Cyclingforrekko finally hits the road!
Finally yesterday we hit the road! It has been a long 6 hours ride but thanks to the sun that shined for most of it, it has been a pleasant ride!
Leaving its been harder then I thought initially but once I did the first few km I realised that I was doing a good thing and that I can make it!
The bike works well although not perfectly ( the front derailleur is ” lazy”) but I can’t complain!
Right now I am in Tamworth ( actually a small village called Warton near Tamworth) waiting to the depart of the next stop, Oxford!
My host here were great and it was a pleasure to meet them and get to know each others!
Thanks everyone for following Cyclingforrekko!
Donations can be done following the link buonacausa.org/cyclingforrekko
Matteo
24 hours to the start!
Hi!
How is everybody?
Here in Manchester the sky is grey and the temperature low as usual but I am excited as tomorrow at this time I will be finally cycling towards Italy!
I was thinking the other day that between the all exciting things related to this trip, I found strange thinking that it will take me 12 days to cover a distance that I usually cover in 2 hours or so by plane. Also the action of “going home” never lasted more then 24 hours (when I was returning from China), while this time the action itself of going home will last almost 2 weeks..
I have finished my exam last Thursday and from the moment I have started running around to prepare my departure (changing the bank account related address, empty the room, packing the boxes to send to Italy etc..). But I have also found some time to relax : I went to see “The Great Gatsby ” and yesterday I had a very nice dinner hosted by two friends of mine that offered us some delicious Chinese “Delicatessen ” followed by a visit to K favorite club in Manchester, The Venue.
Today I have to finalize a few things, send some emails and check that everything is ready for tomorrow (as well as watching Giro D’italia stage! :D)
Preparing the necessary for the departure!
I will be in touch again before leaving, remember to spread this blog between your friends ! I am doing all this for charity and it would be great if you could contribute to my fund-rise. All the details on how to donate at http://www.buonacausa.org/cyclingforrekko
Matteo
Cyclingforrekko
Less then 1 week !
Hi everyone,
I am really sorry for the “grammatical” mess of the previous post. Sometimes I write on this blog to release some tension, and I write too fast and without checking.
Sorry!
However we are now 6 days from the departure day! (and we reached 101 posts on this blog whoooppwhhoppppp!)
I am continuing with the preparation of the bike and of the equipment 😀
In particular I am writing down the roads I should follow in order to avoid getting lost. They look clear to me now, but I am not sure they will look so clear once I will be “On the road”.
Oh, and I am also preparing the “Snacks bag” 😀
I would like to remember that behind this project there is an important fundraising effort. We have now raised 750euro thanks to numerous donations, and we are in need of further 250euros to reach the 1000euros target.
Help Cyclingforrekko!
Matteo
Cyclingforrekko
PopupBikes Manchester. My experience
Hello!
As you all know the starting day for my trip is getting closer -8 days!
For this reason in the past few days I had to organize myself in order to do the final set up to the bike , especially changing the rear cassette and chain which were really old.
As the budget is quite little I had to buy the parts online to save about 40% and then find a place to set them up by myself to save some more money. Having to set them up by myself sounds easy but the problem is that I have no instrument whatsoever here. So I started searching for somebody who was willing to borrow me his equipment to allow me to repair the bike. Emails, after emails, after emails I got in touch with Dipak from PopupBikes.
Dipak in his shop!
PopupBikes has some goals which are, as taken from their website:
Not for Profit Parking
The cycle parking at Popup Bikes is intended to operate on a not for profit basis, this means we can offer you the lowest prices for cycle parking.
Any profits generated will contribute towards our social goals as well as efforts to further reduce the cost of cycle parking and provide improved services.
To provide low cost cycle parking in Manchester.
The monthly cost of cycle parking will be £20.00 for a total of 312 days per yearworking out as £0.77 per day.
To provide a hub for cyclists with information on cycling safety.
