The expression goes.......

......that if one waits until one is ready for something, the readiness never comes. So, with that in mind, bring it on! I'm ready enough. 12 days to go, the bike's ready, mousses fitted, roadbook 'thingy' fitted, went on a wee shopping spree this afternoon for jerry cans, metal putty (cold chemical weld I'm told - not that I have any idea what to do with it!!) and enough zip ties to go around the world twice.

The bikes are being trucked to France in the next day or two, so when a window of opportunity appeared today for a practice I took it! It was also at the precise moment that the heavens opened on Cambridesghire - real Welsh rain it was!

My little Honda is on top form, Martin at TorqueRacing has worked his magic, the forks are 'lovely' (technical term), a lowering link on the back and a couple of bar risers. Perfick! Martin's the man.

The CRF 250 isn't as torquey as the 400, still need to work on my throttle control on set off, wheel span just the once - oop!

Had a fabulous outing, one of those 'big smile in the helmet' jobs. It was very slippery and I just love big puddles, they're as irresistible as dark chocolate! Played 'chicken' with a few young pheasants or maybe it was 'pheasant'! Had a major wobbly skid and just averted a spill - tee hee! I was absolutely soaked to the skin when I returned - not one item was dry. Jet -washed the bike, it was very satisfyingly grubby!

Very excitingly, we've raised a current total of £6207 for GOSH and KidsCo, the target is near! Thanks very, very much to everyone who has so generously donated, it means such a lot and personally has been such an incentive when the going's got tough (and that's been quite a lot of times!!) and to our wonderful sponsors; GBRacing, TorqueRacing, The Wendy House, Esse, Ocean One, SLP, ZeroNine, SupremeBeing, Eagle Performance, Dawson VAServices and my No. 1 trainer Donna Gray.

I'm wearing a rather lovely shirt tonight (bear with?!) which has been signed by Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, James Toseland amongst other notable legends of MotoGP, TT, WSB & BSB - hoping some expertise will rub off!! Kindly donated by Steve Parrish and it's going up for auction soon - watch this space.....

Doing it in the dark!

Well what an experience this evening was! Martin warned me about going out on my own off-road, however with 15 days to go and an opportunity in my sights, I went for it. Had phone & lip gloss, no metal putty, no gear levers and other stuff, however figured even if I did, I wouldn't know what to do with them!

I used to ride my boy (16'2 throughbred) in the evenings and the funny thing I noticed immediately, is that a horse will tell you what's going on, maybe deer, farm work, a person; long before you're even aware of whatever it might be. On the bike, I felt oddly alone and more responsible. The sunset was absolutely stunning, pinks, purples, reds and blues - lost the back end slightly at one point, possibly due to cloud gazing!

Was on the KTM 400 - loving it, have I switched allegiance even if I can't touch the ground when it's upright! The Honda is still stiff (?) and has gone for some magic intervention from Martin at TorqueRacing.

In the flat light, I couldn't see the lumps, bumps and ruts and therefore truly relied on my training and belief in my ability.

It was fantastic, at one point I was aware that I was looking just ahead of where I was at rather than properly ahead and I remembered breakfast some time back with Ross Noble and he said " always make sure you look where you're going, that's where you'll end up and the bike will take you". At that particular moment I was traversing some yukky hard ruts and thought, okay let's plan ( as per Si Pavey's advice) and look where I'm headed, gave it a bit of throttle too, just because and voila! Huge grin in helmet, then a deer appeared, several bunnies, a hare and some spooky partridges.

Still not sure of my iron steed in the Pyrenees however slowly but surely, I might just be getting there......

A stiff fork of a Sunday morning......?!

I think the expression could be one step forward, two steps back.

Whilst being all for plans coming together at the last minute, even by my standards, this is cutting it a bit fine!

My (new to me) Honda CRF 250X arrived on Friday - spotless, 4 stroke, push start loveliness in scarlet (matching nails opportunity?!) What with work, life, general stuff I didn't get to ride it properly until this morning.

