Radio Interview

Al was interviewed on Power 106FM at 7:15 this morning, he came over really well - I think he's getting the hang of this celebrity business now!

Vaughn's Message

Just digging back through my e-mails I found this from Vaughn who unfortunately had to drop out after 235 miles, it was such a shame that he was there to the end!


A big congratulations to the team that made it around the Island. Al, attacking the climbs like there was no tomorrow, Gordon for the steady pace you put in and Mavin, for keeping it all together to the end. To the riders that started with us and joined us along the way, your support (and drafting) made a huge difference, thank you for believing in us and being there when we certainly needed you. Cutters, Fresh vibes, Endurance, Portland, May Pen and more, to see the effort from the entire cycling community pushed us further.

The support crew from Red Stripe, what a job! In all my years of experience, this support team has to be one of the best I've ever experienced, they got A's all around. They did a magnificent job in taking care of us all the way around... Intersections, traffic lights, night, day, every step of the way... We never felt alone. Great job Nick and the entire support crew, I'll be calling on you guys in the future :-)

To the sponsors, the bold step to support us and help us meet the target, we appreciate it. Thanks for your donation, from sandwiches from Margaritaville and Sandals to Powerade and Wata from Wisynco and the many others that contributed cash and kind. A special thank you to my sponsors, Paramount Trading and Cycle City Fitness for helping me to get that far. My parents who came out to meet us in St. Mary and my family visiting on vacation, taking the time out to train with me and friends that supported my all the way, 100% respects!!

My only regret was not being able to finish but it was an honor for me start the journey with an amazing crew, Al, Gordon, David, Mavin, Paul and Orane. Thank you guys, I will cherish my 235 miles for a lifetime.

Cheers!!

Vaughn Phang
Jamaica Cycling Federation

Cutters Cycling Club

This morning, Al and I joined the Cutters Cycling Club for their Thursday morning ride. We met at Sovereign Shopping Centre at 4:30am and did a 40-mile blast out to Port Royal and back. Al had to tun back early but I enjoyed the 2-abreast discipline of a proper club run, it reminded me of all those miles with Glasgow Nightingale and West Suffolk Wheelers.

It was great to see so many familiar faces as many of the people out had joined us for the first 100 miles of our ride.

I have taken my bike to bits and packed it in it's bag for the flight home tomorrow.

What a great holiday!

Back On Bikes!

After 1 week and 13 hours, Al and I got back on our bikes at 5:15am this morning and went for a 2-hour ride all round Kingston! It was great!

Al heard from Dr Sherard Little yesterday and two operations have been successfully carried out already and the children are at home recovering well. So, the money is being put to good use already folks!

We are still £5K short of our fundraising target, if you have not already donated then please see if there are any spare coins down the back of the sofa, any donation, however small, helps and will be very appreciated by the staff and patients at Bustamante Children's Hospital.

Many, many thanks.

Gordon

On The TV Again!

Al and Dr Little were on TV again, this time it was the Sunrise Show on CVM this morning at 7am.

In the news....

Today's Daily Observer features an article and a pic....

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Cyclists-raise-money-for-Children-s-Hospital_7888899

TV Appearance

Al and Dr Little appeared on television here this morning, they were on the TVJ breakfast show at 8am. They both came over very well.

It is the official cheque handover at the hospital this afternoon at 4:30.

Pics from the ride

We've just added a slideshow of pics from the ride, they should be just to the left of this post. If you click on it you can view the pics a bit better.

Newspapers

We have been out and bought today's papers. The Jamaica Gleaner and the Daily Observer both have articles about the bike ride:-



http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100817/sports/sports5.html



http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Charity-Cycle-raises-over-25000-for-Bustamante-Hospital_788274

You might need to cut and paste this into your browser and I cannot seem to get the link to work.

Pictures

A few pics from the finish...

Finished!

Somewhat ahead of schedule, we arrived back at Bustamante Children's Hospital with 400.3 miles on the clock at 4:08pm today having started at 7:24am yesterday - that's 32 hours 44 minutes.

We think that this may be an unofficial record?

Three riders did the whole ride, Al and Gordon and Mavin Anderson of Endurance Cycling Club. It was a great shame that Vaughn was not able to finish due to injury. But a massive thank-you to all the others that joined us along the way whether it be on bikes, on foot on in vehicles. Mario on the run in from Mandeville - you're a star man!

