Page views this week; welcome to the Latvians

Page views this week have been interesting again from a world population' perspective: -   United Kingdom = 77   Latvia = 38 Where did all my Latvian readers appear from (but it's great to see you here guys and girls). United States = 9 Germany = 6 Vietnam = 5 Russia = 2 Brazil, Canada, Ireland and Mexico all = 1

Bedtime, good night

Training itinerary for this weekend

Dartmoor beckons on Friday; 4 tyre drags in some pretty inhospitable terrain.

Can't wait !!!!!


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Brimpts North Pole Training Weekend

Suggested Programme

Date: Friday 21 to Sunday 23 October 2011

Location: Brimpts Farm, Dartmeet, Dartmoor, Devon, PL20 6SG 

From Exeter (40 minutes) take the A38 towards PlymouthTake 2nd Ashburton turn off onto the B357 to Two Bridges/ Princetown. Follow the road for 7 miles, past Dartmeet, up the hill; we are the 1st drive on the right.

From Plymouth (40 minutes) take the A386 towards TavistockTake B3212 at Yelverton to Two Bridges (via Princetown). At Two Bridges turn right onto the B3357 towards Dartmeet. Follow the road for 5 miles; turn left immediately after the Hexworthy turning.

Friday 21 Oct 2011 (Arrive: 1600hrs)

·         Issue sledge harness rope trace ski poles tyres

·         Chat about weekend using flip chart if need be

·         Housekeeping & safety brief

·         Tyre haul 1: one hour (possible head torch needed)

·         Evening meal in farmhouse

·         Transfer to Forest Inn

Saturday 22 Oct 2011

·         Breakfast

·         Transfer to Brimpts Farm

·         Tyre haul 2: long haul two hours up over fields and moor

·         Shower change

·         Lecture 1:  clothing equipment

·         Lunch at Brimpts Farm

·         Tyre haul 3: with twist & sledge via river

·         Lecture 2: tents and cookers in large barn

·         Dinner at Brimpts Farm farmhouse

·         Polar talk slideshow from Geoff Somers

·         Transfer to Forest Inn

Sunday 23 October 2011 AM

·         Pack bags and transfer to Brimpts Farm

·         Hot drink no breakfast

·         Tyre haul 4; up over fields 90 minutes

·         Shower wash up

·         Brunch at Brimpts Farm and q&a in barn

·         Pack up and depart 1300 hours

It just gets that bit more real but thankfully there's no overnight camping. That's what really worries me ... I know, weird huh?

Thanks also to Howard at Rushfirth Creative for this ..................



People tell me it looks more like me than I do !!



P.S. Welcome to ....

a) Jason who read a blog entry from the Maldives; check out http://www.kurumba.com/ ... a-mazing!! (but insist on accomodation on the non-Male side of the island; that's the capitol of the Maldives, not a sexist statement)

b) Hello Sweden; think you're a first (but trailing Denmark in page views)

c) Who are my Russian readers? 20 page views so far this week and that's beating the USA.

NOW I'm going to go to bed. Honest.

No blood, lots of sweat, some tears (oh and Sam and Olivia as well)

Darn it, been trying to publish this blog for a while but I'm still having technical issues uploading videos from my iPhone onto my PC; it's usually taking 3 or 4 attempts. Anyway, in reverse order, let's get a couple of  videos up here starting with my two newest tyre-pullers; Sam (9) and Olivia (err, 10?).

Part way through my third mile today (full winter kit on too, but more of that later) a lady was walking a dog and what I assumed were her two children home. The boy and the girl (Sam and Olivia as it turns out) were clearly inquisitive but like most people, were a little too shy to ask so I prompted the question by saying "And just as I thought you might be wanting a go".

Sam's Mum (oh how rude, I never asked her name .... sorry Sam's mum) asked me what I was doing; I explained and she smiled broadly and said "Told you it might be that" to S & O (so much quicker than writing Sam and Olivia). Anyway it turned out that they did want a go and so, without further a-do, I present Sam's attempt first.

