Nearly Over ...

There are not enough words to describe how shattered I am right now. Let me try to describe briefly what ive been up to. 

Monday we rode 100 miles to the edge of Germany, where we sculpted our best moustaches 

Tuesday 110 across holland to catch the ferry with 5 mins to spare

Wednesday was the big launch from the William Wilberforce monument and did 60 to Leeds where we'd been greeted by press and tv etc, and then had a big fundraising event in the evening and got to bed at 12.30; 

Thursday we ride 111 miles  through Yorkshire and Derbyshires worst hills, being greeted by my amazing family as we arrived. And today scraped myself out of bed at 6.30 again to cycle 118 miles into London, for photo shoot by Westminster and, get this, photos outside no. 10 Downing Street!!!!! didn't get dinner till - 10pm (ill post the photos when i get them). but here's one as we passed Buck Pal

Now writing this waiting for my turn with some really hot physio called Sal ...

So so much more to describe and reflect on but haven't got the energy. One more morning of getting up early, cramming my mouth with a massive breakfast and jumping on the bike. 86 miles to go on the final leg to Southampton. See some of you there. 

 Lets end human trafficking.

The Gavla

Day 13 Hoxter to Hamm

1 word: Drenched. 86 miles in heavy rain and head wind. Photo below was taken at 1st stop after only 14 miles and we were totally wet thru and frozen. Thought Ben was in danger of hypothermia! 

Used all our kit which is now hanging in a v smelly bathroo. In the hope it will dry out. This is so tough, mentally and physically. Breakfast at 7 tomorrow as we have 100 miles to get to the German border and then 112 on Tuesday to be to the Rotterdam ferry port. Can't afford to miss that. Incredible job by team Zoe today and our fab support team Isaac. Helen and Ed. keep supporting and keep spreading the word. 6 days to go. 1100 miles done. 

Day 12 Bad Frankenhausen to Hoxter

Wow. What a day. Utter exhaustion mixed with elation. We did it. We knew today would be hard: 106 miles and the hilliest day of the trip. But what made it so hard was the head wind which we've had constantly for 5 days and today was strong. Add to that rain for the last 3 hours meant we were wasted but deleriously happy when we passed the sign for Hoxter 

Can't believe we've done 12 days. Today we passed the old border from east to west Germany, now only marked by this sign

Best bit of the day was reaching this forest summit near the end which was followed by a 5 mile descent at 35mph. 

Awesome and worth the frozen face and fingers. (PS my crotchisn'tk  on fire - its my headlight!) Ben did so well again as he lived up to his name: the Vom-cano! I've been called The Camel due to my rather long toilet stops! Jim is simply The Animal - coz he is. And Tom is Captain Calamity. Need I say more?

Now only 3 days to the UK where we're hoping and praying for massive media interest and national impact. Think it's gonna be manic. 

At dinner tonight Helen and Ed, our tour guides from DA, told us it was only 86 miles tomorrow and Team Zoe gave a huge collective sigh of relief! Still a head wind forecast tho! This team is absolutely awesome. Incredible bunch of guys. Night.

Day 11 Bad Duben to Bad Frankenhausen

Absolutely knackered. Not feeling well at all today and so really struggled, mentally and physically. Worst day for me, cried at the end! Pretty bad for Ben too, he was worse, being sick 6 times. But he was amazingly determined and as soon as we finished he filmed a great speech to Isaac. Incredible. 86 miles with really steep hill upto hotel in beautiful city. 

We celebrated Jim's birthday and had a great laugh. 

Couldn't have got thru the day without the team. Truly awesome. Could say more but so exhausted need to sleep. 105 miles tomorrow and hilliest day!!! Argh

Day 10 Cottbus to Bad Duben

Great and eventful day. Cold start, hence being in full kit below by yet another dreaded section of cobbles.

The morning continued through my favourite terrain: pine forest.

But then something happened that we never thought would ... Jim, The Beast, The Butcher, fell off. Thankfully at v low seed, but still enough to draw blood on his finger. 

True to the legend he was back up and cycling in a flash, telling us to stop worrying, "I'm absolutely fine". Respect.!

After lunch, Tom #captaincalamity bust hid cleats which meant a long wait forthe van to find us.

That left us a lot of cycling and we really took it up a gear and hammered out a good rhythm of 22 mph. Riding close in a group at that speed is fantastic and Ben loved it so much he burst into a sprint after 90miles to take the lead.

Proud to be in Team Zoe and making every mile count for freedom. If you haven't given please do. It's after midnight now so gotta sleep; several days of 90 miles now. Pray for no head winds. Night. 