Our support team were amazing under the watchful eye of Nick Stephenson - Patrick, Robert, Andray, Mitchie, Micheal. Constable Matthews on his bike was fantastic - what a way to get through traffic.

Going strong!

It's now nearly half past 7 in the morning and we have just spoken to Nick and the guys are still going strong. They passed Negril, basically the turning point to the run in back to Kingston, at around 2am, and at 7am they were passed a place called Whitehouse. They probably have about 3 hours to go to reach Mandeville and are looking a bit ahead of schedule so should be back to Kingston mid-late afternoon.

We had a great day yesterday following them around the north of the island. We first picked them up when we headed back out in the early afernoon, around Annotto Bay which is almost directly north of Kingston and about 100 miles into their adventure. They'd already had some highs and lows by then, mostly due to the heat I think, but were going strong and keeping it together. Then the rain came which luckily wasn't too bad and didn't stay too long and provided some respite from the blazing sun and also brought some cloud which stayed for the day and I'm sure was much appreciated!!

The boys were all going well and we followed them along the coast to Ocho Rios. We left them there at around 7pm as it got dark to head back to Kingston. Mr Matthews, the police motorcyclist, was also heading back to Kingston so said he would take us back in. Little did we know that he was going take us all the way with his blue lights flashing and siren blaring, clearing traffic off to the sides and taking us straight through all red lights and intersections without stopping!! What a great way to travel, I wonder what he is up to today .......

We plan to head out again mid morning to catch them up and see them home to Kingston. What an amazing journey they have had and for such a worthwhile cause.

Ali, Jane, Aimee, Emily, Megan and Freya

In beautiful Montego Bay

Its now 11:30 pm and we have touched down in beautiful Montego Bay.. The team have all made it after a scenic ride through St Anns Bay.. Falmouth to Sandals Montego Bay. After a short pit stop refreshed with snacks and well needed bathroom break.. with the sounds of planes taking off in the background we are now cleared for take off to Negril... wish us luck.

So we have now reached Ocho Rios!!! Stopping for some food at Margaritaville (15 minutes ahead of schedule!!!)...in the carpark thanks to the Margaritaville team understanding our sense of urgency...no time to waste - a monumental task still ahead of us. The clouds came over so although we are wet we were grateful for the rest from the beating sun and heat. All riders are well so far and eager to break the back of the next leg to Montego Bay. The support crew have been amazing keeping us motivated and watered. So far so good! We will keep you posted! Heading off shortly to Montego Bay - hopefully with the wind at our back. Thanks for all the support guys. We took this group shot as we were wolfing down our banana sandwiches in the car park. No time to write further till the next stop! More anon!

....and they're off!

7am at Bustamante Hospital and loads of people all ready for the start of the Barking Mad Bike Ride! What a fantastic tournout! The banner was amazing and really gave the start a focus along with all the t-shirts everyone wore. Very inspirational!

The runners arrived before 7am, having run 15 miles to bring the overall distance up to 400 miles - well done guys! The support is amazing and so appreciated by everyone.

After the interviews were done and the photos taken, at around 7.20 the main group set off with lots of additional riders joining them for the first section.

All the Barnes girls followed in the car for the first hour or so to cheer them on which was great. I now see what they mean about the roads being bad and the traffic a bit hairy - thankfully they have a large support team with them!

Home now for breakfast and then we are planning on heading out later to see where we can find them en route. GOOD LUCK BOYS!

Ali, Jane, Aimee, Emily, Megan and Freya x

10 Hours To Go!

Hi

It's 9pm in Jamaica and we've got 10 hours before we start.

We've just finished supper and our top support-vehicle driver, Nick Stephenson, has run through the stages of the route and thinks it all looks rather straightforward as the longest stage is only 47 miles! In fact he had us almost believing we'd have it all wrapped up by lunchtime Monday - PAH! Nick also informed us that he has received a response to a letter he wrote the Police Commissioner - Constable Matthews will be joining us on his motorcycle for the duration. Wow!

Off to bed!

Gordon

Twitter!

Hi all

We've just set up a Twitter site so you can follow on that as well!

www.twitter.com/barkingmadja

Update 14/08/10

Yesterday we visited the hospital and met several children that have already had heart surgery, it was remarkable how proud they all were of their scar!

Update 13/08/10

Hi Folks - Gordon here!

