Sunday, October 08, 2006
A Successful Auction
Result! The auction of the Sheffield United pennant on eBay was a great success. It raised £36 in the end, which is brilliant considering other signed pennants were going for about a third of this amount and I was only expecting £20 at most... I think Jagielka's wonder strike to win the game in the last minute again Middlesbro helped... Suddenly my fellow Blades are feeling confident again...
I'm getting into the swing of this now. My sister, bless her cotton socks, has agreed to donate the savings she's making by not having her nails manicured. So apart from being the only person that actually reads this rubbish, she's also aiming to be one of my chief donators (after David who's £100 donation still puts him on top of the pile).
I'm on an up at the moment and the £2,500 seems achievable again... I'm at £286 and counting - www.justgiving.com/londonpariscycle
I've also decided that I'm going to pay the £540 costs of the cycle challenge myself, rather than take this out of the total raised, which is the norm. I feel so much better in myself, both physically from the training I'm doing, and spiritually from knowing I'm contributing something back to society, that the outlay on the challenge (including the bike and all the other equipment) is worth it...
I was reading a book the other day that talked about 'Future Pacing' as a motivational tool for people like myself that have to cycle 300 miles in four days (or something else ridiculously difficult - like giving up drinking or running across the Bramall Lane pitch stark (ahem) naked...). Basically, you imagine yourself doing the activity you need to be motivated about over and over again in as much detail as you can - the smells, the sounds, your feelings, what you can see, what people are saying and how they're reacting etc. If you practice it over in your head enough times, apparently your brain starts to think it's a real experience - something you've done before and done it as brilliantly as you imagined... So, when you come to the real event, you're no longer worried about performaing, you're brain thinks its a run of the mill thing and this prevents any negative thoughts disruping your physical performance....
This sounds like a great theory and I decided to try it for my bike ride to Paris. I have my doubts though. I mean, if future pacing really works then wouldn't every teenage boy be a sex god ;-)
Anyway, sitting in my swiveller dreaming about riding under the Eifel Tower seems more appealing than dealing with the millions of emails popping into my mailbox, so what the hell.
Quick catchup on my training... Haven't been out for almost two weeks as my gears are playing up on my bike. I think the de-railleur in the front isn't working as it won't grip the gear cable tight enough to cause the chain to move up onto the big chainring. Means I only have 18 gears instead of 27 and the ones I have are for going up hill rather than going fast on the flat... However, I went out yesterday to do a quick 10 miles and got my average speed upto the 20mph mark... I really must ditch this desire to get a speeding ticket and focus on endurance otherwise I'll be the first to reach Croydon and then will have to be carried the rest of the way to Paris...
Right. Must dash as I've got some Future Pacing to do with the Coyote Ugly girls... Good job my wife doesn't read this (I hope!)...
I'm getting into the swing of this now. My sister, bless her cotton socks, has agreed to donate the savings she's making by not having her nails manicured. So apart from being the only person that actually reads this rubbish, she's also aiming to be one of my chief donators (after David who's £100 donation still puts him on top of the pile).
I'm on an up at the moment and the £2,500 seems achievable again... I'm at £286 and counting - www.justgiving.com/londonpariscycle
I've also decided that I'm going to pay the £540 costs of the cycle challenge myself, rather than take this out of the total raised, which is the norm. I feel so much better in myself, both physically from the training I'm doing, and spiritually from knowing I'm contributing something back to society, that the outlay on the challenge (including the bike and all the other equipment) is worth it...
I was reading a book the other day that talked about 'Future Pacing' as a motivational tool for people like myself that have to cycle 300 miles in four days (or something else ridiculously difficult - like giving up drinking or running across the Bramall Lane pitch stark (ahem) naked...). Basically, you imagine yourself doing the activity you need to be motivated about over and over again in as much detail as you can - the smells, the sounds, your feelings, what you can see, what people are saying and how they're reacting etc. If you practice it over in your head enough times, apparently your brain starts to think it's a real experience - something you've done before and done it as brilliantly as you imagined... So, when you come to the real event, you're no longer worried about performaing, you're brain thinks its a run of the mill thing and this prevents any negative thoughts disruping your physical performance....
This sounds like a great theory and I decided to try it for my bike ride to Paris. I have my doubts though. I mean, if future pacing really works then wouldn't every teenage boy be a sex god ;-)
Anyway, sitting in my swiveller dreaming about riding under the Eifel Tower seems more appealing than dealing with the millions of emails popping into my mailbox, so what the hell.
Quick catchup on my training... Haven't been out for almost two weeks as my gears are playing up on my bike. I think the de-railleur in the front isn't working as it won't grip the gear cable tight enough to cause the chain to move up onto the big chainring. Means I only have 18 gears instead of 27 and the ones I have are for going up hill rather than going fast on the flat... However, I went out yesterday to do a quick 10 miles and got my average speed upto the 20mph mark... I really must ditch this desire to get a speeding ticket and focus on endurance otherwise I'll be the first to reach Croydon and then will have to be carried the rest of the way to Paris...
Right. Must dash as I've got some Future Pacing to do with the Coyote Ugly girls... Good job my wife doesn't read this (I hope!)...
