Phew!  What a day!  The sort of day where you feel like you’re packing loads in but you still end up with more things on your list than when you started!

First, many thanks to everyone who has kindly made a donation to the www.justgiving.com/sportjohntomalta site.  Much appreciated!

Also thanks for all the kind messages of support.

Starting to pack the van today but every time I went out to start sorting my superb roofrack the heavens opened in a downpour of tropical proportions! This resulted in a semi-flooded garage which meant that some of my honey and oats granola bars that I’d put in a box on the garage floor are now a bit waterlogged – may make them easier to digest!  Luckily my bananas escaped unscathed!  I’m also slightly concerned that I now have enough equipment to run a small-scale military campaign across Europe!  I borrowed a refrigerated cool-box and a small fridge from Ian “Achterwollers!” Wood who is an experienced Hammster.  He rightly pointed out that although they take up space one has to have somewhere to keep one’s beer cool and I couldn’t agree more!

Got the insurance finally sorted out after listening to “My Way” for nearly an hour on the Direct Line holding line – I think they wear you down so that when you finally get through you’ll pay any premium to avoid having to go through it all again!

Barry Thorne came round with the magnetic logos for the van which look really good.  Many thanks to the guys who produced these.

Getting Pat & George, my teenage sons, packed today.  They arrived home from school soaked and shouting at each other so I started shouting at them and we all ended up bawling at each other for a while.  George had “packed” but then asked for help so I was able to go up and effectively unpack what he had put in (lots of scruffy tracksuit bottoms, no underpants) and re-pack some shorts, underwear and cycling gear!  He contributed by moaning constantly!

Met up at lunchtime for a traditional Rossi’s chip butty in Keighley with Danny and Steve from Leeds City College in Keighley – all good stuff about the BIGK CyKlesportive and bigger plans already for next year.

Managed another 20M on the turbo whilst watching the TdF on Eurosport – Lance Armstrong had a bit of a pop today, showing that age is no bar to physical prowess – at least that’s what I keep telling myself!

Big drama of the day surrounds dwarf hamsters – George has asked his friend to look after the seven creatures that we currently house but we discovered this evening that this has now increased to fourteen after some indiscriminate breeding which is especially frustrating as we thought we’d separated the males and females!  We’ve already had heartache and drama when the original two, Rhubarb and Custard, demised after Custard killed and half ate Rhubarb and then went on the run – we’ve never seen him since! George bought Holly, a “juvenile” female, to replace Rhubarb and she promptly produced six offspring suggesting that she wasn’t quite as young and innocent as we had been led to believe!  I personally suspect that Custard had returned for a night-time tryst and then run off again – typical male!!

Time to go – P&G fighting again – can’t wait to start this ride!

BIGK CyKlesortive/Race the Train day dawned wet and windy, with grey cloud hugging the tops of Fly Flatts and Rombalds Moor.  Brilliant!  Down to the new College in Keighley where lean, lycra-clad riders were already chomping at the bit for the off.  Have spent all night (well, a few hours of semi-sleep) worrying about signs and feed stations, but too late to do anything about it now, not that there is anything more that can be done!

All riders off by 9.15 am and then Race the Train at 9.40am.  It seems that the KWVR are getting competitive in that the train, scheduled to take 20 minutes to Oxenhope, arrives in 16 (sixteen!) minutes and beats all but 4 of the riders.  We shall definitely be putting someone up for a request stop at Damems next year to slow it down!!

CyKlesportive riders are completing the first loop of the long course and it is clearly dawning on some that Keighley and its surroundings are a bit undulating!  The wind is getting the riders too – it’s really strong for July.

A long, long day collecting signs and checking progress but everyone gets round safely and the feedback is very positive – it’s a real challenging route!  Hopefully lots of money for Manorlands too.  Many thanks to all who took part and to all who helped make it happen.

No riding for me today but exhausted anyway – can now focus entirely on the Malta trip – can’t wait to get going!!

A bit fraught today sorting stuff out for Sunday’s BIGK cyKlesportive.  Really wet and windy so hope it improves for Sunday and for next Thursday!

Sorted insurances today – did the travel stuff for me and the family via the CTC which seems OK and covers us for most stuff.

Also spoke to Direct Line about insurance for driving the van – an incredibly helpful chap but discovered that there’s a limit of four additional drivers on any policy so it now becomes a logistical nightmare sorting who’s OK to drive when.  Sorted it for now but may have to re-visit this and change names again.  First you have to add drivers and then get a Green Card to cover them all.  Anyway, have sorted for now and have also Euro Breakdown cover which actually seems to be pretty good.

