06/15/11 by Dave Orders | Uncategorized | Comments Off on Another year, another challenge (or two..)
2010 proved to be quite a big year. There was definitely more than one occasion where I thought I might have bitten off more than I could chew. At the start of May my first ironman was approaching fast (too fast) and soon after would be the channel swim. Success would mean a trip through Russia happy with a job well done. Failure would mean six weeks of constant jokes, at my expense, through the rough terrain of Mongolia. Failure really wasn’t going to be an option!
Several friends, who are themselves far more accomplished athletes than I, thought I was pretty crazy to attempt my first ironman and channel swim in the same year. But if you don’t try you’ll never know.. right?!
If you’re remotely interested in the preparation and how those events went read the bottom of this blog. First to details of this year’s challenges!!
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08/28/10 by Dave Orders | Expedition Updates, Stage 2 : Moscow to Beijing | Comments Off on Day 42: The lakes near Khatgal to Moron
High Point: It has to be the lakes. The crew were in serious need of a rest day and to spend this sat on the banks of a huge freshwater lake (3 trillion litres of water!) was incredible.
Low Point: The hangover. It was similar to the movie only with slightly more recollection. And all crew members were also still present in body – but definitely not in mind. Read more →
08/23/10 by Dave Orders | Expedition Updates, Stage 2 : Moscow to Beijing | Comments Off on Day 37 – Altai
High Point: Showers. Camping each day is obviously amazing but it had been over a week since we’d been able to properly clean. Altai provided an opportunity to stay in a hotel with running water. And it didn’t disappoint. We’ve been bathing in ice cold river water for a long time but the hotel had warm running water! We now look almost human again. Read more →
08/18/10 by Dave Orders | Expedition Updates, Stage 2 : Moscow to Beijing | 1 Comment »
High point: Our fixer was a legend but we still didn’t break the Russian border for 8.5 hours. We fully expected to kip down in no man’s land overnight. After the Russian gates opened it was 30 mins before the Mongolian border shut but on arrival it was pretty clear Agi (fixer) knew everyone. The paperwork, passport control, vehicle docs, vehicle inspection and carnet were blitzed in 20 mins and we were through. Amazing. Russia behind us. Mongolia dirt tracks ahead! Read more →
08/14/10 by Dave Orders | Expedition Updates, Stage 2 : Moscow to Beijing | Comments Off on Day 28 – Novobinsk to Barnaul
High point: So while Ben was taking a stupid amount of time wandering around Novo trying to change Kazak Tenge into USD a Russian Wedding party stumbled across Martha. What a start to the day – you have to check out the pictures below.
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08/09/10 by Dave Orders | Expedition Updates, Stage 2 : Moscow to Beijing | Comments Off on Day 23 – Kostanai to Darobestja
High point: After several hours on the open road the boys were probing the land for the real Kazakhstan. Captain Steve took the wheel and also the initiative and randomly pulled a left at the only village we’d seen in the last 50 clicks. It turned out to be a beautiful decision. I think he’d had a few too many coffees and the chat and enthusiasm was coming on thick so the crew were quickly motioned into action. The locals, I think, were scared having never seen a European before, ever. We were greeted with trepidation but the cricket set was pulled from the back of Martha and quickly set up to include the village kids (Adults were coming back from a day’s farming to ensure we weren’t going to steal them). For the cricket, It’s safe to say it wasn’t your classic field setting, but I’m pretty sure the next Kazakhstan version of Brian Lara has been scouted. Hand eye co-ordination was incredible! By this stage the most incredible thing had happened. We found a young lad who had spoken English. There were seriously less than 100 people in this village. After explaining our story we were given a personal tour to the lake that was about 2km off the main trucking route. It was the most amazing campsite yet there were no other campers. The sun set on one side of the lake and rose the next morning on the other. Complete unobstructed by any building or man-made structure. Incredible.
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08/04/10 by Dave Orders | Expedition Updates, Stage 2 : Moscow to Beijing | 1 Comment »
High point: Lots. It was an incredible day. We set off early and arrived in Kazan before lunchtime at the Mercedes garage. They were massively welcoming and loved what we were doing. Using a lot of body language and finger pointing we eventually manage to explain the problem. The chief then rallied the troops within 10 minutes and they started work. In the meantime he let us know, if we wanted, the lovely Veronica would show us around Kazan. Wow! She was a definite 10 for her knowledge of the town, friendliness and her legs. Beautiful. The guys at Kazan Mercedes garage were amazing throughout. We all can’t thank them enough for helping us in our time of need and if they’re ever in London and need a helping hand we’ll happily oblige (we’re good with guided tours of tower bridge, trading strategies, bean counting or golf lessons)
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06/17/10 by Dave Orders | Expedition Updates | 1 Comment »
So maybe, just possibly, the last blog was a bit heavy?! It’s now 3 weeks till the swim, so, it isn’t going to be easy, but i’ll try and lighten the mood!
Guy’s swim is due to take place this Friday though we don’t know for sure as the actual swim day is very much weather dependent. He spoke to the channel pilot today (Reg) and apparently the winds might be a little strong until the weekend. But all the months of training seem to be reaching a climax very quickly!
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06/06/10 by Dave Orders | Expedition Updates | Comments Off on Channel Blogging
Given the challenges I’m facing in the coming months several people have said it would be good to start a blog on our site. Two weeks ago I took part in the lanzarote ironman along with Paul, Ross, Tom and Mark. Four weeks from now I’m going to swim the english channel.
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