If you haven’t guessed yet, we want you to join us this Saturday for a cycle and a party. Its going to be a big day, and we’d like you to be there.

We reckon that cycling is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, and by cycling a long way we’re doing our bit to help Aware raise awareness of mental health issues. Regular exercise is good for the mind as well as the body and cycling is a great way to take regular exercise. The Home Coming Cyle is in Aid of Aware. We raised €15,000 with our Send Off Cycle 18months ago, and we’re hoping to exceed that this time around.

So, what’s going to be happening?

3.00pm 200+ cyclists will leave Blackrock College in a Massive Charity Cycle to Greystones.

5.00pm We all arrive at Greystones, finishing the first Irish circumnavigation of the globe by bike.

5.01pm We open a massive bottle of Champagne from Bubble Brothers, and the party starts.

For the rest of the evening there’s all sorts entertainment. Tarja(Olympic MTBer) from AllMoutainExperience will be giving a skills seminar on a skills course set up in the Rugby Club Grounds. The guys from Great Outdoors will be showcasing some of their gear and giving away a four person tent!   There’ll be live music by Blind Yacketty, and Louis will be spinning an eccletic mix till the wee hours. There’ll also be a big barbecue and a full bar.

So grab a bike and join the party.

Get the details here

Fearghal

Haddon-England

Ok lads, swim up river to that tree, and then maybe to that boat. The tree’s about 20m away and the boat maybe 50m. Jaysus, I’m not sure if I can we we chimmed. Once we’d recovered from the chill we managed swimming to the tree (though the current almost stole my boxers), then drifted back down stream to the jetty hopped out and dried our lobster coloured skin.

With us safely on dry land, Dan our host headed off for a mile-long crawl. He was back in twenty minutes. His normal training sessions are two to three hours.

While we were enjoying the bird song on a river bank in rural England we ruminated on long distance swimming. After 29,000km in the saddle, its become difficult to understand the stock incredulous reaction to our trip. Cycling long distances seems normal now. Yet, the thought of swimming a mile seems undo-able to to me. When I think about it rationally I know that its just a case of putting one arm in front of the other for long enough, much like cycling. But when I try to imagine myself swimming out to dalkey island or something similar I get butterflies.

Simon

Check out these 2 other video snippets from the party here and here

I’ve been going through some of my photos and found this forgotten footage of Fearghal “dancing” at party in Iran and just in case anyone wants to learn some of his fancy moves, I thought I’d put it up for you. Learn these and you’ll have all your mates green with envy.

Sorry its not the right way up.

Fearghal

Bulgaria

Last Thursday we cycled out of a grey and shiny Istanbul. It had been raining heavily, the road was slippery, and we we had wet feet within a few minutes. Leaving Istanbul was hard. We had spent the previous week hanging out with family and girlfriends, it was difficult to drag ourselves away and get moving again, the cold dirty spray from passing trucks did little to help. By nightfall we had failed to escape Istanbul’s urban sprawl and camped on the only dry land we could find, on the fringe of a petrol station forecourt.

Munching on excellent kebabs, and drinking the endless supply of tea plied by the forecourt attendants it began to sink in- we were on the last leg of our cycle. In a few days we’d be in the EU, in three months we’d be home- the adventure would be over. Somewhere in Turkey the world had changed, and it now seemed behind us. Somewhere along the way, possibly the cold and empty desert of Iran, or the icy passes of the Caucasus we had crossed a bridge, had left a dream and were cycling towards an achievement- and now it was time to start thinking about after. But enough of after for the moment.

Technically our last few days in Turkey were also our first in Europe, but in reality they were our last in Asia. Cycling towards Bulgaria I could feel it, the tea, the dancing with arms aloft, and all the fancy trim of the orient ebbing away. Curved crescents giving way to angular crosses, warm and unquestioning hospitality to reservation. Inshallah to cold rationality. All of this had been happening gradually, but there’s nothing like a border to evoke determinate perceptions where in reality blurry lines exist. Sometimes a line in the sand really helps bring things into focus, and the line in the sand between Bulgaria and Turkey was a bold reminder that most of this is adventure is now behind us and now each kilometre brings us closer to the familiar rather than propelling us into unfamiliar worlds.

Located at the nexus of several realms, where Europe, Asia, Arabia meet Turkey begs cliches and handy metaphors. All of them apt. It is a crossroad and a bridge, it is where the Occident and the Orient merge, its kebabs and beer, ordered roads and pragmatic Islam. For us its where the hard yards, the unknown and unusual begin to give way.

Turkey was good to us. The Turks possibly the warmest people I’ve encountered. They are excellent hosts, generous and undemanding, gregarious and outgoing. I’m sorry to have left.

Fearghal

We’ve just scanned copies of our article on high altitude cycing in the Christmas edition of Geographical Magazine; the Royal Geographical Society’s monthly publication. Click here, here, here, and here to read it in full.

15,000km wasn’t just a another number on the digital display of our speedometers. It signified the half way point of our homeward odyssey- 15,000km of the 30,000km that the Guinness criteria demand of a bicycle powered circumnavigation of the globe.

Each one of those 15,000km is significant. They represent, burning lungs at 4,300m in Peru, arse jarring mud tracks in Bolivia, numb fingers in the Spanish pyrenees, coasting winding country roads in Uruguay, or darting between air conditioned shade in China. Added together, if we do say so ourselves, they represent an impressive achievement. Something we’re very proud of.

We recon that if you met us in a pub in Dublin, just after having cycled 15,000km halfway around our fair planet you’d buy us a pint? Surely all that sweat grit and tears deserves at pint?

So, why not buy us a virtual pint by donating 5 euro to Aware, or a little more if you can. Your cash will help Aware make Ireland a happier place.

Follow this link to donate… Cheers.