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I can see my name in lights

Hello readers,

Thanks again for logging in and reading my blog.

Wow its been such a busy week. I've got lots and lots to chat about so lets get started.

The big news of this week is that I have had my first radio interview about my trip! The lovely folk at BBC Radio Newcastle invited me into the studio to have a chat with Saturday morning Breakfast show host Helen Richardson. So on Monday morning I leather'ed up (bike leathers that is) and headed the 6 miles into Newcastle on my Suzuki for my interview. At this point I should say that I should have had a film of me riding up there to show you however when I reviewed the footage it turns out my camera what pointing to the sky (EPIC FAIL) so you'll have to wait to see the streets of Newcastle from my bike another time. Now I've never been on the radio before so it was very exciting. I did a 15 minutes interview explaining all about my trip and then had a general natter.

The interview was aired on Saturday 25th May and if you would like to hear it you can listen back to it on BBC iPlayer at this link - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018thqy - My interview is at  2hr 39min 30sec on the show if you don't want to listen to all it.

After never doing a radio interview before on Wednesday I found my self doing my second one in three days. This time the it was for Durham Today. Again I had a good 15 minute chat answering questions about my trip and this time it was done from the comfort of my front room via Skype. The interview hasn't been aired yet but as soon as it has been I'll give everyone the link to listen.

Also this week I managed to secure some more support from a local company. A + Racing, a start-up from Teeside who specialise in camera hire and sales, have kindly offered to give me a GoPro helmet camera and accessories for the duration of my trip. This will greatly assist me in filming my trip and my experience and let me try out the kit before I hit the tarmac for my ride. To learn more about A + Racing please visit their website or search for them on facebook and twitter.
 
The weather here in the North of England is often horrible but this weekend it has been perfect so I arranged a wee ride out with a few of my pals. On Sunday morning I got the bike out ready to get a early start with my mate Ant (who only passed it test a few weeks ago) meeting at my place with his brand new Suzuki SV650sport.

Ant and his new SV650s
Ant and I set off to meet up with Bernie another biker buddy of mine. However the day got off to a hilarious start after we had arranged to meet up at McDonald's but found ourselves at different McDonald's (there are clearly too many McDonald's in Newcastle). Anyway we ended up having a great run up to Scotland and back. Look out for more info this week on this ride out in video form which will be hitting youtube in the coming days.

Finally this week, I hope you have all noticed that in one years time I will be on my ride and to commemorate this I have been putting up 'This time next year..' blogs to give everyone a taster of where and what I will be doing. I will be doing this for the first 13 days of my trip as on day 13 I will arrive in Nordkapp, my destination. For the way back I haven't yet decided on my route to I won't be able to fill you with factoids just yet.

Anyhow that's all for this week. Thanks for reading and  please keep supporting me by following me on Twitter (@arcticride2014), subscribing to my channel on YouTube and watching my videos, and 'Like' my facebook page.

You also support me by donating at www.virginmoneygiving.com/arcticride2014 and by purchasing some Arctic Ride Merchandise (see link at top of page).

To close, I am now up to £193! Thanks very much to those who have donated. It really keeps me motivated!

Ride safe everyone.

Gordon

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