Well I thought I would start a new blog for our next adventure to Rome. In a little under 2 weeks we should be setting off from the steps of St Paul's ready to cycle to Dover on Day 1 of our adventure. There is still much to sort not least of which is who is actually coming! We are almost there. Just a few i's to dot and t's to cross.
The idea for Dome to Rome came about after a little weekend trip to Paris with Nick Beven, Alex Pecorari and Ben Brown. Not to be outdone by our trip to Gibraltar (Clock to Rock in 2011) the concept of Dome to Rome emerged. It was a fantastic idea and a bit like many teenage ideas, they quickly run out of energy and so those of us with a bit more event organising stamina volunteered to take on the challenge and get organising. So here we are some months later and about to leave for Rome. To be fair to the boys they have been pretty busy with A Levels and we are all waiting with baited breath hoping that results are good and they will all get the necessary grades for the next step in their lives at University. Keep your fingers and toes crossed.
The original idea for the Dome was I believe the Dome in Greenwich (that well known music venue). However the purists amongst us think that St Paul's is London's true Dome and so that is where the ride starts but we will pass the Dome in Greenwich so hopefully everyone will be happy. There also seems to be some sort of connection by riding form St Paul's Cathedral to St Peter's Basilica which will be our final destination. Having spent most of my working life working for a Peter and a Paul it all just seemed right.
Learning from our experiences in riding Clock 2 Rock and chatting to friends and family we have assembled a fabulous itinerary through France and Italy with some lower mileage days thrown in to allow us some degree of holiday. This will not be a trip for massive charity fund raising. It is simply a group of friends and family looking for a bit of adventure and a good excuse to eat and drink our way across Europe.
So who is coming?
There are the Clock to Rock veterans, Myself & Paul Beven, Matt Beven, Jill Jamiseon, Chris Vaughan and Jeff Cleminson will join us for the second week. We shall scoop him up as we pass his Lake Annecy holiday home and take him onwards to Rome. We are intending to use his large engine to take some rest behind after the long miles through France (but don't tell him that). Oscar Geen started Clock 2 Rock but a small matter of two large knee effusions meant he left us in Spain prematurely. However I am delighted that after his return from a year studying in Berlin he will be coming along on Day 1 to Dover. Then of course there are the young boys Nick and Alex who will ride the whole way but Ben has decided that Paris was far enough for him and won't take part. We do however have a few other new faces and additions to the team. Ella Beven (15) is our youngest and prettiest team member who was a great support in the car on Clock 2 Rock will be cycling as far as she can each day. Then we have Kolya Magyar who came to work with Paul and I at Healix not too long ago and has since been converted to cycling (as most Healix staff are at some stage or other). He hasn't been persuaded of the fun of cycling up steep hills in the summer sunshine though so has decided to ride as far as southern France before handing over the reigns or handlebar tape to John Pugh (our cycling Legend) and another Healix cycling event veteran. I am sure there may well be some great business ideas conjured up in the two weeks we are away as we also have Scott Sunderman our Sales Director coming along. He will join us the whole way to Rome after completing day one of Clock to Rock and waving us off at Portsmouth. Alex's parents are not prepared to miss out on the action and Massimo his father will join us once we have crossed the Aosta valley into Italy. Its great to know we shall have some Italian linguistic expertise to get the gelato orders in each day. We are still waiting to hear whether Alex's mother Denise can join us. She is juggling home commitments but we hope she will mean the numbers arriving into Rome will be up to 13. Then we shall have other friends join us along the way we hope. Leigh Fulager worked many moons ago at Healix until she moved to live near Annecy so she and her husband John (ex Healix 5 a side player) will join us for a day up into the Alps. Some fresh faces to chat to and take our minds off the 20 odd kilometre climb to Seez near Bourg St Maurice. Lastly we are hoping to see Mark Hudson for a day somewhere in Tuscany. Mark rode Vatternrundan with us some years back (186 miles in a day around a lake in Sweden) so I am sure he can cope with a day of Tuscan hills.
So thats the riders, how about support? Well in week one through France i am really excited that my big sister Christine (aka Chruc (as in 'Kruk')) will be driving the faithful old Land Rover along with a great friend Tacye Blest. Tacye is a full time bike events organiser for the British Heart Foundation so we will be in good hands for sure that first week. She is more used to 130 riders not 13 so hopefully we wont be too much trouble. Then on our rest day we have a swap over with Elizabeth Beven arriving and making up a full compliment of Beven family members. Liz will be accompanied by Angela Mewis who is new to this and to be inducted into the world of Assos cream, faffing and iced coffee sourcing. Louisa Sunderman and Sarah Sunderman will also be along for the whole ride to help transport and support. Last but not least Team Cleminson (Kate, Lucy and Millie) who's cheers helped us on our Pyrenean ascent in 2011 will be coming up into the Alps and staying with us until they must turn and head home.
Just running through that list of great friends and family is making me anxious to get everyone together and to get going. I am very excited for one and will be hoping to blog as much as we can our days on the road so that those friends and family who couldn't come with us can vicariously join us on our journey to Rome.
I had best go and finish the route details so that I can then share them with you.
You forgot Harry! Also a clock to rock veteran.
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