JOGLE 2010 The Map

I read on a friend's blog last week, the mortified confession that she had bought a digital camera... A good fun of a girl, a passionate photographer and cool blogger herself (you can check her blog at http://heyyousaycheese.blogspot.com/ ) she wrote about it to all her followers, making it clear that it was to save some money so she can travel more next year and then taking more polaroids...
I was thinking about the trip I'll be doing next month accross the UK (www.jogle2010.org and www.justgiving.com/fonziesjogle2010 ) and thought I have a confession to make to some, maybe a couple...
You know, to those who doesn't know me that well... I'm English! I know, sounds weird (specially with my venezuelan/kiwi-wannabe accent) but I am, at least technically. I was born in London, an so I'm an English Citizen. But that's no worries. I feel lucky and thankful about it, except every 4 years with the football world cup.
But the second confession might worry some. In particular some italian readers. I've been working as a cook on a boat in Italy in the last year or so. And when you say it everybody goes "ohh aaahh yadda yadda yadda" while confidently moving their hands somehow, which gestures mean all the words they aren't saying... They are quite passionate about their culinary culture, and with a reason I have to admit. But unfurtunately, some can be a bit arrogant about it and will tend to think than nowhere else in the world there's a culinary culture. They even think there's no such thing as english food...
Confession, here it goes... I do like english food! I genuinely believe there's nothing better for a hang over than an english breakfast. I do like toasts with butter and Marmite. Yes Marmite. I like sundays' roasts and think fish and chips on a sunny day in the beach rocks! (I might get fired after all that if the boss reads it)
Unfortunately I've never lived in England so I have never really digged deeper into its food. So when reading about JOGLE 2010 and finding out they had orginized all of our meals with local producers I can say I was very much pleased and looking forward to it.
I'm very curious and motivated about this whole experience. The people and their cycling experience. But specially I'm very curious about the landscape and the food. Although I've been regularly to England lately to visit my sister, I feel this is the first time I'll be seeing the country itself. I wonder about the riding, the hills and the weather we'll meet along the way.
It feels good to actually go and live the place I was born at, and it feels awesome to give something back to a country which has given me and my family so much.

John O'Groats to Land's End 2010

Alright, so here I go again...
This time I won’t be riding by myself, and basically I will be supporting one man’s idea, initiative and determination by joining him and 25 or more cyclists in a group ride from John O’Groats to Lands End (hence the name JOGLE 2010), or in other words from the most northern point to the most southern piece of land in the United Kingdom.
The idea was created from James Bowthorpe who last year broke the world record for cycling around the world in 174 days. James has raised 120 thousand pounds so far for a project run by the Institute of Psychiatry in London called What’s Driving Parkinson, for what he has worked and volunteered for over 3 years now. The project is trying to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease and it’s extremely underfunded, so James has set himself a target of 1,8 million pounds... not an easy task indeed!
I’ll be joining him for this ride, and as the other 25 riders, my aim is to raise 1000 pounds for this project. So together, we can put together over 25 grand in just one week.
As James is doing (getting people together so that each of one us can raise a little money to achieve the big target) I would like that apart from donating (that you can do easily t at www.justgiving.com/fonziesjogle2010 ) and contributing to my participation in this event, you help me (or the cause) passing this information to as many people as you can and as actively as you can, help us getting more people together so I can reach my target of 1000 pounds and we can help James achieving his goal. You can help not only donating, but also getting more people to donate, finding any sponsors, creating more awareness about this project, and making more people find other supporters.
The event will run from September the 5th to the 12th, 1600 km in 8 days, so I’m hoping we can put together at least the 1000 pounds by the time we finish the ride.
Get yourself involved. Support this good cause as you can, and think of it not as something I am doing, think of it as we together doing something good for others.
I’ll be updating our progress through my blog www.fonziesride.blogspot.com and you can follow me on twitter @fonziesride. There’s also a website of the event that you can check out on www.jogle2010.org.
Cheers,
Fonzie and the Jogle 2010 crew.

Riding the Med

Summer was spent sailing and riding around Sardegna, Malt and Sicily... more to come soon!