I would like to say a Huge thank you to Andrew, Paul and Alex of the Big Red Bike Co Harrogate for their support with our bikes for the Trans-US cycle ride next year. After their very kind advocacy for our venture to Dawes, Tracey and I are now in possession of two shiny new Karakum (its a desert in central Asia) touring bikes.

I have had a very low profile for the last three months or so and I am sorry that I have not been in touch with many of my friends in this time. Pretty much everything has been on hold while I have been working on a very special project which will be announced soon (sorry to be all mysterious). This has delayed the bike ride planning significantly and so it was a huge relief when the guys at the Big Red Bike Co offered to help.

We cycled to Ripley today to test the bikes and it was totally lovely. The first of many thousands of miles these machines and these legs will cover in the next year or two.

Thank you also to Andy Backhouse for the great photos (above).