After that Olivia asked if she could but there was a hitch; the lady with no name (blimey I feel really bad about not asking it now) wasn't Olivia's Mum. Olivia had that '... but I'm in the harness now and want to have a go ...' look on her face. "Please?" she asked.

Sam's Mum (I'm going to call her Kate because that might not be her name but she deserves more than anonymity) pointed out QUITE RIGHTLY that it wasn't her place to say but she pulled out a mobile phone and dialled Olivia's Mum. This is what I imagine the two-sided conversation sounded like (as I only heard Kate speak): -

Kate - "Hi it's me. Bit of a strange one this but .... we've bumped into a guy who's training for the North Pole by dragging tyres around the park ....."

O's Mum - "Have you been drinking the Christmas sherry already Kate ... or is he a bit bonkers?"

Kate - (trying to ignore the obvious answer to the latter question that is clearly yes, probably) "He's letting them have a go if they want to. I've said yes to Sam but he's said he wants to upload the video onto the internet ......"

O's Mum - "Yes that's right Kate, act normal, I'm calling the zoo right now. They'll probably have a tranquiliser gun to deal with him ... keep him talking as long as you can"

Kate - "Well it's just Olivia now wants to have a go but I can't say yes as she's not my daughter"

(Olivia in the background "Please say yes. I'll ask the teacher tomorrow if we can have a look at the internet")

O's Mum - "The zoo have said they're a bit busy right now and the Police say they've seen him often so .... err .... oh alright".

Cue the video of Olivia .....

On a VERY serious note, thank you to 'Kate' for being such a good sport but ALSO for being suitably safety conscious!! If only all parents were as responsible as 'Kate' ... but then the arson attack on the children's wooden play area in Harrogate is another story (8 teenagers questioned about arson evidently; thanks to PCSO James Skaith for the Twitter updates).

So Sam and Olivia, thank you for having a go and you now join 8 other people (children and adults) who have had a go at the tyre-drag.

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Okay, so that's that bit over with. Today's tyre-drag for me was a new phase insofar as I was wearing my full winter training gear of base layer, boots and Berghaus waterproofs; all the stuff I'll be taking with me to Dartmoor for the training weekend on 21/22/23/24 October, including the old chicken-leg leggings ... but check out that calf muscle definition.

No Fitz' I haven't stuck a sock down the back of the leggings

Putting the base layer on brought back memories of my winter training regime for the Cuban cycle ride (November 2010 - photo montage below)

Lunch on day 1

Our bikes parked on day 4

The Barry Sheene of Cuba, cornering hard (me, not him)

One of the many types of 'buses' in Cuba

It's like stepping back in time

The last night get-together

Ah those memories of sunshine, humidity, alcohol and saddle rash. I'm going all misty here folks. Of course I guess I probably sweated just about as much today as I did in Cuba given it was 15 degrees Celsius and I was wrapped up as if it was -15 .....

And so I'm now thinking back to the happy smiling people I saw today, plus the 3 people who smirked or stared in bemusement, the van passenger who started to shout something and then gave up when I looked up at him, the woman who said I should go to Kwik Fit with my tyre problem (soooooo funny), Dave the elderly gent who was on a 3-mile run in shorts and a running vest, whoever the woman was who told her dog to 'cross over' after fleeting eye contact with me and the INCREDIBLY rude woman who avoided eye contact and didn't even respond to a polite 'hello'. Hope you tread in some dog poo next time you ignorant human being !

Oh yeah, and here's hoping the girl who dropped her Samsung into the beck managed to dry it and get it working again. So sad to see someone crying in public - bless : (

Night

Amuse and views; a schizophrenic posting

Hello. Now before you begin to read this, if you really cannot be bothered to trawl through the usual drivel feel free to page-down to where it says BEAUTiFUL COASTAL VIEWS I'VE SEEN (note that the 'i' in BEAUTiFUL is lower case? A sneaky personal tribute to Steve Jobs, although now I've told you it's there it's hardly sneaky is it).

