Actually this is a combined leaving, Christmas and New Years party all rolled into one so it is very important that you set aside the evening of Thursday, October the 2nd to come and spend some time with your favourite Bear Dodgers.

We are likely to be pretty close to the South Pole around Christmas/New Years and it won’t be the same without you all. So add the date to your diary now.

The party will be in central London and we will email out full details in the coming weeks. And this is a charity event so will you need to part with your hard earned cash too!

As part of our preparation, we all decided to enter this year’s London triathlon (Olympic distance) which was on the 10th August. Charlie had done the Olympic distance race in the past 2 years but it was all a new experience for Cynan & David. The Olympic distance comprises a pleasuable 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and a 10km run which made for a change in our training - we haven’t been out dragging tyres round for a little while but instead, swam up and down the Serpentine Lido occassionally and did a lot more cycling that normal.

David was the first off with a 6.30am start, the first race of the day (surely getting out of bed that early is the hardest bit?). The rain held off but it was quite windy (about 15mph) - this isn’t so much fun as it makes the water choppy and half the ride/run is bound to be into a headwind. The one advantage of an early race though is that you get to do Westminster route - this is the same route that the pro athletes do and it follows the Embankment by the Thames, all the way up to Parliament. Much better than the boring laps everyone else gets to do. David’s swim was about 40 minutes which was pretty good as he’s still learning front crawl, his bike was not bad at 1.16 and then he had a horrendous time on the run. He had a bad cramp and had to stop for a while but after massaging his leg for 10 mins or so, he pushed through.

Charlie began the race weekend well by heading to a Stag weekend in Devon. He looked..ah..second hand on Sunday as he arrived with 30 mins to spare and was the very last person to register (out of 10,000 odd people) as they were packing up. Well done mate. But at least he made it. Charlie and Cynan were in the same heat, the very last of the whole event which was at 3.40pm. Neither are morning people so this worked well! The wind turned into heavy rain for most of the run just to add a bit of spice but other than that, it was actually quite an enjoyable race. Even the water in the docks (you don’t actually swim in the Thames) was relatively warm and surprisingly clean (a lot got swallowed!).

Having done a few other triathlons, we’ve found it so much easier to do one when you are reasonably fit. They have always been quite painful before whereas this was genuinely good fun!

Thanks to Be Well too…we used B.Fuel before and during the race and B.Gain afterwards - it makes a huge difference.

We’ve been meaning to update for ages. Time just seems to be running away at a supersonic pace and there are only about 15 weeks left now until we leave. Arghhh…

So what have been up to?

Well, firstly we’re working even more ‘normal’ work hours than usual. We all need to get some money in the bank but more importantly, we need to push hard now so we can take so much time off later in the year. We all work for ourselves but that really just seems to add more pressure at the moment.

Also, we’ve begun to train quite hard - longer, more endurance focussed sessions. Lots and lots of dragging tyres around Hyde Park in London (hello to everyone we have met recently!). And all three of us have entered the London triathon which is in about 4 weeks so we’ve also been doing some swimming as well as our normal running/cycling.

Sponsorship of course is one of the biggest and most time consuming areas. Things are going quite well in this area though and we’ll let you know more soon.

And finally organising. Occasionally we need to do some of this and occasionally it happens.

Up until last week, it was all really hard work, but now, with deadlines looming, we’re getting really motivated and beginning to see through the work load and get excited about the trip. There’s nothing like some new kit or booking flights to make it all real!

A few little changes to the site - hope you like them. We’ll write a lot more updates, a lot more regularly now…only 108 days to go.

My Tyres had a pleasant surprise this afternoon after stopping to chat to two friendly faces, Milo came from nowhere and cocked his leg on my tyres…. Milo is a small (but very sweet) dog. Maybe he was not impressed with the effort we were putting in!?

Thanks to those of you who added to the weight of my pack and added money to the collection box…

On a separate note I found an old shilling in the sand track.. how long has that been there.. lucky shilling me is thinking.

Not only did i find a lucky shilling but i have just bought a Nordic Ski Trainer.. (no not a person, a machine) for a bargain on the internet.. well done me i am off for a beer to celebrate.

Charlie Hunter signing out..

 

I have just been given permission to write blogs on the site! lucky me, or should i say lucky you.

Planning and lots of it has been taking up all our time lately.

Lots of thank yous to make too:

Hilary and Conrad Dickinson - we had a great day and Night up in Hexham talking Antarctic Talk, a very very useful evening Thank you both very very much.

Sprint Physio Therapy - Who have been looking after me and are taking on Cynan next week. Thank you all very much

http://www.sprintphysio.co.uk/

Otter Box - Thanks guys i put my laptop in my smart new case and promptly got hit by a van in London, I wrekon if i had my laptop in my back pack it would be history.. Thank you very much. and as for my iphone case.. priceless i had a bucket of water flood a bag which my phone was in..

http://www.otterbox.com/

Thank you those who have registered for us to carry your flags to the pole, the images will be up by Friday.

Due to popular demand we will be bringing the flags photos back to the UK so you can keep them.

All you have to do is upload your image send us your money and leave all the hard work to us.. Those of you still not got round to registering for your flag go sign up ASAP

http://www.beardodging.com/

Thats enough from me

X

Charlie

For those of you who still can’t imagine quite what tyre dragging is..

It involves two Land Rover tyres tied one behind the other (only the rubber bits at the moment)

You then attach the rope from the tyres to your back pack waste strap and you start walking.. using ski polls or not if you want a real work out. I will film a session tomorrow and put it on youtube.

Photos can be found here:    http://www.youtube.com/user/charliethehunter

Now get back to work

;0)

Charlie

Clearly we will be hitting Carling up for sponsorship

If you weren’t at our launch party last week (or even if you were), take a look at an expedition we made earlier - Wrong Way Down, a motorbike expedition through Morocco, taking in the Sahara and even a stage of the Paris-Dakar rally.

That’s right - in true English spirit, Fortnum & Mason will be providing luxury essentials to our otherwise lightweight, calculated, calorie rich, dehydrated diet.

There are just some things you can’t do without in life, no matter where you might be. Some things are worth their weight in gold, even if you have to drag them half way across a continent. The simple thought of their taste and purity at the end of the day is enough to spur you on.

So thank you, Fortnum and Mason - your tea is the best is in the world and to us, it will be the most treasured item on our journey!