Videos: Mont Blanc Summit Flight

Above are a couple of good summit and flight videos - including Squash's great 10min version of her Mont Blanc challenge back in 2009. A 2min version is posted below - but this version shows the full prep and acclimatization process - and that it took her three attempts (including a summit) before the conditions were suitable to fly. This is why we've given ourselves two weeks plus, and will need a bit of luck!

Training Update: Photos

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks. A pretty turbulent and hectic time - with Jam dislocating his shoulder at Tough Mudder and Sam having an ulcer on his eyeball - but this has been peppered with some big 'climbing focused' rides around Box Hill and another trip down to Brighton. The biggest day en-route will be climbing the Jura montains and the Col de la Faucille - some brutally long and steep climbs before cruising down into Geneva - and so training is geared towards making sure we a) make it and b) enjoy it! I've embedded my Strava feed to the right of the page so you can see our training efforts, as well as track us down during the challenge.

Unfortunately our trip over to Chamonix and Annecy to visit Irwyn (Pilot and guide) was terribly timed - both in terms of terrible weather preventing any flying, and in terms of our health (Jam's flu and Sam's eye)- but it was great to meet some serious pilots, play with some of the gear and practice some ground handling. More will follow, but in the mean time - below are some pretty pictures:

This is the bag containing the wing and harness. We'll be carrying this - plus all of our equipment/food for a couple of days on the mountain. A considerable weight to climb 4,800m with!

Route planning

Finally off the ground! The highest altitude we reached all weekend

Training Update: Photos

Some big rides in the last few weeks - with a weekend in Anglesey and a ride down to the Brighton to put down to some serious miles. Jam also spent a week in France and cycled one of the Tour de France stages. Look out for a comprehensive blog post on these coming soon - but in the meantime here are some snaps! We've been working pretty hard on other aspects of fitness (including the Energizer 10k - won by Patrick Burke with a ridiculous PB of 34 minutes something - well done mate!) as we've got Tough Mudder coming up in two weeks time.

We're also off to Chamonix and  Annecy this weekend to meet Irwyn and do some mountaineering training and hopefully our first flights! Ridiculously excited! A Contour and a GoPro camera will be going with us so watch this space for some epic footage!

Amazing scenery outside of Rhosneigr

Our first experience of 25% incline outside of Beaumaris

          

First puncture! Two miles in to our cycle to Brighton. (Keeping weight to a minimum is crucial - hence why I packed a frisbee)

Littlehampton Beach - 50 miles in.

                             

The Energizer 10k.

In the saddle!

We've been out on our first few big rides over the last couple of weeks - getting used to spending time in the saddle, using clip-ins for the first time and stomping down some miles!

We've also just discovered the Strava GPS app - which tracks our distance, speed and elevation - and compares our performance with the pros and our friends. Everything has since got a LOT more competitive.

We're lucky to have quite a few mates who are keen cyclist and so looking forward to getting some big rides in with some friends - with the odd pub stop along the way.

Most of our riding has been in Richmond Park so far, but we're off for our first trip to Box Hill next week.

Now is also the time to say that the score is now 1-0 in Jam's favor in our tally of upsets/embarrassing moments. Whilst stuck in traffic in Richmond Park on Sunday I successfully managed to unclip my left foot, but lean to the right - resulting in the first fall. Needless to say, Jam sped off and pretended not to know me.

Squash Falconer

A lot of people have been asking how we came up with this ambitious challenge - and the short answer is through having the good fortune to know Squash Falconer and be inspired by her adventures. Jam has known Squash (a friend of his sister) since he was a kid, and I met her at the Boat Show a few years back.

At that point, she had already become the first British woman to climb and fly off the top of Mt Blanc - and was preparing to summit and fly off the top of Everest. She's currently in Tanzania attempting to climb and fly off Kilimanjaro.

Watch the video below for a quick review of Squash's Mt Blanc summit and flight - and a taster of the challenge we are preparing for!

Anyway - about a year after meeting at the Boat Show, whilst at the Riverside Pub in Vauxhall - we decided we'd try to copy her.

Climb Mont Blanc and fly off the top.

And after a couple more beers - for some reason, we decided we'd cycle there too.

She's been a great support in the planning of our trip - and we are very, very grateful. Make sure you check out her website and follow her on twitter and facebook.

http://www.squashfalconer.com/
@squashfalconer
http://www.facebook.com/SquashFalconer

Coastal Trail Series - Half Marathon

As part of our training we've been covering a lot of miles on foot - and have signed up for a number of races to give us some focus to our training. Look out for updates on our Tough Mudder and Energizer Night Run events.

This weekend, I (Sam) traveled down to Devon with an old school friend (Adam Brown) to take part in a half marathon that formed part of the Coastal Trail Series. Staying in Adam's cottage in Hope Cove and joining a team of runners from Atkins Engineering, we entered this beautiful but 'Severe difficulty' level half marathon. It was amazing. Despite it being early February and snow was falling all across the country, we were treated to clear conditions and amazing views. Our route was a wet and muddy 14 miles, climbing over 2,000ft, and taking a full hour longer than previous half marathon times - but it was incredibly enjoyable.

The great video below shows some of the route filmed by helicopter - definitely worth a watch. If anyone is keen to do one of these in the future - do let me know! We also had a GoPro camera with us - so watch this space for some clips from our race.

Bikes Purchased!

After what felt like weeks of researching the best bikes and finding ourselves still pretty clueless, a rash decision after a few beers watching Italy beat France in the Six Nations has meant that we will both be riding identical Specialized Secteur Sports. More importantly, we've bought matching helmets and so our fashion colour scheme for the next 9 months is now an enforced red, white and black.

We've both be training pretty hard over the last few months - but mostly running and gym work. Now we have bikes we have no excuse - hardcore training begins!