Hang on hang on, you don't ALL have to scroll down to those photos; typical, give someone an opportunity of a short-cut and they take it. You might be missing out on something up here you know!!! For example the GREAT work done by Rushfirth Creative of Leeds to produce a cartoon logo for my Trek ....

"Dear Howard Rushfirth, does this cartoon make my bum look big?"
http://www.rushfirthcreative.co.uk/

Right, now where were we ................. ah yes. Whilst daughter number 1 treks around Europe for another week and a half (here she is with her boyfriend about to depart from Leeds Bradford International two weeks ago) ......

..... I have been training pretty regularly (7 times in 11 days) and intend to train tomorrow (Monday), tyre-drag Tuesday, and gym or tyre-drag Thursday.

I had really hoped to go tyre dragging today in my winter training gear but it was just too darn warm! I know I know you all crave a little more of the Indian summer but look at it from my perspective; I need to suffer !!!

Hmm that got your attention didn't it.

I mean the week hasn't exactly been a success in every other way for the Trek: -

a) Had to postpone the fundraiser at Zinc from the 26th October due to lack of interest (half term school holidays quoted by most).

b) Asked for 24 volunteers to help collect for MacMillan Cancer Support (they offered me 8 days at Leeds supermarkets which could nett my Trek fundraising another £5000); 2 responders. Thank you to Mandy Barwick of Bibi's in Leeds and Clare Young (finalist in the 2008 series of The Apprentice) for offering some of their valuable time.

c) Tweeted (and got re-tweeted to over 7000 Leeds United fans) about this silent auction prize, with nil replies thus far

Signed shirt by Lucas Radebe, ex-captain of Leeds and South Africa. Nelson Mandela called him "My hero"

d) Banked my first set of donation cheques today; seven cheques in total for ....... £235. Disappointed to say the least but what the heck. can't stress about something I seem to have little influence over.

e) Apart from the wonderful work done by @suebecks with Hallam Uni, I've approached 4 Secondary and Primary schools to ask if they want to use the trek for educational purposes. Nil response.

f) Bought a ski balaclava from CostCo today but had a bit of difficulty putting it on at first ...

Still at least one thing went well today; I found out that I DON'T have to bring my own bodily waste back from the North Pole. That's a great big fat 'phew' (evidently it's only the last degree to the SOUTH Pole that has to be poo-free).

And with that I say good night and RIP young Harry Moseley who died today at the age of 11 from an inoperable brain tumour. Sometimes it's good to keep a perspective on life.

BEAUTiFUL COASTAL VIEWS I'VE SEEN

Well you got here eventually. Just fancied reflecting on some of the great memories I've had in the run-up to creating even more amazing memories in the future. Enjoy ... or not.

Hey you could always hit the 'x' up in the right-hand corner of your PC screen (or the equivalent on your handheld device). No, I was only joki ........

Fishing harbour in Lanzarote (2007)

Sunset off Kurumba (Maldives) 2009

Beach bar on Kurumba

Sunset on Maui (2010)



Same view on Maui, but at noon



Approaching sunset at Trinidad, Cuba (2010)

'The Sun Voyager' at Reykjavik harbour (2004)

La Caleta, a fishing village on Tenerife (2011)

Part of the majestic view from our villa; Royal Garden Villas Tenerife (2011)

The basics are coming to the fore

I have a very stubborn nature sometimes; if someone says or implies I'm incapable of achieving something then sometimes (if it's a suitably emotive thing) I'll forego SO MUCH to be able to prove them wrong ..... and this is where I found myself last week.

Now before I go into all that, here's a quick update. I'm back in training and feel so much better now the cough seems to be subsiding; 45 minutes in the circuit room on Thursday evening, 3 hours 10 minutes on Friday afternoon/evening and a PT session on Saturday. Not that the PT session was great but it was bl**dy good for the first time in several weeks.

