingen, 40km.
Day 23- Airolo, 30km.
Day 24- Biasca, 45km.
Day 25- Locarro, 45km.
Day 26- Chiasso/ Como, 50km.
Day 27- Milano, 60km.          Italy
Day 28- Milano (day off)
Day 29- Crema, 40km.
Day 30- Cicognolo, 50km.
Day 31- Mantova, 50km.
Day 32- Saletto, 65km.
Day 33- Sottomarina, 65km.
Day 34- Sottomarina (day off)
Day 35- Venezia, 30km.
Day 36- Venezia (day off)
Day 37- Eraciea, 30km.
Day 38- Ceruignano, 65km.
Day 39- Trieste, 50km.
Day 40-Sapjane, 50km.        Croatia
Day 41- Crikvenica, 50km.
Day 42- Strinica, 65km.
Day 43- Starigrad, 65km
Day 44- Zadar,40km.
Day 45- Zadar (day off)
Day 46- Vodice, 60km.
Day 47- Seget Donj, 60km.
Day 48- Mimice, 60km.
Day 49- Ploce, 70km.
Day 50- Dubruvnik, 80km.
Day 51- Dubruvnik (day off)
Day 52- Kamnari, 65km.
Day 53- Budva, 65km.
Day 54- Vladimir, 60km.
Day 55- Milot, 70km.          Albania
Day 56- Tirane, 55km.
Day 57- Librazhd, 75km.
Day 58- Pogradec, 60km.
Day 59- Pogradec (day off)
Day 60- Bilisht, 65km.
Day 61- Sitaria, 65km.        Greece
Day 62- Edessa, 70km.
Day 63- N. Halkidona, 60km.

Sponsorship, Charities and Maps

So for the last few days Ive had my head in the maps again, planning the journey. It's going pretty well but It's a very slow process picking out the correct roads, which I'm sure will all change once we get going.

Also today I've been emailing a few companys trying to get support from them to sponsor parts for the building of the bike. I've been drawing up plans all week on how the bike will fit together and after a few beers down the pub on Saturday with Carl, Ian and Craig we pretty much got it figured out. Now its just a case of getting the Aluminium for the frame and the bike parts ordered so we can start putting it together.

And for Charities I've gone for WWF. I'm just waiting to get the packages in the post so I can figure out how this all work to donate the money...

Well its back to the maps.

So I've been back in England 4 days now and I'm not going to lie its been slightly depressing. Over 3 years of travelling are now at an end, with no adventures or wild nights in the bars with fellow backpackers. I've been going slighty crazy sat around doing nothing.

So me and Jack the dog got the maps out and have been planning the route from Rottordam all the way to Triesse in Italy. Now thank god my crazyness has gone away (for the time being). I've got day to day targets worked out and a few nice stop overs lined up in Antwerpen, Brussels, Luxemburg, Zurich, Milano, Sottomarina and Venezia. Tomorrow I'm going to try and find people to help me start build the bike.

Travel Photos

Here are just a few of my recent adventure pictures.

Similar concept

Hopefully this will give you an idea of what the bike is like (this is not the one). I'm trying to build my own which will be built more for the trips needs. But it gives you a slight idea.