The provision of a social space will be conducive to giving the cycling community a place to meet and congregate to share ideas and get in touch with other cyclists. We will also print and provide cycle safety leaflets and distribute them to our members free of charge. We will also be encouraging experienced cyclists to join new cyclists on assisted rides in order to increase their confidence on initial rides.
To provide a space and fund/sponsor monthly cycling safety lectures.
We intend to sponsor and fund monthly informative meetings where we will invite experts in cycle safety to attend. We also intend to invite GMP to advise cyclists on road safety and provide free cycle tagging.
To encourage our members to add their voice to improving cycling infrastructure in Greater Manchester.
To a greater extent we would like to encourage our members to provide the valuable data and feedback required so that Manchester City Council & Transport for Greater Manchester can make improvements to cycling infrastructure throughout our city.
Dipak , after knowing the aim of my cycling , offered me his equipment so that I could repair my bike for free. I really appreciated Dipak availability and friendliness. He also checked the set up of my rear derailleur as I was mixing up with the regulation screws (Did this happen to anybody before or just to me???)
PopupBikes has also a little coffee shop inside which offers great coffee in a very friendly space. They also organize events to increase the sense of community around the shop.
All in all, a place to visit if you have a bike to fix but also if you want a coffee and make some new friends!
I think this shop is very close to ideal I have on how new small/medium business should be run. It takes so little to be friendly and nice but it makes so much of a difference!
Matteo
cyclingforrekko
13days to go. Short Updates
Hi everyone! I hope everybody is doing alright!
I am writing for my room number 86.3 in Manchester, still with a little temperature and still studying for my exams.
Weather here is crazy( nothing new under the sky)! However while I was in Barcelona I noticed that all the threes got back to green color and most of it are full of blossoms which makes the view from my window less bad 🙂
I am not very happy about this temperature I am having as, not just it stops me from training but also is making my body less strong and trained overall, I can see it. It’s a shame.
Regarding some more general news, today I will have a Skype interview with an association in Guatemala “Ninos de Guatemala” regarding a possible internship period with them (I need to plan what to do after the summer!)
Also I am very happy as these days the Giro d’Italia is on and it really makes my afternoons better! 🙂
I am also trying to organize little events in the cities I will touch through the website Couchsurfing, will see what will come out of it!
Have a great day everyone!
Matteo
Cyclingforrekko
p.s here a little video that I have shot yesterday to try the Gopro camera I have received lately! I went out for just 10 minutes and headed to the northern quarter where I found a street festival. 🙂
15 days to go. Updates!
Hi!
I just turned up on the blog and it says : 15 days to the big day! SCARY!!
There are just 15 days left before leaving and I am home with a fever that I brought back from Barcelona where I spent the last three days with K. We went to allow a bit of a break before my 3 upcoming university exams and to leave behind all the stressful things that we both together or as individual went through in the last months…
The trip has been a success. This short trip allowed us to “taste” a bit of that spring air that here in Manchester we were missing.
Matteo and Kasia in front of Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
Coming back to Cyclingforrekko, today I have received from Visions-Channel.com the camera that I will be using to film my adventure and try to create a small film that will be then , if I will succeed in the filming, be incorporated in their great website (I really suggest you all to give a look to their initiative!). Again a real big thanks to the them for trusting me and letting me this beauty! (soon i will try and film something to test it 😀 )
Camera
Regarding the making of the film over my adventure, I am planning down the shots that I will need as it’s important to plan it before leaving : “Failing to plan is planning to fail”Cit.
Shots list
Also I am starting to put together the bag and the kit that I will take on my bike (Bags, Bicycle spare tubes, etc).
Spare tube!
rear bags
The bike with the front bag mounted on the front.
Today I have also started contacting the people that will be most probably hosting me along the way to start putting together contacts numbers, addresses etc.
I guess for know this is all!
Stay tuned, remember to make a donation , if you can, to help us reaching our 1000euro fundraising objective (we raised 700euro so far! )
Thanks for reading !
Matteo
cyclingforrekko
Updates CyclingforRekko 27.03.13
Hey Everyone!
