Simon's Alpine Challenge Day 2: The Hardest Climb

[caption id="attachment_3834" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The mountains around Col du Glandon with Mont Blanc just visible in the distance[/caption]

Well we made it! We reached the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer and I can safely say it was the hardest cycle climb I have done to date - even Alpe d'Huez. It was a long hard slog of 30 km with very little respite and things weren't helped by the fact it was very hot day. I went through over 6 litres of water and isotonic drinks before I had reached the top!

When we got to the Col de la Croix de Fer the views were spectacular. We treated ourselves to a well deserved beer outside a cafe at the Col. Loads of other cyclists were there looking professional with their shaved legs!

After the Col de la Croix de Fer we moved onto the Col du Glandon where we took some more photos including a sculpture that had been prepared for the Tour de France that had only just passed over the Col du Glandon only a couple of weeks before us.

After the Col du Glandon we made a high speed descent to the Maurienne valley - the roads still covered with slogans and the names of Tour de France cyclists: Go Wiggo!, Allez Voeckler etc. I hope to provide a video of our descent of the Col du Glandon at some stage.

After we reached the valley floor I noticed that one of my water bottles was nearly falling out of its cage because it had become squashed - I then realised that because we had come from high altitude the increase in air pressure lower down was the reason this had happened.

The next big ride will be the Col du Galiber on Wednesday so my next blog entry will appear on Thursday.

Tomorrow is a well deserved rest day!

Simon's Alpine Challenge Day 1: Warming Up

[caption id="attachment_3805" align="alignright" width="224"] View of the hotel - looks like it welcomes cyclists![/caption]

As promised a couple of weeks ago, Simon Cousins brings us his first guest post about his Alpine cycling challenge. Without further ado, it's over to you Simon...

Well we finally made it to our destination, Saint Jean de Maurienne, after a 14 hour drive through France. Our hotel is in the centre of town and only a few yards away from the start of the Col de la Croix de Fer climb.

The weather today (Sunday) has been perfect, so we went out on a "warm up" ride along the Maurienne valley towards the town of Saint Michel de
Maurienne, which lies at the start of the really big climb of Col du Galibier. My legs felt pretty good considering that I hadn't done any training for the last 4 weeks due to illness, so we decided to do some small climbs for practice. These went well.

[caption id="attachment_3808" align="alignleft" width="300"] Imagine the noise from all those bells![/caption]

In the afternoon we drove up the Col de Madeleine, which is very steep and goes on for several miles. On the way up we passed several cyclists slowly grinding it out - which only reminded us of what was in store for us! At the top of the Col de Madeleine I took some photos. One photo I took was of about 200 cows - many of them were wearing a bell.
The noise they created as they clanked across the alpine pasture was pretty deafening!

Tomorrow is our first big climb - the Col de la Croix de Fer. It looks like it is going to be very hot so we are setting off early in attempt to avoid the midday sun.

I will let you all know how we got in tomorrow's blog.

Wish us luck!

Thanks for a great first post Simon - looking forward to your next one!

Michael's Olympics: A Great Start

Michael is in great form.

Those of you who watched him over the weekend are probably wondering why I've said that because he didn't make the 100m breaststroke final. He came agonisingly close in 9th spot in a time of 59.89 seconds.

It's a massive personal best for Michael AND a Scottish record, in a time which he swam twice thus proving it's not a flash in the pan. Not bad for starters!

Michael has now proved he deserved to race in the 100m by swimming Team GB's best time at the Games. A time under the magic minute is a fantastic achievement. That medley relay spot beckons :)

I'm also impressed with Michael's demeanor. He's obviously excited to be there yet relaxed. He really wants to swim AND is loving the home crowd. The 100m has allowed him to settle into the routine of competing ahead of his main event.

In both TV interviews after his swims he thanked everyone for all the messages of support, so they're making a huge difference to his confidence. Leave yours for Michael's 200m campaign - which starts tomorrow - in the Comments below.

I'll leave the last words to Michael who tweeted on Saturday:

Really happy with the times today, big PB's & a wee Scottish Record...but bit gutted to miss final! Taken big step forward after 15th in 100 at worlds last year! Looking forward to 200m on Tuesday, need to make that final!! Good night for GB all round, amazinggg atmosphere! :)

And:

Sorry for filling up the twitter feed with thank you tweets lol but I think I've replied to them all! Can't thank enough, been amazing! :)

The Chicks Also Go Bowling

[caption id="attachment_3762" align="alignleft" width="300"] Team Alley Cats[/caption]

Our second report today is also about a bowling event. This time, Debbie Nichols of Wakefield House has a tale of The Chicks and 3 Amigos...

As part of the Chicks and the Beanstalk's fundraising for their Sense and Ridgeway Walk efforts, a tenpin bowling night was held on July 9th in Swindon. The opportunity was taken to involve the 3 Amigos bowling team, a team of visually impaired players, who you may remember were mentioned in Dispatches last year.

[caption id="attachment_3765" align="alignleft" width="300"] The 3 Amigos play in distinctive purple shirts[/caption]

After an exciting night's play, Ann Stone (Alan Stone's wife) was best female with 210 points and Dan Wilson playing for the 3 Amigos was best male player with 317 points. The 3 Amigos were the best team with an impressive total of  1256 points.

£710 was raised (with possibly more donations to come) which will be split between the 3 Amigos and Sense.

The 3 Amigos are again on the hunt for glory at their national championships, so we wish them well in their campaign.

It's a time when the word "Strike" has a positive meaning!