Cold & Wet in Deutschland

Day 9 Zielona Gora, Poland to Cottbus. Germany

Started well through more great forests.

Only 63 miles but really not fun at all. Third day of head winds and they got stronger today and just before lunch we got soaked and stung by torrential hail. Helen from DA (Discover Adventure) had cooked a great Thai green curry so that warmed us up.

But the afternoon was cold, extremely windy and wet. Yes, the vests have been packed away and the leggings and jackets are out. Ben even had his thermal hat on. We're getting an idea of the weather in the UK! 

Best story is that Team Zoe crossed another border: finally left Poland and entered Germany. 3 countries down, 3 to go. Well done Team. A week today we land at hull and ride to Leeds.

Have to pay for WiFi at the hotel so this will be uploaded late! Better roads already. Hope you're enjoying all the videos being posted on the zoechallenge website. Huge huge thank you for all sponsorship, prayers and encouragement. I'm sure you'll understand I can't thank everyone personally but I really appreciate it. Have a great day. 

The Gavla

Day 7 & 8 Torun to Zielona Gora

Just arrived at Zielona Gora for last night in Poland. No time or energy for blog last night: 2 hard days of 90 & 87 pretty flat with a head wind all day, every mile. 

It's soul destroying as well as bottom destroying!!! Know what I mean? Yesterday Tom and Ben cel off at level crossing with cuts and bruises and today Tom's bike broke: rear derailleur just snapped off.

Thank God for Hope bikes who gave us 2 spare bikes, so only 30 mins later we were back up and running! Just calculated over 1000km done. Having a beer to celebrate!

Check out and share these links made by the wonderful Isaac http://vimeo.com/66617509 and 

http://youtu.be/P-zB2RsArW0

Enjoy them both. 

Germany here we come. 

1 more week and we're boarding the ferry to Hull!

Day 6 Dzialdowo to Torun

 Hi from Torun, one of Poland's best kept secrets. This is a beautiful city with character and pavement restaurants. Yes we had to try them. Yes we got eaten by mozzies! Yes we had the worlds biggest ice cream cones too. Don't know why this donkey was there but a good photo.

A mere 76 miles today. Best average speed so far of over 16 mph. Feeling tired and apprehensive of our 96 mile day tomorrow. Early start and a case of eating and drinking to keep re-fuelling. On the road by 8am hopefully.

No major story today. Just head down and get on with it. Oh apart from the argument. The game was 20 questions to guess the person and Ben so mis-led us we couldn't guess: Homer Simpson does not have a side-kick, wear a coat, or is from our childhood! Agreed? Exactly.

Most of Poland goes to church it would seem. This is us at the back of the open air overflow which we thought Ben was going to cycle into. Weather great all day, about 25C. Villages and towns appear more prosperous as we go west, although the same problem with alcoholism everywhere. On the streets tonight got invited to a strip club. Sobering to think that people from this town could easily be tricked and trafficked back into the UK for a Hellish existence. Lets keep doing what we're doing to end it. Hope for Justice. 

Big ride tomorrow, pray Ben's shoulder holds up. 

Day 4: Super Spoony

Day 4 Suwalki to Jablon (Pisz), Poland, 75 miles

Woke up early with blazing sun. Time to hang washing out before breakfast. As you may have heard, Spoony, aka Neil Spooner, is our sports masseur who's been doing a great job healing up our bodies at the end of each day. He flies back Saturday sadly so as a treat we managed to get him kitted out on the spare bike ...

So we got lots of shouts and cars beeping as Super girl rode thro the small Polish towns. Funniest moment was him cramping up due to overheating in the outfit and Ben creasing with laughter! Total respect for Siper Spoon!

Story of the day cycle wise was 31C making it tough going. Managed to drink 6 litres and with Ed's back butties got through the day well. Afternoon brought really tricky conditions as we had several miles of rural road works. Tom having to pick his bike up and run to avoid the diggers.

It's dangerous stuff this Zoe Challenge! 

It was all worth the dirt sweat and grime as we rolled into tonight's stop: a gorgeous lakeside hotel with log cabins. We just had to jump off the jetty for a swim! Gotta be done. 

So we got our massages done in the open air by the lake, and once Spoony had finished with me, I was able to recall my physio skills and get revenge ... I mean, repay the favour and massage his legs! We'll miss him tomorrow. He's been brilliant. Big hand for Neil Spooner!

Day 5 Jablon to Dzialdowo: The Wall!

Sad day as we waved Team Zoe Sports Masseur Neil Spooner off at 7am. We miss him massively and the team isn't the same without him. Come back Spoony. 