As the day approaches, it is all getting very real.

I arrived in Jamaica on Wednesday, David Pines has arrived up in Montego Bay and will be traveling down to Kingston tomorrow.

This morning Al, Vaughn and myself (along with our families) went to Bustamante Children's Hospital to see what "Chain of Hope - Jamaica" are doing and they had gathered several children that have already had heart operations and we were able to meet them and their parents and talk about what they have been through. It was genuinely moving hearing their experiences and it will be this that keeps us going when all we want to do is get off the bike and through it into the ditch. There was a film crew there filming the children and they interviewed the three of us that are riding the full distance.

Earlier on this morning Al and I went for a ride along the 1st part of the route so that I could get a feel for road and traffic conditions. There are certainly a lot of dogs running around and the trucks don't seem too bothered about slowing down, they blast the air-horns and just come past. There are plenty of nasty pot-holes to contend with and I am quite glad we are starting on Sunday morning rather than a weekday. The sights and sounds are certainly something to behold, most passing vehicles are omitting the standard "Jamaican beat".

In my first meeting with Vaughn it was reassuring that we all share the same fears about the enormity of the ride and what we are taking on, I'm sure David is thinking the same, none of us want to be the weak link in the chain. We need to treat this as a 400 mile ride and not set off like loonies despite the people seeing us off and the film crew etc.

More when I get a chance.

Cheers

Gordon

Update 10/08/10

The start time is now 7am Sunday 15th August 2010

Due to the road conditions in the south of the island, we have had to alter the route:-

From To Stage (Km)
Kingston - Morant Bay 49
Morant Bay - Port Antonio 71
Port Antonio - Annotto Bay 44
Annotto Bay - Ochie 59
Ochie - Falmouth 68
Falmouth - Montego Bay 33
Montego Bay - Negril 77
Negril - Whitehouse 54
Whitehouse - Mandeville 73
Mandeville - May Pen 36
May Pen - Kingston 56
TOTAL 620km ( 385.1 miles)

Jane Barnes Adds Colour!

It runs in the family - Al's wife Jane has also been working hard to make Bustamante a better place, to improve the lives of the doctors and nurses working there in a small way and certainly cheerfully distract the many many children as they have to go to the hospital for painful and certainly stressful operations!

This took some 6 months, and many many hours in the extreme heat, there was even a shooting nearby on one occasion (evidence of how badly this hospital and it's facilities are needed).

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/Jane-Barnes-adds-colour-to-children-s-hospital_7800575

Test Ride

In preparation for the "big event" I decided to ride non-stop for 18 hours through the night round Richmond Park in South West London to get a feel what we were going to be doing in August. I started at 3pm on Friday 9th July and finally ran out of steam at 8:30am on 10th July.

Al!

Good Evening from London - Gordon here!

It's 10pm and it's now 18 degrees C outside, somewhat cooler than Jamaica at the moment. Maybe I should cycle in all my winter gear tomorrow to get used to 38 degrees?

I love the way Al plays down all he does and is, can I briefly describe the weekend he spent in London.....

Update 05/08/10

Good afternoon

The 15th August is nearly on us, the date I set for the Jamaica round island cycle ride in order to raise money for Bustamante Children's Hospital. Here's a brief update.

Specifically, we set out to raise the £15,000 that Chain of Hope need for materials in order to carry out 7 critical heart surgery operations. (Obviously operations of this kind actually cost many many times more than this amount but Chain of Hope finds amazing Doctors that will come over and carry out these operations without cost to the hospital or country. To these doctors and all the local staff involved, a massive thanks and big appreciation).

I am very happy to confirm that we surpassed this amount, and therefore doubled our target to £30,000. This was because the management team at the hospital told us that the orthopaedics dept also desperately need funding for much needed procedures and operations. Local funding is incapable of covering the medical support needed by children in the Caribbean region.

An Idea Is Born!

12/06/10......

Bustamante Children's Hospital saves lives every single day. It is a gift to the world. The dedication of all the staff who make the hospital such an amazing, special and warm, safe haven for all 10,000 children treated there every year, from difficult and challenging births, wounds, injuries and diseases of all kinds, Bustamante sees it all, literally every day.

It's one special place.

Each year, money is raised for the hospital, through the amazing philanthropic work of Shaggy and his friends at the 'Shaggy Foundation', however this year it's our turn to step up and help....