Dave and Jen For Oxfam

With the rain still pouring outside, we flip the diary over and find ourselves in a traffic jam of excitement and frustration. Over the last week we have been excited to work alongside two more great sponsors at Crumpler and In2Cycles, with our frustration aimed solely at the weather. Anyone living in South East Queensland would be aware of the rather intense storms that have rolled out over the region and caused such damage in Brisbane suburbs like The Gap. Whilst the area that Jen lives in and the area that I live were largely untouched, it does put a downer on both our training and our moods as the reports of the damage continue. Thankfully the State and Federal governments have committed to providing financial assistance to those worst affected, though the usual reports of slow response times emerge whether factual or not. Whatever the case, it’s nice to see support getting out to those that need it, rather than just camera crews.

Aside from that, and our best wishes of course those affected, our attention has largely been on the last leg of the fundraising for Oxfam Australia. We are so close to our target now and feeling the urgency of the last two weeks closing in somewhat. As I’ve said before it is indeed an exciting trip as far as seeing the work of Oxfam Australia on site and “that little mountain bike ride” from Vietnam to Cambodia, but our thoughts and energies have been entirely on the fundraising. Once we hit the plane, I think the other elements of the trip will finally come to mind. Not that we aren’t genuinely excited, but it’s hard to dance around singing “holidaaaay” when the major purpose of it is to do what we can to better the lives of communities in regions like Cambodia, where AUD$25 can make such a difference. We usually end these countdown posts with some form of a reminder link where you can donate, but I’m going to pepper this post with reminders such as this link. Or you can go directly to the Oxfam Australia site and sponsor us there, and enjoy knowing that your money goes directly to the work of Oxfam Australia and you will be in many ways joining us on our trip. You will won’t you, reading this blog and checking the FlickR photo galleries, Twitter posts and your choice of either the excellent Vimeo or passable YouTube for videos? Of course you will!

So the fundraising and geeking aspects are covered, which brings us to thoughts of starting to get together the list of what we will be packing. We will be leaving our Mongoose Tyax Super and Giant Yukon’s in Australia and will be supplied with some model of Trek’s, though all the accessories come with us. Later this week I will fill out the Gear section of this site but needless to say we will be taking seats, gloves, knicks, jerseys, helmets, riding glasses and water bottles. In2Cycles have covered us nicely for that aspect and Crumpler have been fantastic with the bags and hydration solutions. The travel computer supplied by In2Cycles will let us track the distance and time we ride each day and Jen’s roaming smart phone (which really doesn’t deserve a plug here does it?) means we can tether our micro-laptop and have no excuse to miss our daily updates. Depending on how tired I get this will be either simply Twitter, some pics and a post or some video editing and typical verbosity. Maybe some hyperbole, Bryson-esque attempts at wit and general travel writing cliché. You can count on me for that.

So this week ahead is going to fly by, and so much so that I’m going to avoid any attempts at an analogy or metaphor and simply recognise that it’s going to, well, fly by. There’s really not that much more to say at this stage besides the reminder to help us reach the last part of our target, to remember that you can read older posts on the site by clicking on the categories or the “Older Posts” button at the bottom and another reminder to help us support Oxfam Australia! Lastly, thanks for everyone that has helped support us so far and for all the great emails and comments!