So all the planning and preparation is now behind them as the boys yesterday flew out to the land of the Maple Leaf to take on their Rocky Mountain Challenge.  The event itself does not get underway until the weekend but the lads flew out to Toronto to spend a few days in the nearby suburb of Mississauga with family friends to relax and get up to speed with the jet lag before making the further flight on to Calgary.

I certainly do not envy the baggage the guys have to carry about with them.  I dropped them off to the airport and these bike bags are enormous.  I’m sure a few eyebrows in airport security were raised when they walked in the door with these huge plastic boxes!

No doubt though they’ll be glad to see the back of them for a few days before again moving them on to Calgary were they will again take a few days to acclimatise to the conditions before beginning the event.

Keep an eye on this link for more on Duane and Matty’s challenge.

Click here to sponsor them.

For all of you out there who have lifted copies of photos over the years, good luck to you. But now a little pay-back is required.

Some of you will know that my son Matty and his friend Duane are taking part in the TransRockies Challenge in Canada next month. This is a major enduro MTB race over 7 days through the mountains, camping out each night and riding 5-6 hours each day. It was Duane’s idea to go and raise money for the CLIC Sargent charity (Caring for children with cancer) at the same time. Duane was a sufferer a few years ago and benefited from the charity. He ran the London Marathon to raise funds last year and now wants to go a bit further. The lads are covering all their own costs, which are considerable. Every penny they raise will go to the charity and they have done well so far.

It would be great if you could gift any amount to the charity on the following link: http://www.justgiving.com/duaneandmatty

Have a look at the TransRockies site to see what they have gotten into: http://www.transrockies.com/transrockies/index.html

 Thanks for looking anyway.