The 3 hour+ session was 10 minutes on the cross-trainer to warm-up, two circuits and then a monster treadmill session (the display showed this just as I hit the 10km mark, looking to complete 15km although I stopped just over 13.65km with legs stiffening): -

I was going to go tonight but had too much on my mind including a pretty fundamental debate (as I said, more to come about that soon).

In the last two weeks I've had really good meetings with @suebecks, Clara White from MacMillan West Yorkshire, @joboardman, @karenasemper, bought my youngest her first car (evidently called 'Polly'), took my eldest and her boyfriend to the airport (@lbia) to head off for a months' backpacking around Europe, had a wonderful update from SmileSMS that 60 companies and organisations are going to promote my Trek in March and April, been in the Yorkshire Evening Post again thanks to Heart Research UK (see photo below which has YEP article and, to the right, a teeny photo that appeared in the Saturday Mirror) .....

.... completed a couple of thank-you cards for the Manchester Fort and New Cannon branches of Starbucks and had some charity and some 'charity neutral' photos taking by @mvsphotography, such as .....

Muscular Dystrophy Campaign (for the wonderful Sara Wilcox nee Benson)



Dave at Manchester Fort Starbucks just LOVES this yellow jacket 



Now whilst I was prepared to be proudly photographed in my Samaritans t-shirt ....





.... even with a sense of humour there are limits Sarah ......



....... so let's not push the Health & Safety limits (or the fashion one) eh?

.... but the most interesting thing in the last two weeks were the words from Mandy Barwick and Karen Asemper ............................. and the following is a statement I'm mulling over right now: -

My priorities in life are my children, my health, my relationship, my work, my friends and returning from the North Pole Trek successfully (as Alan Chambers MBE, the leader of the expedition says "Train hard, fight easy") ... and the fundraising activity therefore comes last !!

To complete the Trek I must earn money to pay the balance, I must be fitter and stronger physically and mentally than I have ever been in my life, I must learn new skills, I might learn to shoot, and my desire to push a verbal custard pie in someone's face who said I would never reach the £100 000 fundraising target I set myself MUST therefore come last again.

But I have yet to let go of that 'custard pie' aspiration and could be in danger of trying to do too much of the stuff that feels good and not the stuff that's right & needed. My big question is ....

Do I forget driving at the fundraising target, just raise whatever is possible and be satisfied the statement "Do what you need to do and the rest will naturally flow" (as encouraged by Andrea, Mandy and Karen at different times this year) will come true ..... or do I try to do EVERYTHING and either succeed or fail, and possibly burn out?

Answers on a postcard please (or as a comment below, on an e-mail or via my Twitter address of @northpoletrek will be much appreciated) .... but I think I know the answer. Hmmm.

In the meantime, here's what I dream of EVERY night. Sad, I know ......

Blog entry 76 and it's a MONSTER

Well that was the week that was .... although technically it still is given it's only Friday night.

Regular readers may recall it had started with a draining tiring pathetic attempt by me at a PT session at Iveridge Hall (get there if you live around Leeds and are looking for a great place to train; tell them you want a trial and you know of them because of me)

Website for Iveridge Hall

Thankfully the week improved massively, starting with me finally printing out the confirmation of flights for the Trek which created one of those momentary freeze-frame realisations where something sinks in. Dates, times and destinations in black and red ink; gulp. The duration of time I'm away also hit home as although I knew the dates I think seeing them in print and then working my way through the "Okay so it's an 8-day trek which means ..." calculation confirms how many days prep we have before we head out.

After the disastrous PT session last Saturday I decided to take Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off to try and get rid of this blessed throat infection and associated lethargy. Instead of exercise I chilled out a little bit but was also busy confirming meetings coming up on the 30th September: -

- Sue Beckingham from Hallam University who may have a social media student willing to use me as a guinea pig for their year assignment, as well as a meeting with a senior lecturer in their Sports Science faculty; rumour had it they were considering me as a case study for their Masters students. Thoughtfully they'd not passed my details onto the biology department for autopsy interest!

