April 2010

[Sweder]

Sitting here watching the sun rise above the Lewes cliffs I can't help but be drawn back to Cape Town and that race. I'm on the cusp of another ultra marathon adventure - my second - and I have no idea how this one will unfold.

Unlike 2007 when I trained harder than I've ever trained for anything in my life, Ive adopted the ultimate 'less is more' approach. I'm sidling up to this challenge, creeping up in the shadows, inching my way towards the start line trying not to catch the eye of the Beast. This morning's rising sun reminds me that my enemies include the elements. The forecast is for sunshine all weekend. Whilst I doubt we'll see the thirty-degree sauna of Hout Bay and Constantia Nek in the west of Ireland I'm mindful of the psychological effects that might have in the Connemara hills.

Pfaffing about with various T-shirts this morning I unearthed a recent prized edition. Like most men at this age I favour black. Black is the new black you know, and on a man approaching middle-age carrying an unshiftable spread of podge a black T-shirt with a distracting, catchy logo on the chest is de rigueur.

The shirt I've chosen for this trip was hard-earned. It was given - nay, awarded - to me by a man I love and respect, Paul Tidy. Paul was Girlschool's tour manager, van driver, guitar roadie, psychiatrist and finder of late-night watering holes on last years' Motorhead tour. He is a roadie truly worthy of the name, a career bandsman with a deft touch, a politician, a skilled technician and an accomplished musician in his own right. He got lumbered with me as a drum roadie for a month and not once did he moan about it (not around me anyway).

At the end of the tour Paul presented me with one of his much sought-after tour shirts. A man must sweat blood and beer to be worthy of such a vaunted garment. Many asked and many received that easy smile, those soft, dark eyes gleaming behind a smooth Welsh Valleys accent. 'Sorry boyo, theys gotta be Eeearned.' I was honoured to receive mine on that last night in Wolverhampton.

The front bears an emblem on the chest, a simple white skull encircled by the company motto which, sitting here huddled over my coffee waiting for a lift to the station, feels entirely appropriate now.

'Totally Tidy Tours: Let's Get In Amongst It.'