Last Thursday morning I woke to find that our phone had no dial-tone and hence I had no internet connection. This was the case until Saturday night, by which point I was in London preparing for the charity bike ride (more on that in a moment). Those few days at home with no internet were awful. It's amazing how much I rely on the internet. Not only for running the business (how unprofessional must it have looked!?) but for running my life too. It made everything I wanted to do a right royal pain. Then there's the withdrawal symptons. I've never given up smoking (I never started) but I can imagine it's a similar experience - no idea what to do with yourself, bouts of irritability, snacking on food, mood swings etc. Let's hope that doesn't happen again soon. Or that Sunderland decides to get itself an internet café!

The last two days have been spent in Brighton and London after myself, Jim Jennett and three other unsuspecting fools rode "the beast" the 54 miles between them. Probably one of the most gruelling things I have ever done. If you sponsored me you may be glad to know I really did earn every penny of it. Sitting and blogging for 24 hours is one thing. Sitting and pedalling a monster of a bike up and down hills for 10 hours is something completely different. Many thanks to all of you who did cough up some cash. We raised GBP£720 in all (USD$1,300). Photos and full report to follow. Normal service to resume tomorrow.