Team outing; Gary, Mr T and myself (very excited), just as we were setting off, I was thinking, well it's not sublimely different, in fact my riding seems to be just as pants as it's ever been. 'Keep at it, girl' I thought. Novice, as I am after a small amount of road work and onto the byway, I couldn't help pondering why my hands were aching so much and hard as I tried, couldn't seem to stand up properly, or effectively anyway (I need some bar risers too). Of course, it could be that it's sulking - do bikes sulk? I dropped it before I'd even ridden it!

In a straight line all was well, however slow speeds and corners I was finding a tad challenging. Funny moment then ensued, I was in front at this point and was going round the edge of a grassy corner knowing that on other side there were some ruts. Chap appeared coming the other way on a KTM I think, with a bit of a lick on and the slightly horrified look combined with a possible "are you changing course or am I" look in his eyes was priceless! Huhh, I held my line. He was with about 15 or so others, bikes of all shapes and sizes - only a handful said hello or acknowledged ( in fact 4) and there I am telling anyone who will listen that bikers are mostly fabulous and really friendly (the exceptions to that rule were out in Hertfordshire this morning!).

So, back to the Honda. We stopped at a little clearing on the top of a hill with stonking views, there's a couple of banks which I now have the know-how to jump - yeehah! I can't remember if it was Gary or Mr T that asked if my forks were a bit stiff, I learnt over the front of the bike and pushed. "Try harder than that","I am trying" I replied - nothing! They had a go, nothing. To say I had stiff forks would be the understatement of the year, no wonder I'd been struggling.

I hopped onto the KTM - Mr T's 400- cripes - what a difference! I'll ride this thanks and I did. Mr T rode the Honda from then on and back home, didn't enjoy the fight by all accounts. I rode the KTM, my new best friend (BFF!). The good news however, is that now I know I'm progressing, hitherto, I felt so intimidated by the KTM, too heavy, too high. I had oodles of fun on it this morning. I even got a bit of air - a proper jump on it (both wheels)!

Last leg of the trip, situation normal, I was bringing up the rear as it were. Stopped at a main road where the Icknield Way crosses it, there was a stream of road-bikers, they all said hello, nodded etc, there were one or two rather aesthetically pleasing leather/ kevlar clad backsides too?! Devil's in the detail!

The boys were considering whether the bike was indeed even run in, it's not yet done 200km. Oh well, if I leave today I'll reach Biarritz in time and the Honda should be run in too!

Hopefully, Martin of TorqueRacing will work his magic otherwise I might yet be riding the Pyrenees on the GasGas!

16 days to go, more wonderful donations in last week for GOSH and KidsCo and I think I can almost, nearly call myself a bit of a biker, albeit one with dodgy forks!!

Like mother, like daughter.....

....except that once or twice I struggled to keep up with aforementioned 8 year old daughter!

Seems I have a first reserve for France. Went out for a bit of family practice yesterday and of course, now that I've decided to get a new bike (4 stroke, push start!), I'm now getting on better with the GasGas - regularly in that powerband - such fun (that sounds like an oddly inappropriate Miranda quote) - it is mighty fun though! You do have to really rev the 'whatnots' off it to really get it working properly and in that powerband, but when you do, you do get rewarded. I'm learning and now believe that riding across the Pyrenees and raising lots of money for GOSH and KidsCo is really very possibly within my grasp!

Sometime back, I recall reading in MCN about a guy that rides an R1 (from memory) and commutes on it, all weathers for 25 or so minutes, morning and evening. He commented that he really feels alive during those 50 minutes each day and mostly has a big grin on his face. I remember thinking how fabulous though in all honesty, not really comprehending (although I understood the 'feeling' from being on a horse).

Several months on, I understand it completely! There was a wistful moment yesterday, looking at the stubble on the recently harvested fields where I would have galloped and cantered most days (work permitting) on my sadly departed one horse power(!) thoroughbred!

Yesterday, in the sunshine, with my daughter who very capably tackled and succeeded through some horrible hard ruts (Mummy didn't plan a good route -oop!), the smells of the harvest and the sheer joy of knowing that you're riding your bike well (ok - for perhaps a small amount of time anyway, I was properly burning the oil off 'cause I was in the powerband?!), the feeling, just awesome!

And on the straight trails, little Toj no. 1 was whicking along so fast, I had to really keep on the throttle to keep up - tee hee. Seems I have a first reserve very keen to come to the Pyrenees instead of going to school!

