You are very welcome Mr Field.....

Hope you enjoy your padded ride.....sunshine or rain.....

by t'way, and I hope you don't think I am being too forrard wot wi' us only just having met and all, but I am not interested in t'prize if they are covered in cake crumbs.....

Right, I'm going to tell the banana story now so avert your eyes if you're eating, especially if you're eating a banana.

This is an absolutely true story I promise, it happened in the cycle cafe on the main A65 in Gargrave, if you cycle then you'll know the one I mean.

I was sitting outside there one Saturday afternoon with some friends enjoying a cup of coffee and cake of course, there has to be cake, when an old man cyclist invited himself to sit at our table - you know the sort, old knitted cycle shirt, tawny legs with muscles like old bits of anchor rope, not a picking on him, had probably been cycling for a hundred years.

He'd overheard one of us complain about a sore a[irs[/ie and he had a solution - a banana.

Against our better judgement we asked if a banana had some sort of medicinal qualities that eased the suffering of a sore a[irs[/ie, "no" he said, "You don't eat the bugger, you pick one that is your shape and size and you stuff it down the back of your pants and into the crack of your a[irs[/ie, then you sit on it"

I couldn't help it, I had to know, "But do you peel it first" I asked

He looked at me as though I was the lunatic and not him, "No you daft bugger" he said, "if you peeled it you wouldn't be able to eat it afterwards would you ?"

"Oh I don't know" I pondered.



PS - I've never dared to try it yet.

We depart for Scotland early tomorrow morning to be dumped somewhere on the edge of the Firth of Forth and ride our way back homewards again - live updates for the next three days rlcan be found hererl and with a bit of luck and three days hard riding we might just manage to fit the t-shirts that Sue Ryder Trust have given us (they only had Large left )

Hi Gary

I'm probably one of the few on here that have not signed up to Facebook so for us anti-social posters how did the bike ride go?

This was the nicest part rlhttp://jerrychicken.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/the-reaction-of-strangers/rl

This was the funniest part even though someone got hurt rlhttp://jerrychicken.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/the-amazing-dr-emmott/rl

And I haven't written about the rest yet

It went really well though, the first day was supposed to be a doddle but it wasn't, in fact it was the toughest day we've done on all three of our Old Gits Bike Rides so far, lots of hills and steep ones too, it was only 35 miles but it felt like 350 by the time we arrived in Berwick - and by the way, Berwick is not a place to go for a lively weekend, in fact it would be an excellent place to locate the UK arm of Dignitas, its like a waiting room for all who have lost hope.

Many thanks for the support, we'll probably manage around £1000 for Wheatfields when everything is collected in.

And my foot still hurts.

Cheers McF