Monkey Meet and 6 days to go

Good day folks,

Welcome to the latest instalment of the Arctic Ride 2014 blog! It's now only 6 days until I set off my mammoth charity ride to the Arctic Circle.

Donations have been coming in thick and fast so thank you to everyone who has donated so far! I'm getting so close to my £2,500 target that I might actually break it before I depart next Saturday.

If you want to donate visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/arcticride2014 

Now one would think that the weekend before a 6,000 mile ride to the Arctic Circle you would use it for trip prep or get ting the last few item arranged... Well not me! I decided to do a test day and ride my bike 410 miles in 12 hours so I could meet up with the best and worst of the UKs (and beyond) moto vloggers in Nortingham at the annual monkey meet.

On a beautiful May morning I set off just after 6.30 am and headed to Teeside to meet up with my mate Paul before the 160 mile ride to Nottingham.

A few hours later we arrived in Nottingham and met up with nearly 100 bikers ready for a ride out around the countryside and a few stops along the way.

Not only did I meet some of the legends of the moto vlogging community ( and there were lots) but I was also lucky enough to have the support of te organisers for my trip with cakes made to be sold for my fund for Cerebra.

Massive thanks to @PicklePoo, @Mrs_Rudder and the rest of the folks for all your help and the money raised!

I've spend my Sunday cleaning the bike ready for the big off on Saturday and a practice run putting up my tent (8.04 is the current record which needs to be improved if I'm not to get wet in Norway).

Thanks for reading and please keep sharing and supporting my ride.

Ride safe.

Gordon