Who ate my sandwiches?

Out with Donna today for a day's fun in the sand. Brilliant! Lots of aha moments. Yet another learning curve..... - yeehaa and only dropped it the once!

Had a bit of tantrum this morning, tears (thanks waterproof Dior for not turning me into an Alice Cooper lookalike!), swore (a bit?!) and nearly stomped off! However, was in a wood with lots of twisty turny (technical term?) track and lots of gnarled roots so where exactly I would have stomped off to, I'm not entirely certain - but at the time it seemed like a possible plan! The reason for this tantrum was that I'd stalled the GasGas once or twice ( or .......) and in kick starting it again discovered that there was pure nothing under my left foot which is a bit pants for stability!

Tantrum over, my first exercise was to get into that powerband over and over and over again. We were at a fabulous track with ascents, descents, sand, woods, trees, woods, more sand, mud, twisty bits, turny bits and quite a dollop of sharp turns.

The GasGas and I were probably more together today than we've ever been - it's all coming together, getting in that power band doesn't actually last that long until you need to change up again. What's interesting is that I can feel it now too, as well as hearing it - what I mean is that I know when I need to power on, change up, down or plain rev the 'whatnots' off it! Not sure that's a bikey expression but hey ho. You'll spot in one of the photos just a tiny bit of 'air'! Yippee!

Had a few angry moments today, cross with myself, which when channelled effectively is power itself however as neuroscience will confirm, when anxiety kicks in, it's almost impossible to perform at peak, be it on a bike, a stage, as a leader.....

Donna got a bit cross for an entirely different reason today. During our lunch stop we were chatting about something or other and Donna went back to her bag to get her second sandwich and it had mysteriously disappeared! During the accusations & fall out that that ensured, a rather portly labrador appeared looking slightly guilty with a gently wagging tail. A canine opportunist. Tee hee!

Carpe diem....

Seize the day!

Taken a slightly different route with the blog today. Inspired by the words on this poster......

Pondering going out of a comfort zone, thinking about the aged expression 'you'll never know what you can do, if you always do what you've always done' .....all around whether I need a new bike with less than a month to go.....I've made a decision.

The GasGas still intimidates me slightly, however, in my work as an executive coach, I know that a few well chosen words have the power to inspire, enable and ignite that extra little spark that is often the turning point between succeeding or not. Equally, a few poorly chosen words can serve to undermine, discourage or completely extinguish that little spark in some-one that makes the difference.

It's ultimately about how we feel and using our drive and ambition to strive to greatness, mindful of those few well chosen words to help us on our way.

I've been so privileged along this journey to have been given a few well chosen words by a number of wonderful people and I thank you all so much for those (the less well-chosen, I'm choosing to park!). Simon Pavey & Chris Evans have said that they believe I can undertake this off-road challenge on the GasGas - and Simon Pavey has observed me on a bike, first hand, so know's exactly where I'm at - it wasn't a particularly good sight a month or so back either! Thanks to his tuition it's prettier now!

So 'seizing the day (by the cojones - as lovely mate added earlier today(!)) - I'm using the courage and guts definition.?!. ... that's where I'm at and tomorrow I'm going offroad for the day on the GasGas to an enduro track with Donna and a photographer will be there too.....?!:

Are you seizing your day?

Shall I wear it to bed?!

Cyril Despres's signed riding shirt has arrived! It's very cool! You may recall it got delayed on route from Andorra to Cambridgeshire prior to the auction.

I'm wondering if I should wear it from now until September - some of Cyril's expertise and karma might transfer from the shirt? Perhaps I'll wear it to bed...... whatever works.....?!

Went out last night (not in Cyril's shirt, if the winning bidder is reading - a bit - okay very muddy round here).

I'm definitely getting the hang of the GasGas, another aha moment last night, when giving it some welly, if I'm all over the front of it, standing or sitting, it doesn't feel like it's going to unceremoniously dump me in whatever might be nearby. Hoorah!

Still umming and erring over whether to get a 4 stroke 250.....the push start and smooth power delivery is very appealing! Watch this space.......off to find some mud.. !