In other news... 

My brother is off to hike The Appalachian Trail in 4 weeks! 2000+ miles of trails from Georgia to Maine, USA. 

Read all about it here: http://banjosandblisters.blogspot.co.uk

Some great kit advice and gear reviews! 

High5! 

High5 is a leading sports nutrition company. They provide bars, gels and drinks to help both performance & recovery. 

I owe a big thanks to Raphael & the rest of the High5 team sending me a Race Pack....

These neat packages contain a supply of products that will help me make the most of my training rides and recover/hydrate ready for my next session. You can get yours here:

http://highfive.co.uk/product/trialpacks/race-pack

Stay tuned for a review of each of the products enclosed! 

2014 start list goes live

As a 2015 starter I'll be following this years race with a keen interest. Here's the list (so far) of people registering to start;

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AnV6xT65HkPRdE5WZ2c4S0pyZnd5Tk51cko1ZzJneFE&usp=sharing

There's a good mix of bike types: 29ers, 26ers & 650b's as well as Ti, carbon, steel & aluminium frames. 

Stay tuned for a start list update before the Grand Depart in June. 

Thanks for reading! 

Well worth a read...

I mentioned the Tour Divide to a friend last month and he had just so happened to read this book: 

Think Bill Bryson's 'Walk in the Woods' but on wheels! 

It's a great book for anybody interested in the outdoors. For the intrepid TD racer it provides a glimpse of what to expect on the trail: the environments, the people as well as some inevitable wildlife encounters. 

Bit of progress on the blog!

I've now added info on my current bike plus loads of useful links to use when planning the route in depth later on.

First decent ride out today (now I've sorted my brakes!) gave me a good insight into my current fitness levels as well as a few ideas to get my bike long distance ready. I'll be posting up initial changes shortly in the relevant sections.

Happy trails!