- Might drop in to see Marc Rocca (http://www.roccacreative.co.uk/) after that, just because he's such a great mate and total professional ..... except when it comes to the Friday joke they send out every week. For example todays' was "What do you find beneath a Mexican's carpet? Underlay underlay". Hey don't say you weren't warned!!

- Then to Leeds to meet Suzie Vickers over a bite to eat at 'Create', a social venture restaurant in Leeds, to see if she wants to help out do 'stuff' around organising and fundraising etc.

- I'll be at 'Create' all afternoon as I have a meeting with Jo Boardman (http://www.joboardman.org/) to pick her brains about fundraising for my Trek, and finally Clare Young the 2008 Apprentice finalist who is starting a great new business called Teen Biz UK. She has brains and personality and I have a cheeky smile and a cheque for £500 (to sponsor a teenage entrepreneur). Should be fun.

Wednesday started with me dropping Lauren part-way to college so she could meet a friend and then, driving home listening to her favourite radio station (Capital FM) I heard they were asking for people to send in examples of when they got funny looks from others; cue a text about my tyre-pulling exploits.

After it was read out I also responded to another 'request' for people to text in about the first ever text message you'd received. My entry (true) was "First ever text received was in 1993 from a business contact but it remained unread for 4 months as I had no idea why the image of envelope had appeared on my Panasonic mobile ".

Finally it was time for the training regime to re-start so I did an hour (varying my resistance on the cross-trainer between 8 and 16; 2 songs on my iPod shuffle on 8 and then 5 songs on 16) and, once the 'rust' had been brushed off, I felt pretty darn good after the hour. Then it was into Leeds to Bibi's restaurant to meet Mandy Barwick; a lovely lady with the energy of a spring chicken despite her new found challenge of breast cancer.

Not only did Mandy offer some VERY valuable advice, she promised to support me by helping out on my stand for some of the Yorkshire Mafia Conference (http://theyorkshiremafia.com/pages/conference) and presented me with a beautiful 1.75 litre bottle of Belvedere Vodka (although she had to ask Mario to be in the photo as well because she was nervous).

Mandy said she expected Mario to have smiled; Mario said he WAS smiling.

After that it was home to start putting e-mails together to warn people the Trekker was back from holiday before it was time to depart for the theatre to listen to Sir Ranulph Fiennes presenting his whacky adventures over the last 40+ years. WHAT A BL**DY LEGEND THAT MAN IS.

I wrote in my column for http://www.troymedia.com/ : -

"There is always a risk in being alive, and if you are more alive, there is more risk”.

I read that for the first time last night after listening to the greatest living explorer (as stated in the Guinness Book of Records), Sir Ranulph Fiennes, give a presentation on his 40 years of . . . well . . . madness really.

He has circumnavigated the world, reaching the North Pole and South Poles, crossed Antarctica unsupported on foot, found the lost city of Ubar in Oman, ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days at the age of 57 just four weeks after recovering from a heart attack and by-pass surgery, reached the summit of Everest at 65 AND reached the last six in the selection process to be the new James Bond (Roger Moore​ ultimately got the part). And all this after serving in the SAS.

‘Boys own adventure’ stuff and a film script that would be thrown out as too preposterous for sure if Hollywood ever caught sight of one, but a valuable insight for me"

Read the rest of my article (on risk management) from Troy Media

Listening to Sir Ranulph was one thing and I know Martin, Jonathan, Stephen, Andrew and Denise also found it hugely entertaining but Denise (of Heart Research UK) had also arranged for me to meet him. Well after listening to that presentation I suddenly felt lost for words and maybe that's why the following photo looks like 'legend meets Homer Simpson'.

The 'legend' is on the left as you look at the photo ... just to avoid ANY possible confusion.

(INFO-BULLETIN - you are now about halfway through this blog entry so feel free to pause, make yourself a cuppa, take a walk round the block and then come back to read the rest).

Hey, how do you feel; better after that drink of tea and some fresh air? Good, then I'll continue ......