A beautiful start at the lakeside hotel and through gorgeous forest which Ben found really hard ... Until we realised his front   brake was stuck on! Another really hot day about 27C. 

But today's story was hitting the wall, especially for Ben as you may have seen already, but we all felt it. It was a tough day, hot windy and stiff legs. 2 things got us through: good team work and the news that Hope for justice rescued another victim of trafficking yesterday. Well done Hope for Justice team! 1 more person set free. Yes come on! Keep giving keep praying keep partnering and spreading the word. It's all about stoping human trafficking and we're pumped for this.

 

We manages to avoid this storm and get to our next hotel with 83 miles in the bag. In the absence of Spoony the team physio is now Gavla! Well done to Sal and the team on the Jive night hope it went well. 77 miles tomorrow to something like Torun. Brilliant to be part of this incredible team. Go Team Zoe, go Hope for Justice. Go ... to bed! 

Team Zoe Hit Poland

Day 3: Kaunas to Siwalki

After yesterday's big day, it was a mere 75 today! Great start in sunshine and warmth, lovely parts of Lithuania, quizzing along to U2 from Tom's back pocket. Spoony cooked us some burgers, but Jim was sure they weren't beef! Had a few probs with the roads:

Lunch was also celebrating Isaacs birthday with cake

And doing interviews on our motivation to keep going on the roads: raising money to fund an investigative Hub to rescue more victims of human trafficking. So please keep giving.

The afternon was really dangerous riding on the A5 with upto 10 massive lorries in convoy speeding past on a single carriage way and us tucked into a tiny hard shoulder, if here was one at all. Thankful to get to Poland safely. This is us at the border

Oh and Spoony had a tooth brake off. Arrived at our 2 star hotel in our first rain shower, just before it turned into a thunder storm. There's more to say but we're all a bit whacked and need and art night. Thank for following and for the prayers and sponsorship. CU tomorrow. The Gavla 

Cicadas and sandpits!

Wow what a day! Brilliant all round. Blue sky 22C, tail wind, team Zoe riding well, and Tom supplying the sounds from speakers in his back pockets! 93 miles mostly flat like this

Plenty of wildlife, hence the cicadas. But the story of the day for me was me and Ed falling off our bikes when we tried to ride thru what looked like dust but was actually a sand pit! Just a few scrapes no major injuries, surely that's worth a few more quid to end human trafficking coz that's what this is all about. 

Finished the day with our massages from Spoony on the terrace in the evening sun. not bad eh? Thanks for giving and following and let's keep spreading the word! Keep checking and following the Zoe challenge website for Isaacs awesome videos. Today Lithuania, tomorrow Poland.  Ciao

From Russia for Freedom!

Ok so day 1 started on Latvia but the Russian border was only a few hours east. When you realise you're nearly in Russia and cycling home it really hits you how big this challenge is and how far people like Zoe get trafficked!

What's the story of the day? Here's a snippet of our adventures. A mammoth breakfast with personalised omelettes saw us ready for the media shoot of "The Start".

While Ed was already having his first puncture and before a single mile! 

Riga was a bone shaking ride on cobbles and potholes and tram rails, whilst the rest of Latvia was horrendously bumpy.. It was so flat Tom renamed Flatvia. After a top lunch we crossed the border into Lithuania, also renamed Lithuplania. Got to mention my lovely barber back in London, Rasa who is Lithuanian and has donated my fees to the ZoeChallenge. Arriving at our first destination in tact was a great feeling. Well done Jim Tom and Ben and Isaac, Spooner, Ed and Helen for their back up. Awesome job Team Zoe. 

2 last things. Check out Facebook for the photos of our ITB massage! And below Jim eating Pigs ear which we all tried and agreed was disgusting! 83 miles today, 95-100 tomorrow. Sleep calls.

Nervous in Riga

Well having got here with bikes and bags ok, we've had a team briefing and now I'm really nervous. Not looking forward to stating on cobbles tomorrow. Dinner in old town Riga tonight a good laugh. Team gelling, with ed & Hellen form discover adventure, Spoony the sports masseur and Isaac our media guy. Spoony just had me screaming doing my IT band and now it's Tom's turn. Night cap to come, kit ready for the morning and up for 6.30. Foot much better but hoping its really clear tomorrow. Night. 

Countdown is on

2 days to go to zoe challenge.

Aaaagghhhhh. Yesterday marked a watershed in my life: waxed my arms & legs!!!! No way. The pain was unbearable. Respect to all women and pro cyclists.