29th Sept Just 36 days to go - Fundraising & Training

Well, It's getting closer now. It's a scary thought that it's just a little over 5 weeks now until I go.

I've started working down my kit list, I got my vaccinations today...my arm isn't that sore. But I still have to get my visa. I would have done it weeks ago, but the Vietnamese embassy isn't yet in the 21st century, and only takes cash or postal orders, so I need to get myself down to the Post Office and sort out Postal Orders I guess. Luckily it appears that it doesn't take too long to process, so I'll sort it out in the next few days.

Fundraising has been going well. I had loads of donations of things to sell at car boot sales, and so far made £340. That leaves me only a little way short of the minimun sponsorship that we need to raise, however I'm aiming for more than that, so will keep going. I have a few things donated that I think will fetch more on Ebay, than a car boot, so I'll see what I can do there, and then do another (and final) car boot sale in about 2 or 3 weeks time. It'll be an 'everything must go' sale.

The training was going well, and then I stopped for a week, but now I'm back on it. I cycled my Killer ride on Saturday, and was in the saddle for 6 hours and covered 62 very, very hilly miles. I have still to work out why the South DOWNs are so names, they were most definately the South UPS on Saturday.

I nearly wimped out at Horndean, and called for a lift...I was tired, getting cold, and a little bit bored...but then I remembered there was only 1 more hill, and the rest was either very flat, or very downhill....needless to say, I cycled the last 10 miles, felt very proud of myself, and collapsed in the bath when I got home.

The ride totally took every last ounce of energy I had, but on Sunday morning, I felt wide awake, and quite capable of riding again (despite a couple of minor tendor points). But Sunday was a fundraising day, so I was up early, ready for the Gosport Car Boot sale. Afterwards I spent the afternoon at the pub......well I had earned it, and it was a lovely sunny day..what else was there to do!

The healthy eating isn't going as well as it could, I've eaten probably a few too many chinese takeaways...however, they are carb rich, and to be honest, I'll be living on a noodle diet in Vietnam, and cycling on it, so it's just as well to get used to it now. I think I had better look up some Vietnames recipes though soon, and make my own, it might be a bit more realistic.

I'll let you know how I get on.