...............but my mother used to say to me “You get dafter as you get older” and I here I am proving that she was right.
Anyway, here I go again. Back to America and another long distance bike ride, this time from Portsmouth in the North West corner down to Jacksonville in the most south-westerly state of the union, Florida.
This year is a bit different. There’s the charity side and also I know a little bit more about my abilities than I did last year. I have to admit that at this time I am a bit more apprehensive about the journey, or rather my cycling abilities, than I was last year, as I know that I have lost a lot of fitness since returning from the last trip, put weight back on and have to do 95 miles on Day One Cycling.
I have certainly done a lot more cycling over a 12 month period than I did last year, so that should help but I do harbour some little lingering doubts.
I hope that I don’t disappoint myself or those of you that are following my ‘grand tour’.
So.....
Day One and the sun hadn’t even tried to breach the driving rain that greeted Lynne and I when we set off for her to drop me at Manchester Airport. On arrival there, I hopped out and Lynne got away before the parking wardens got her and I took the luggage trolley with my bag and bike into the Departure area.
A lot of people ask how I pack my bike (because I do take my own bike to ride on these mad trips); there are a lot of words of advice as to how to carry one’s bike by plane. You can buy a box at about £200 or a strong, purpose made bag for about £75, or get a cardboard box that new bikes are delivered to bike shops in for however much you can get them to part with it for. My method is a little simpler and works on the ‘if they can see what it is, they are less likely to throw it about’ principle.
I put foam pipe insulation round the metal bits of the frame and try and pack round the gears and brakes. I turn the handlebars 90º (as required by the airlines), let the tyres down then put the bike into a clear polythene double bed size mattress bag. Seal with parcel tape, cover liberally with ‘Fragile’ tape and put on a label with the flight numbers and asking the handlers to treat the contents gently. It works for me – and it’s cheap!
Arrival at Manchester Airport confirmed my beliefs when I was thanked by a baggage supervisor for leaving the bike visible so they could see what it was. Mind, at the time of writing this, I haven’t got to Boston and haven’t got the bike back yet, so it may be a bit premature!
The flight from Manchester to Heathrow was fine with a fantastic view over London as we flew in straight down the Thames and over all the ‘sights’. I had to go through Security again and surrender my bottle of water that I had acquired from WH Smith in Manchester free with a newspaper. That was a bit of a bummer but it paled into insignificance when a man, who was going to New York but had flown in from Delhi, had to surrender two litres of Johnnie Walker Black label whisky because it wasn’t in sealed bags. Big OUCH! The Security staff did say to us both that we could stand to one side and drink what we had if we wanted to, rather than throw it away. I wasn’t tempted for the water and he declined, too.
Relief of reliefs, though, when I was able to ring home and find out that Edward had got 2 A’s and a C for his ‘A’ levels and would therefore get into his chosen University. This is fantastic reward for his hard work. Just when I want to speak to him he is out doing probably what most Perrys do on an occasion like this – celebrating.
The flight from Heathrow to Boston was uneventful – full of people but somehow I managed to get an empty seat next to me so I got a bit of a leg stretch out of it.
BEWARE!!
Virgin Atlantic now charge £50 for legroom seats! That was quite a surprise when I asked. Should have seen it coming though as the man at the desk had a mask on and a bag marked ‘swag’.
I recovered my luggage recovered from Boston in reasonable time and a taxi ride to Portsmouth meant that I got into the hotel about 8.15pm US time (1.15am UK). I then rebuilt the bike which had come through unscathed and here I am writing this first load of boredom at 3.30am UK time.
I promise it will get better than this!