A blog from Dan

Probably about time I said something.. :)

My preparations for the epic have been coming along nicely, I've purchased my flights to the UK, and will be arriving early April. Neil is currently climbing mountains in Morocco (half his luck), and will join both myself and Paul in the UK around the same time.

I've been increasing my training recently, and am currently cycling around 150km per week. This is on a mountain bike as well, not a road bike/racer, which makes it a little more difficult. Close to where I live, on the Northern side of Brisbane, are a network of excellent cycle tracks. They travel through various areas, and have the advantage of being out of the way of roads and traffic.

I've put together a quick video of a couple of rides I took a few weeks ago. The link to this is below, and it can also be viewed on our website. Both were (stupidly on my part) completed in the middle of the day. It's mid-summer here in Brisbane, and both days were well above 30degrees C, with horrible humidity. Not exactly ideal cycling conditions :)

Since this summer has been extremely hot, I haven't done a lot of climbing. However, last weekend I decided to dust off my climbing gear, and set out for an adventure at a local cliff. It was a great day out, highlighted by a disgusting bush bash, a vicious attack by wasps, severe heat exhaustion & a calf muscle tear! Excellent views though :)

More from me when there is more to tell,

Dan.

My first week of training is out the way and only 9 more weeks left to get up to a reasonable fitness level. I have a good feeling I will be on target so I can comfortably cycle 40 miles per day. It's not been as hard as I first thought it was going to be. I've managed a number of 6-12 mile bike rides a couple of times a day, also one 32 mile and one 30 mile in under 2 hrs 30 minutes. The most interesting ride for me was on Friday 22nd at night. It was raining hard, extremely foggy and with some harsh head on winds. These were some the worst conditions I've had to cycle in since I lived in Perth, Australia. It took me a while to build up momentum and motivation to tackle these conditions, plus I was holding a stomach full of spaghetti bolognese.

 I've zipped my rain jacket all the way to the top, closed all the vents on the jacket arms, tucked my right trousers leg in to my sock, picked up the garage key and exited the house into the harsh conditions. I turned the lights on (even though they had very little effect in the fog) and cycled away. Even before I got a mile into the ride I was soaked, but it felt so good being alone in the Lincolnshire countryside with noone around at this late hour on the road. Also with only 10 ft visibility there was often the surprise of a couple of bushy tailed foxes running out in front of me. This loneliness and isolation from other people made me realise a new love for cycling, it was nice to escape and almost feel at one with nature again, with the only noise being my gears changing and rain drops landing on my helmet. This was a feeling I've not felt since living in Canada.

At the 7 mile mark the weather lifted, and both the rain and fog where gone. The last 3 miles flew by extremely quick as I pushed on down what was now a noisy busy road with cars zooming past at unsettling speeds. I returned back to the civilisation of Scartho Village, and did the final stretch of the loop back to the warmth and dryness of my home. The 10 mile loop only took me 30 minutes to complete, which I was extremely happy with considering I've only been training for a week.

So with that little story out the way we also welcome someone new to the QuadEPIC family this week. Varun is from New Delhi, India. You can read more about Varun by visiting our web site:  http://www.quadepic2010.org.uk/riders.html. Varun will be riding along side us on a mountain bike and will be rotating with the riders on the quadbike throughout the 3 month period. 

Epic Training

Training has started once again.

I'm finally fit again after over a month off from doing any kind of exercise, no more knee or back pains. Also, the weather has been getting better after our stint of 'heavy' snow fall covering most of England. So this meant I put down the bicycle and picked up my snowboard, heading to the hills 10 minutes drive from where I live to make a few jumps and rails from fallen trees. 


Dan was slightly worried I would hurt my self doing this due to my past record. This time I've opted not to join a gym and will instead be doing lots of cycling, lifting weights, press ups and push ups plus the odd bit of skipping (but only in the cover of darkness). I've been trying to aim for two bike rides per day, both about 6 miles long for now and will move up that distance every week so by the time comes, I will be able to cycle about 40-50 miles per day, when we leave on the 1st May. Keep an eye out on the web site for some of our training video footage, coming soon.

We also welcome another Canadian to the QuadEPIC Family, Christine. Both myself and Dan met Christine in Banff 2006 at the Samesun Backpacker Hostel. She will be flying over to Paris and then a few days later will be meeting us in Strasburg on the 17th May. As we already have full seats on the Quad-bike at this stage we will be finding a bicycle for her to ride once we are in Strasburg. Christine was originally going to join us in Milano, replacing Melanie on the Quad-bike for the Milano to Venezia stage, but due to myself and Dan talking to Christine on Skype and Facebook, she decided to join the trip sooner.

We would like to encourage anyone to join us on their bike at any point along the trip. We will also even let you swap with one of us so you can enjoy a stint on the Quad-bike.

Dan has purchased his ticket to England and will arrive on the 6th April. This will leave the two of us 3 weeks to tidy up any lose ends on the bike and organise all the equipment. Neil is due to arrive the last week of April after his time in Spain. I'll admit, it's starting to get exciting and it's feeling more real.

The last few weeks have been rather slow due to the festive period and also hurting my knee, so not much really happened with the promoting of QuadEPIC.  Now with all the festive shenanigans out the way, Dan, Neil and myself have regrouped for the start of 2010.  Neil is now over here somewhere in Europe travelling after leaving Canada at Christmas. He's been hopping all over the place from Iceland to France, and I'm sure he's in Spain now.... Dan has been busy with legal side of things and updating the web page..

As for my health, my knee has got much better (the crazy old lady is still calling though).... but i have a new problem.  I managed to put my lower back out the day before New Years.  I was up in Edinburgh drinking with Doug, a friend from my travelling days in Australia.  Doug cracked some kind of joke that made me giggle, that giggle turned into louder laughing, which then turned into a frown and a stabbing pain in my lower back.  I cant even remember what Doug said so sadly I cant share it with you.  I've spent the last few days in bed resting my back.  This time in bed has allowed me the opportunity to do some more research for our trip on a number of the cities we will be visiting.  Also, I've started arranging a tour in February around England's universities on the bike.

Today I've been sat up in the living room with my mums sewing machine out.  I've been busy making straps for the pedals to hold our feet in place.  I have to admit I'm rather impressed with my creations, which has got me thinking..... what else could I be making for the trip on my mums sewing machine?   Maybe a tent or some pants for the boys?  I also had a nice gift box to come home to from Scotland, The Source Hydration packs were delivered on behalf of QuadEPIC.  The start of 2010 also brings us a new 4th Rider, Becca from England.  You can read more about Becca on our web page.