Having lost 4 or 5 weeks to an Enzalutamide induced zombie like state of chronic fatigue and anxiety, my lovely oncologist (Sharron Beesley) has halved my dose of the dreaded Enza. The result is that I am now more functional and , as Canned Heat put it in 1967 (written when I was 5) "I am on the road again....."
A couple of weeks ago I had the honour to ride with "Three Old Guys" from Rye to Dover, to see them off on their way to a ride to Paris, which they duly completed a few days later. Kevin, Ralph and Paul raised loads of money and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK riding their 'Classic Bikes' (all built in the 1980's) and just showed us all what can be achieved with a bit of true grit. It's worth mentioning that the oldest of the Trio is over 70 years of age (not saying which one though) and the other two are spring chickens in their 60's. Brilliant effort chaps and a big thank you!
We have now collected all the aluminium components for the Pod and delivered them to various small engineering workshops around Kent. The sheet is being water jet cut in Ramsgate, the frame box section is being bent to the tear drop profile in north Kent and the rest of the box section is being cut and welded at Pegasus Engineering in Bethersden.
Hopefully this weekend we will be collecting all the elements and bringing them to an Aylett shed for the final stage of construction, The Pod is happening!
I have enjoyed some terrific rides, some solo and some with chums, culminating in a reminiscent blast around Bristol last week, the town of my youth! I had forgotten just how hilly Bristol is, thank goodness for the electric assist!
Finally I would like to report that I have started working on the battery pack that will be housed in the Pod. We are trying to get a 4 kilowatt hour battery that will be charged by the solar array on the roof in the day and at campsites at night. A huge thank you to Holiday Extras who have supplied the Solar array and controller.
The Pod's battery bank will consist of around 400 cells and, apart from contributing some valuable low down weight to counter balance high winds, it will also power the Pod's electric front wheel and also charge the spare bike battery and all my various gadgets.