Postponement

We are really disappointed to announce that our World Cup Wheels adventure has been postponed for now. After battling stomach bugs for 2 days we woke up this morning still feeling weak after not really eating or drinking for a long time. In normal circumstances it would be hard to ride 100+ miles per day and with no food or drink inside us it would be near impossible and probably dangerous. It was a very hard decision to make but we feel it's the right one. Apologies to our sponsors - we will see if we can rearrange so you can get the correct amount of pain for your money.

Thanks for all of your support.

Dave

Green's fingers

What an odd day. 24 hours ago we were primed and ready for the challenge of our lives. As someone once said, what a difference a day makes. After Gareth's terrible start to the day, things didn't really improve. I spent about thirty quid buying petrol station food at the only 'shop' for miles and gareth improved only slightly during the day. Hopefully a big sleep tonight will make the world of difference for him. Anyway, after watching the ok koreans beat the terrible greeks on mute, and seeing the reasonable argentines beat the unconvincing nigerians we settled down in front of the england game full of excitement that our spirits could be lifted and the world cup touchpaper could be lit. It all started so well with the captain's goal, then things just went a little quiet. Yes Rob Green had a howling couple of seconds but overall we were average. The usa are a good team make no mistake but we played only ok and we can't allow the obvious goalkeeping headline to take all of the blame. I once met rob green and he's a great bloke. Let's not do the British thing and destroy the poor guy. I'm sure he feels bad enough already. Oh well, on to algeria on friday. In sympathy to how gareth's feeling i tried to cheer him up at downing shots of sambuca during the second half tonight. Job done as i now feel awful. Ha ha. At least gareth feels like we're in the same boat. I'm off to figure out how to create paragraph breaks on my phone. Hopefully we'll be able to decide a course of action in the morning. Until then...

Terrible start

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The Holiday Inn, Washington

Arrived safely in our hotel in washington after a brisk 9 mile ride from newcastle. Thanks again to the Holiday Inn for the executive room and mars bars laid on for free. Caught most of the south africa game and now devouring a burger and cheering on the uruguayans. Gareth had a poppy seed in his ear, he tells me it's an ancient chinese sign of luck and safe journey. We'll see. If my two punctures before even starting the ride are anything to go by then i am inclined to believe that Gareth's seed ear theory is poppycock. Or is that another word for somewhere else he might be hiding some leftover food? Finally, good news, we've broken the £3k charity mark tonight, a great boost. Thanks to all. 6am start tomorrow so it's off to bed straight after the game. See you in hull...

Bitter sweet evening

It's 10:25pm and I am just putting the final touches to my packing. I feel like I have forgotten everything, as usual. I had some good news and some bad news.

Bad news - was pumping up my tyre and broke the valve. That's one wheel change down with zero miles under the belt. Fingers crossed I get more mileage out of the new tube.

Good news - contact from Pompey - they can let us in their ground when we get there. This is a big boost as it's our finishing point so it gives us an added incentive to push on for home. Big thanks to Clare Martin at Portsmouth FC.

Posted by Dave

2 days to go...

...and Gareth's gear has arrived. Phew.

Leaving for Sunderland tomorrow and bags not yet packed and only the first 2 days routes have been written down for us to follow. Day 3 is an 8-grounder so we could do with not getting lost for that one!

World Cup tomorrow. Brilliant. Come on England.

4 days to go...

...and Gareth's panniers, rack, shoes and pedals haven't arrived yet. Nearly time to panic. And his water bottle has gone mouldy because of my energy drink.

To top this off I am working silly hours so preparation is taking a back-seat at the moment.

Things can only get better.