The new bike…

…This weekend I finally got my new road bike for the trip, and very nice it is too.  Photos to follow.  It is certainly much faster than my current bike, it made short work of the 33 mile I took it on on Sunday to break it in.

I ended up getting a Trek 1600.   It is what is known as a triple and has 30 gears – these should all come in handy up the mountains.  Gear changing is controlled by Shimano 105 flightdeck compatible shifters that are part of the break levers, that is really quite a neat design!

I can’t say I enjoyed buying it.  I had wanted to buy from another shop and a different bike but they were unable to get it for me quickly enough, so in haste I went for this one as another shop had it in stock.  I really felt that they took my sale for granted and I didn’t and don’t appreciate this.   I shall be going back to my regular place as soon as possible for parts and servicing!!!

Current fundraising progress…

Today brought good news on the fund-raising front, my current level stands at $4111.21 plus $200 in cash donations again thank you to everyone!  Thank you emails will very shortly be on their way to the people who have donated since I last posted.  So very nearly there, it is getting close to the time for all the people who keep saying I am planing on sponsoring you to actually do that! 

Your money…making a difference

I received this from the guys at the Vancouver CCFF today and I thought it well worth posting here so that you can know that there are real and tangible advance being made in CF providing very real hope for people every day. 

Your sponsorship helps directly to make a difference and continue this positive trend. 

You are making a difference by sponsoring me so thank you!

Making a Difference

The work being done by the Foundation and Chapter volunteers is funding important research that’s making a very real difference in CF treatment. The progress made over the past four decades speaks for itself.

• 1960 Life expectancy for children with CF is four years of age.

• 1979 Only 13% of CF patients registered at clinics are adults.

• 1989 Canadian scientists discover the defective gene responsible for CF.

• 1995 The median age of survival for a person with CF is now 31 years of age.

• 2000 Over 45% of all Canadians with CF were 18 years, or older. Cystic fibrosis is no longer only a children’s disease.

• 2003 Median age of survival reaches 35.9 years of age.

• 2004 Median age of survival reaches 37 years of age.

Researchers have identified over 1000 mutations of the gene responsible for CF and are now researching other genes which may be additional modifiers for how the body handles CF.

Great website – cfvancouver

This is a great website: the Vancouver and Lower Mainland Chapter of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  These are the guys who are doing a great job organising GearUp4CF ride and this website has lots of useful links on it both for people with CF and also they have a very useful page containing links to CF research news, which is handy to me!!

Eagle Harbour from the Trans Canada Highway

Eagle Harbour from the Trans Canada Highway

Originally uploaded by JamesZ_Flickr.

Today I did my first very long distance ride – 70 miles. It was mostly fun, but the hills were a pain as ever! It is surprisingly easy to cover this distance in Vancouver – I went from UBC down to Iona beach and out to the end of the Jetty there. Then I came back up through the bike road on Angus Drive, down through Downtown via the Burrard Street Bridge and to West Vancovuer via the Lions Gate Bridge. I then went out to Horseshoe Bay via Marine Drive – here there were a few too many hills, necessitating a couple of stops! I thought I’d go a different route back – on the Trans Canada Highway – which is acutally a designated bike route. I figured it would be quite flat when I got up there, that was a misjudgement! There was probably more climbing there than going back via Marine. I took this till the Lions Gate Bridge exit, when back across that Bridge back over Burrard Street bridge then back up to UBC via Spanish Banks. Phew!

I hope that the assessment that my current bike is about 20% more work than a road bike will prove true as this will mean I have covered a distance more equivalent to nearly the worst day on the ride.

Cycling this week according to Vancouver Bike to work

My profile this week on Vancouver bike to work week’s website reports the following stats for my commutes:

9 Commutes
238.1661 Kilometers Travelled
56.2071996 GHG’s Saved
6811.55046 Calories Burnt

Actually this is an underestimate because it appears to only allow one distance to be recorded and then multiplies that depnding on whether or not you went one or both ways.

Why 9 and not 10?  It rained on Friday afternoon – hard – and I was so tired that I decided to sling it on a bus and skip that one! 

Vancouver Bike to Work Week

I just want to plug this site: www.vacc.bc.ca/biketowork .  There is a bike from May 28th till June 3rd.  Go check it out.  Any of you Vancouverites who commute to work on your bikes might be interested in this. 

I am part of the Child and Family Research Institute Team for that week. 

Progress

Usually in the lifetime of a blog you will see apologies for lack of update.  So here is mine!!  This week I have been doing a lot of cycling – and when I say a lot I mean 30-35 miles a day, on top of my day job.  So I have been quite tired, which is my excuse for lack of update.  This has not been without benefit though.  Firstly I’m getting myself used to longer distances, which will need to be sustained on the bike ride.  Secondly I am more aware than ever that I really need to get the new bike asap.  Finally, as I have been riding on some days with my gearup4cf team jersey and shorts I managed to meet another member of the team who I’d not spotted before.  He saw my jersey and recognised it instantly.

Nothing yet to report on the new bike front.  I identified one, but the bike shop were unable to get their hands on one in time.  I have two others in mind plus the owner of the shop is trying to find me something in line with my quite demanding specifications and budget.  So stay tuned for news and photos soon of the new charge, I can’t wait!! :).

On the fundraising front, I should get an updated list tomorrow.  This week I sent out repeat emails to lots and lots of people to try and get the total up towards the target.

So that is it for now.  I’m currently enjoying my trips down to the airport – everyday this week I have seen British Airways’ daily 747 land, that is a highlight for me!!!

Rocky Mountains Panorama

Rocky Mountains Panorama

Originally uploaded by Claude@Munich.

Flickr is a fantastic resource. When you want to see photos of places or things – and very good photos at that – you can just pop over there and search for it. I’ve been using flickr for about a year and so when I needed a photo for this website I knew exactly where to go.

So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Claudia for permission to use this fantastic photograph for my website banner. Claudia takes some fantastic photographs, please don’t hesitate to go and visit her pages at flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/c-s-n/

6 weeks to go

The Gearup4CF ride starts in 6 weeks time.  So there is still plenty of time for everyone who is intending to sponsor me to do so!

Everything is starting to come together now.  Within the next two weeks I should be in possession of the bike I will use for the ride.  I’ve also now started training in earnest, helped by the much improved weather in Vancouver!  Today I was down at the airport twice, I have been down there 5 times this week and racked up more than a hundred miles.  At the moment the only real problem I have is slight back pain, especially going up hill, this goes away as soon as I get of the bike!  This should be helped by getting a bike that is properly fitted to me, I’ll try to remember to talk about what is soon.

Also good news this week was the arrival of the team kit, it looks magnificent and it should look great when there is 21 of us all wearing it, photos to follow.  Also arrived are advertising posters for the event, one is going up in my apartment building and various posters should appear around UBC and other places. 

So things are all starting to take shape!