Am picking up the newly-equipped van tomorrow morning prior to doing a coaching session at Cliffe Castle and then popping into the Copy Shop to check the T-shirts.  No sign of Timothy Taylor tops – another thing to chase!  Not much time left!!  Keep remembering things I need to do!

Just a few Ks on the turbo today – no time to ride properly but it takes me over 100 miles for the week, and did manage to catch Contador having a go at Andy Schleck in the Tour – should be an interesting next week or so!

More eccentricities emerging in the support team! Have just received an e-image of an empty dish covered in uneaten mushrooms from Jo T.  Apparently Deanne doesn’t like mushrooms (!!) so we’ll have to restrict the “al funghi” content of the pizzas at the party when we finish!  On that note, I received the menu for pizzas at the Al Fresco Bar in Malta from Tracy yesterday: it all looks pretty good and the aim is to pick pizza types named after places we’ve passed through (although strangely there doesn’t seem to be a Pizza di Hull or similar)!

Just having a quick “Old Speckled Hen”.  All part of the rigorous training programme!  Ride-Drink-Eat-Sleep!  What a life!  Can’t wait!

More progress on a number of fronts.  Van into Richard at David Peels in Keighley for electrical stuff doing: radio, fans, hook-up and split-charge battery.  Rode the newly serviced bike into town to The Copy Shop to sort out T-shirts and cycling tops.  Discovered last night a brilliant Timothy Taylors cycle top at “thecyclejersey.com” who I’ve been in contact with for a bespoke top, so am investigating putting a Maltese Cross on some of these.  The design even has a printed bottle of Landlord poking out of one of the rear pockets!!  Would you believe that as I commenced the usual banter in the Copy Shop prior to placing my complex T-shirt order, the next customer was a chap who works for TTs and he has taken details of the ride (I’m taking some bottles of Landlord in the van anyway to award to friendly locals en route!).  Good stuff!

A quick ride to follow out to Skipton, Embsay and Bolton Abbey – just getting used to the new gearing.  It’s funny how you get set into knowing which gear you can do which hills in and how unsettling it is to re-learn.  It shows how important it is to know the course when racing or cycle-sportiving!  That said, bike feels great – thanks Robin!  It didn’t rain either (on a day that they announced the closure of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal from Wigan to Gargrave due to water shortages)!

Maltsters meeting at the Brown Cow in Keighley this evening.  Everyone involved has volunteered to use some of their holidays to drive the van, support and/or ride certain stages, and everyone has also been chipping in with equipment, help with bookings and general encouragement.  I’ll introduce the “Maltster Team” over the next few days but the initial driver and co-pilot combo is my sister Mel and my Mum Janet.  Mum is already doing her bit by praying for us (!!) but I’ve warned her before that every time she prays for anything it all goes pear-shaped so to be careful what she asks for.  Mel is used to driving her fast open-top car so I hope we don’t arrive in Hull with a roofless, knackered VW van at the end of the first stage!  After that it’s all driving on the right until we reach Malta where they, like us, drive on the left (and, like us, swerve around the potholes in the roads).

Just in response to a query I had, I just wanted to note that none of the charity money for this ride is being used to subsidise the trip.  All the charity money goes to the charities, and where there are donations of goods and services (eg, like Virtu Ferries and Aire Valley Cycles so far) then I’ll make an additional donation.  All of the volunteers are paying their own ways too.

The initial ride team consists of me, my partner Tizz (a headstrong character whose main role on the trip is to cause chaos) and my lads Patrick (15) and George (14).  The lads are veterans of the Trans-Pennine Trail and York to Durham rides, and Patrick spectacularly knocked his front teeth out during the Bronte BIGK MTB Challenge last September so they are ideal riding companions(?!).  All will do bits of the ride during each day as we progress, except me who will do it all.  I’m hoping that some Hammsters and friends will have a bit of a ride out towards Hull on initial “prologue” stage on the 22nd.  “Hammsters” are people who have taken part in previous Bradford Disability Sport & Leisure sponsored rides to Bradford’s Twin Town of Hamm in Germany – monies raised so far (I’ve done 2 trips before and there was another this year, plus a coast-to-coast challenge last year) have helped set up a Bradford Disability Cycling Club and loads of special bikes and equipment.  A basic requirement of being a Hammster is to be at least mildly (and preferably completely!) insane – some are joining us when we reach Italy and are coming out to the party in Malta.

Busy afternoon checking progress on the Tour-de-France so more woffle tomorrow!