One thing before all the others : How crazy is this spring being so far?!?!? In Manchester it’s so cold and it keeps snowing!
Now back to Cyclingforrekko!
Cyclingforrekko has been in London during the last four days (more details about the trip in the upcoming posts! keep checking!)
While I was in London I have received a great support photo from U.C Pistoiese (Particular thank to Luisi Lorenzo)
U.C Pistoiese http://www.facebook.com/uc.pistoiese http://www.cicloweb.it/squadra/2013/uc-pistoiese-dilettanti-2013.html
And from Simone Masciarelli , Pro Rider for Acqua e Sapone Team and part of a family of Cyclists (http://www.cicloweb.it/squadra/2013/uc-pistoiese-dilettanti-2013.html)
Simone Masciarelli for Cyclingforrekko
We have also received some important donations that helped us reaching the current balance of 560Euro raised for CyclingforRekko (www.buonacausa.org/cyclingforrekko for more details). In particular I would like to thanks ASD Bici Camogli and Golfo Paradiso that allowed Cyclingforrekko to raise 70Euro during the race of last sunday (Thanks to those who bought Cyclingforrekko T-shirts!).
Also a great thanks to Simon Geschke who is demonstrating a great support to cyclingforrekko (Keep an eye on this rider riding for Shimano Argos, which after an 8th place at Roma Maxima has collected a 5th place at Criterium International just few days ago ( https://twitter.com/simongeschke , http://www.1t4i.com/riders/simon-geschke/ )
Today I also had a pleasure to have a chat within Lokum Il Caffe (https://twitter.com/LokumilCaffe ) with Luca Zanotti who is already supporting Cyclingforrekko and is willing to organize something with us!
Also Today, I received a call by Mr. Nicola Reineri from the Liguria Regional office, who showed the interest of the Region in helping Cyclingforrekko in it’s fundraising activities.
Another important news is coming from Visions-Channel.com who confirmed the interest in borrowing us a video camera to be used to film the all bike trip to then possibly publish the footage on their website.
The weather is being crazy therefore training is difficult and I can’t really do more then going up and down the stairs of my building (the other day I had a session of 750 steps running and it killed my legs!)
Now After this brief update I will try to post some content regarding the 4 days in London!
Thanks for following and supporting Cyclingforrekko,
Matteo
CyclingForRekko Lottery. The Little Story of Our Prizes.
Hey Everyone!
Of course I am writing just before my bed time, between sipping lemsip and coughing. Spring is comign, let’s get ill!
Today I wanted to mention about the event we created for CyclingForRekko. We just started a big, hopefully international lottery with some cool prizes. How it works? You make a donation – £2.00. That is a cost of the lottery ticket. You put your name clearly with the donation, don’t be shy, we need to know who you are! Then you’re going to get a number! And then you can win one of our prizes!
We decided to collect our prizes asking for support independent stores in Manchester. So I went to Mancunian Temple of those, Affleck’s Palace and by far we managed to get a promise from little Clothes Store (we need to come back there) and a handmade bracelet from The Bracelet Store. Basically, I found out that you just need to ask and there are people out there who want to help!
The greatest support we received from The Empire Exchange, amazing second-hand shop, a true mine of vinyls, books, comic books, dvds, everything you want really… Paul gave us a special voucher for our prizes. Of course it’s impossible to pick the right ones!
By far we have a bracelet:
Sting’s Vinyl (how young he looks here?!) Album: “The Dream of the blue turtles”.
ColdPlay Viva La Vida Or Death and all His Friends Piano/vocal/Guitar musical score. For those who love music!
There will be more to come! I need at least more long visits at Empire Exchange to pick something hopefully appealing.
The lottery runs till nearly 19th May, so you have plenty of time to join!
Here is the link on fb to the event:
http://www.facebook.com/events/433029196783625/?ref=3
We count on you!
Now, off to bed!
Good Night!
Kasia
21.03.13 Updates to CyclingforRekko supporters and Followers
www.facebook.com/cyclingforrekko
CyclingforRekko 