Bowling Along at Bertrams

[caption id="attachment_3757" align="aligncenter" width="640"] And the players are... James Payton, Bernadette Nyulasz, Jaimie Dorward, Hollie McCluskey, Michelle Gee, Melanie Napthen, Ben Beach, Jamie Kent, Jason Cherrington, Dale Pascoe, Ian Hendrie, Jonathan Denton, Darren Turner, Nicola Jones[/caption]

Melanie Napthen, Purchase Ledger Assistant at Bertrams organised a bowling tournament at the Funscape Bowling Alley Norwich on July 23rd.

Fifteen people over three teams competed to take home the trophy and all important winners certificate. There were various runner up prizes all donated by local companies ranging from cinema tickets to chocolate.

At the end of the 2 games the overall winner was announced, congratulations to Ben Beach who looked very pleased with his trophy which now has pride of place on his desk in IT.
The highest scoring bowlers from each team were Hollie McCluskey, Jonathon Denton and of course Ben. The highest scorers took home a lucky dip prize; Hollie is already planning what she will see with her theatre tickets!

After a promising first game Nicola Jones took home the certificate for lowest score of the second game and Bernadette Nyulasz took home a box of chocolates for the overall lowest score. Perhaps a tactical move for the chocolate?!

If there was a prize for most entertaining bowling technique it would most definitely have gone to finance's Dale Pascoe, the video is probably making the rounds on YouTube already!

Overall the night was a huge success raising a total of £210! The funds raised will go to Refuge, a charity offers protection for victims of domestic violence and abuse.

Michael's Blog: Ready for the Games

We received Michael's latest guest post a couple of weeks ago. As he's in a more reflective mood this time, it seemed appropriate to save it for when the Games are just a few days away... 

It seems like yesterday I was celebrating the success of London’s bid to host the Olympic Games in July 2005. I was in school, huddled around the TV with my class mates and I distinctly remember thinking that 2012 would be my chance to become an Olympian!

I’ve swam up and down the black line on the bottom of the pool since then, with the thought of becoming an Olympian providing more than enough motivation for the early morning starts.

The journey has been a long one, but I wouldn’t change any of it thus far. I couldn’t have swum any longer or any harder since I made the decision to pursue this and that is proving comforting as we enter the final stretch of training before competition.

The last of my training cycle was completed in Paris over the weekend – I finished 1^st in the 200m Breaststroke, an important victory against a few swimmers who were in the World Championship Final last year. Also, if it’s any consolation, the weather is just as unpredictable in Paris – my race was delayed due to a thunder, lightning and hail storm!

From now, I have three weeks of ‘tapering’ –a gradual decrease in volume and intensity in the pool and gym, in the hope of peaking in London. It’s a great time of the year :) my main concern is how many episodes of the latest TV show I can fit in between training sessions!

I can’t change the work I’ve done in the past few weeks, months or years, it’s all in the bank now. The key for me is to stay relaxed. If I do feel like I’m losing perspective or putting too much pressure on myself, I’ll use the strategies that I’ve been working on with the psychologist.

I’ve now been selected to swim the 100m Breaststroke Individual, sadly because of withdrawal from my friend Dan Sliwinski. I had mixed feelings about this at first. I finished 3^rd at the trials in March, undeserving of a spot in this event.  I was desperately disappointed for Dan but now it’s important for me to put in a strong performance, to prove I am worthy of the Individual spot and to give me a boost in confidence before racing the 200m later in the week. Having a positive first swim settles the nerves and will be invaluable in preparation for the 200m. Racing the 100m also means I will be eligible for selection in the 4x100m Individual Medley Relay. I was part of the Relay at last year’s World Champs and loved it, we finished 6^th with a young, inexperienced team so will be looking to improve on that this year!

I’m feeling confident and relaxed in my preparation - I have nothing to lose. No-one is expecting medals from my performances, except myself.  I’ve targeted a medal since I decided to chase this Olympic spot and it’s not going to change now. There are nine swimmers ranked within 1.5 seconds of each other in my event, so making the Final will be more difficult than achieving a podium finish. The difference could be that I’m the only one with home court advantage – a man with nothing to lose and an arena full of Brits behind him is dangerous!

As always, thank you all for your continued support. Hopefully, the next blog you read will be in celebration!! :)

What a fab post! Now, Michael needs all the help he can get to ensure he gets to those all important Finals. Show your support by leaving him a Comment below and we'll make sure he gets all  your messages to help get him well ahead of his rivals.

You can also follow Michael on Twitter where he tweets as @mj88live. His supporters have already adopted the #teamjamieson hashtag and we'll be following this and Michael's twitter account to bring you news of Michael's Olympic journey.

On Friday we'll be publishing the dates and times of Michael's swims, plus details of where the best TV coverage is to be found.

So, COME ON MICHAEL!!!!!

Update - just after 10am, Michael tweeted:

Holding camp in Edinburgh finished - had a great time! Back to the village today, almost time to race!! :)

Another Walk for Lincoln

[caption id="attachment_3695" align="alignleft" width="569"] Paul Burton presents his cheque to Vivienne Chambers, fundraiser for Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance[/caption]

Night Worker, Paul Burton from Lincoln House recently completed a 26 mile walk whilst away on holiday. He raised an amazing £500 for his chosen charity – Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.

Without access to a computer to fill in a publicity form, Paul wrote asking if his fundraising efforts could be included in our Community Week total. It was an absolute delight to read, and lovely to know he’d taken the time to hand-write a letter and include a photo.

Hand-written letters are such a rarity these days – and it’s great to hear that staff are off doing great things for charity, and taking the time to let us know. What a gem!