It’s an early 80’s Geoffrey Butler, made in Italy by a person called Olag, so I’m told! It’s from Sargent & Co., who are a small company near Clissold Park, London who show old bikes some love. They’ve been great actually, really helped me out with it.

Ok, it might not be the most flash bike you’ve ever seen, but it certainly has character. The green saddle is not exactly original though, as you might have guessed.

I’m seriously considering the London to Berlin ride next year..

Here’s a video shot during the ride.. notably absent are the hills (he was obviously busy trying to cycle up them).

This summer I’ll be cycling from London to Paris to raise money for the Big Issue Foundation. Trouble is, I don’t think I’ve been fully paying attention to how scary this might be!

It’s not the 250 miles in 3 days that’s worrying me – that’s just 3 days of my life after all. It’s more the huge amount of effort it’s going to take to train (which I haven’t started yet) and crucially raising enough money!

In the spirit of trying to get on with this, I’ve just taken my bike to be upgraded. It’s a 1991 Marin mountain bike, about which many people have said “there’s no way you’re going to Paris on that old thing”. Which has made me even more stubborn about it.

I’m not completely mental though – it’s getting new wheels, tires, chainset, gear shifters, brake levers, and I’m putting the original flat handlebars back on for a more aggressive position – which is not as nice for London traffic but much better for long journeys.

Soon enough training will have to begin, so I’ll post routes and progress up here for anyone interested. In the mean time, your support in the form of hard cash is much appreciated! Well, not just appreciated but critical to me actually being able to do this thing…

So, please please give whatever you can..

http://www.justgiving.com/riverratrecords

I’ll be doing assorted fundraising events, such as busking and anything else I can think of in the coming months.. details will also be posted here. I’d even dye my hair a funny colour if I thought people would donate for it.