So theres been Good News and Bad News...

Firstly, apologies for the lack of activity on my website recently. This has been majorly due to an unfortunately timed operation on a muscle in my chest, leading to an unscheduled 6 days in hospital! Not exactly how I planned to spend my few days 'holiday' in Ireland, and the whole thing has thrown my subsequent plans into disarray. The most disappointing outcome by far was the fact that this weekend I am missing the Explore 2009 conference at the Royal Geographic Society. I've blogged on this a couple of times before, but it really was incredible last year, and I hope the folks this year are having as good a time.
Anyway, these things happen I suppose, and I've decided that I should be thankful for the time to rest and recuperate, and I can aim to come back fitter and stronger than before. Hopefully within another 2 weeks I'll be up and about properly again, and with 5 weeks I should be able to start running and cycling, no doubt desperately trying to regain the fitness that I'll have lost!

So that's the bad news.

The good news is that of my bike sponsor - I'm delighted to announce that I will be riding out from New York on a Santos Travelmaster. Santos (www.santosbikes.com) are a Dutch company for those of you that haven't heard of them, and they really do make the best touring bikes around. They're starting to make big waves in the UK, having sponsored recent riders like James Bowthorpe (Round The World Record Holder) and currently Oli Broom (Cycling to the Ashes), as well as numerous other well-known and exciting tourists worldwide.
The lovely (and extremely knowledgable) folks at MSG Bikes in Lancing, Sussex, provided me with a superb ergonomic bike fitting in-store, and I got word last Friday that my bike has been made, sent, and is now waiting with them! The next stage is another visit to the shop, where they will do a second fitting session with me to tailor the bike perfectly to my needs. What Alasdair and Shelagh at MSG don't know about bikes isn't worth knowing, and it's a real pleasure to have people like that taking care of me and my biking needs.
A few other new sponsors have also got on board - check them out via the sponsorship section here. So, what next? Well, now all I've got to do is get well enough to get a flight back to England so I can sort out the rest of my stuff there, and crucially, pick up my Santos! It's gonna be touch and go, because at the minute I'm still pretty incapacitated. Delaying my flight from London to New York would cost a LOT of money - which rules out that option.
My plane to NYC leaves in 15 days, the race is on...

Santos - The Dutch Masters

MSG Bikes in Lancing, Sussex