Thursday was by far the most amazing day since I'd got back from holiday. After a wee lay-in I was going to go to the gym but it was SUCH a beautiful day I decided to take one of the tyres to the Park and drag it for 3 miles. Two friendly toots and a shout of "Go on lad, gooo-onnnnn you can do it for Hirsty" - a reference to the Capital FM DJ who'd mentioned me the day before so happy days; celebrity status at last!

I also came across a few ladies happy to joke about their own spare tyres and one woman who, to all intents and purposes, probably pulled a series of muscles straining so hard NOT to look in my general direction. I couldn't take photos of her but here are the 6 expressions I noticed in under 20 seconds (just call me an actor of Joey Tribiani calibre)

Happy and relaxed look while power-dawdling in a track suit



Oh hang on a minute, what's that man doing??



Oh my Davinia, he glanced at you. Don't panic, just remember what Mummy said to do when faced with a depraved lunatic who probably has a knife and wants to lock you in his coal shed and feed you to his pigeons.

Just look straight ahead !! He might not notice you. Act and look NATURAL ... yes that's it.

I ..... I think .... yes, he's gone by.

Another catastrophe avoided. Almost as frightful as the time you couldn't get the petrol cap off at the service station before filling the brum-brum with petrol. Remember that awful man who offered to help? Oh he did smell dreadfully cheap; one needed therapy for a month.

After that it was a trip to see Clara White at MacMillan Cancer Support and she has now offered me the chance of 8 (yes eight) days fundraising at supermarkets in Leeds; my Trek and MacMillan hopefully raising £5-6k. YES!!

Heart Research UK also confirmed the Yorkshire Evening Post would be carrying a third article about my Trek with reference to meeting Sir Ranulph, The Mirror confirmed that this Saturday they'd have a small fun feature on it and Rosie from SmileS SMS (who have provided Rosie, an outbound telemarketing agent, for an hour a week for free) confirmed there were now 60 companies and sporting organisations who would gladly promote my Trek come March and April. Given Mandy from Bibi's said most of her experience proved that fundraising tended to be pretty much 'lastsecond.com' then I felt so much better even though actual and promised funds are only at £10 000 currently.

Later that night I made my youngest happier than she's been for a while when we went to see a car she was interested in; her first ever. Yes yes she asked nicely so she was literally skipping as she went back into her Mum's house and, in the rear view mirror as I drove away, all I could see was her literally bouncing with excitement as she told her Mum I'd said yes. Just need to get my eldest sorted as well now but that can wait until she's home from back-packing around Europe.

Of course the sooner they get cars the sooner I can start to look at something other than the Freelander ....

Then it was back to the gym for some free weights, cross-trainer and a quickly abandoned attempt at doing some dips. Well an abandoned attempt after two half dips actually; the down 'half' not the 'up' half. Glad to say though could see my pecs tense every time I squatted the 2 x 16kg weights while stood on a balance board. Call me smug.

And so we reach today. A meeting with Craig and Su at Zinc in Manchester and we're on for another couple of fundraisers. They are a truly supportive and amazing team, all of them. Thank you SO much for your enthusiasm. Hmm must get a photo of you on here!!

Tomorrow is training again; Thai Boxing first followed by a half hour PT session but I'm pleased to say that I'm ready for you Paul ... bring it on!!!!

And finally, Sunday is Mark Van Spall taking some more excellent photos of me training for the three charities who have provided t-shirts and want some PR photos. Oh and of course a weekend with Lucia before the week starts all over again.

Fingers are blistered from typing now and it's 11pm so I'm off. Night night (but if you feel the urge, click on the link or links below to donate; no amount too small and certainly no amount too big)

Donate equally to the 5 Yorkshire-based charities

Donate equally to the 5 national charities

Or send a cheque payable to 'Geoff Major Polar Trek' (mailing address on request) which Bartfields the accountants will deposit in one of their client accounts with Barclays for total transparency. That way you can nominate which charity or charities you want your money to go to