ramblings about riding

 
Sometimes you get days when you get on your bike, ride for ages, and think you could keep going and going.

Hopefully next Sunday is going to be one of those days for our very own Mr Ed and his girlfriend Lizzie (pictured here at last year's Thriller video shoot looking fractionally less attractive than they do normally). They're heading off together from Shepherd's Bush to ride 2,500 miles across Europe to Istanbul, and raise a lot of money for a good cause in the process.

Training has consisted of eating loads of peanut butter and marmite sandwiches and cycling around West London with books weighing down their panniers. If you'd like to follow their progress (and pain) over the next two and a half months they'll be updating their own catchily named blog: http://transeuropeextremeoneathlon.blogspot.com/ 

Good luck and God speed, Mr Ed and Lady Lizzie. We'll be thinking of you.

office bikes

We have three new office bikes.

Sniggering aside, these bikes are for little trips down to Hammersmith, up to Shepherds Bush or for lunchtime jaunts along the river.

They've been christened Handle and Gretel, Dick van Bike and Jimmy Saddle (who was down the shops, buying elevenses during this photo call), are available for anyone at Fruit Towers to borrow and are much greener than driving a van (not to mention cheaper than forking out for the gym/that 6:30am spinning class).

Maybe one day, they'll get a grass covered passenger attachment

But for now, we'll have to settle for backies.

looking for long life in Hong Kong part 1 & 2

Our friend Alex Horne (who's currently attempting to become a Guinness World Record holder as the world's oldest man) has just got back from Hong Kong, the world's second oldest nation. You can find out what he got up to, and the secrets to long life, by perusing these two videos he's compiled of his trip. 

if you go down to the woods today

And those woods happen to be in Poland, you might find a forest floor filled with blueberries

Rozanne and Dan have just returned from a berry sourcing adventure across Eastern Europe, where they tasted an array of berry shaped fruit.

 

Howver, before they got to actually taste any berries, they first had several mini adventures along the way.

After being greeted by a dog on the runway, hiring a car that sounded like a hairdryer and picking up a speeding ticket in the first twenty minutes of driving, they then got hideously lost (thanks to a self-programming sat nav system) and had to wait by some woods in the middle of the night for our suppliers to pick them up.

 

When our suppliers finally arrived, Rozanne and Dan were then driven through pitch black forests at 180kph in a blacked out Audi, plied with vodka, potatoes and breadcrumbed meat and made to sing along to Russian pop. And that's not even taking into account the 7 hour border crossing, rigourous strip search (of the blowdrying car) and more money changing hands they had to endure, all in the name of finding the best berries for our smoothies.

It was all worth it when they got there though as they got to taste loads of berries and meet this excellent chap

 

He is in charge of about twenty or so berry collection points, which is where all the farmers turn up each day, in Fiat Pandas laden with fruit to be sent further afield.

 

Here are Dan and Rozanne sampling some berries

 

And here they are post berry-buying-vodka-toasting-high-speed-driving-traffic-police-bribing antics, playing catch up kip.

 

Berry buying at it's finest.

long distance nick

Do you live on the coast? Know any nice places to eat or a man who crafts fiddles or makes surfboards for a living?

Then Nick would like to know.

 

Nick is the chap responsible for most of the photos in howies' catalogues and for the next 3 months, he'll be cycling the 5000 mile or so bikeride clockwise round the coast of Britain.

As well as raising money for charity, he's also going to be making little films about the artisan types who live and work along the coast to post here.

 

So if you know of anywhere along the coast that has:

• Nice places to stay (with or without tent

• Interesting craftsmen who like a chat

• Good cafes (with cake and strong coffee) 

• Free hot showers/sofas to sleep on

Or if you fancy cycling a bit of the way with Nick (or just meeting him for a mid morning coffee break) simply post your comments below or contact Nick here.

He's going to be popping in to see at Fruit Towers in August (slight detour from the coast so he can catch Wilco) so we'll update you on his progress (and saddle sore) then.

the day job

My brief whilst I am out here is to spend time setting up a computer network for the office staff in Kola. The office manages the operational functions of EDK (Excellent Development Kenya), they are broadly split into Finance, Admin, Logistics, and Training. Here’s most of the EDK team, John wore his shades especially to look cool, I reeled out my cheesiest grin and strangely Mbutu stared at the tree; good job the others knew how to behave on camera.

Left to right – Kyalo, Christine, John, Esther, Peter, Mbutu, Me

Right, if you are at all bored by IT talk I advise you to stop here.

The challenges to IT work in Kenya are based around getting quick access to the right hardware and software. The nearest place with a choice of IT equipment to purchase is in Nairobi, which is a good 2 hour drive. Being prepared is important as you can’t just pop down the shops to get another network cable. Also I am used to downloading the software I need from the internet, whether it is Windows Updates or new applications. You need a speedy and reliable internet link for downloading large files and this isn’t always the case in Kenya.

In remote areas such as Kola the only possible way to get internet access is by using mobile broadband (the USB sticks that are getting popular in the UK) which the mobile companies are rolling out across the country. Unfortunately the service can be unpredictable. However it is very impressive how the mobile companies are using a technology like mobile broadband to reach customers and bring the internet to such remote places. If you consider that there is no mains electricity or running water where I am staying.

It will be great if the mobile companies can get to the level of coverage and reliability they have with voice calls as an improved service will mean better communication and hopefully benefit Kenya’s communities and economy. Every man and his cow in Kenya have a mobile and the advertising for the mobile companies is everywhere. I heard a story from a visitor to EDK saying that she was out in the Maasai Mara with one of the warriors in his full ceremonial dress when his mobile went off. It’s good to talk.

By JT.

gav's got far

Our Gavin has now made it as far as Bolivia.

Here he is with a beard, his bearded friend George, and a fruit salad smoothie with yoghurt and a biscuit, in the first place in Bolivia he found that do smoothies.

And here's a zebra in the middle of the road in La Paz. La Paz seems to be teaching its residents the meaning of their newly painted zebra crossings, by employing someone in a zebra costume to dance across the street when the lights turn red Gav tells us.

He's just started working at the Inti Wara Yassi organization in Bolivia. Expect more updates to come.

a short film about andrew's trip to malawi

You may remember back in April we waved goodbye to our Andrew and packed him off to Malawi to visit and help out at an innocent foundation project. Well as the culmination of his trip he has just finished editing a short film about his experience. And here it is. It's well worth watching to the very end if only to witness his unique dancing talents.

climbing to new heights

There was a bit in Sunday's Observer Food Monthly on our acai farmers in the Brazilian Amazon.

Photos by courtesy of Gary Calton/ eyevine. Great shot Gary, thanks.

All of the acai berries that we use in our smoothies are grown sustainably from palms native to the Amazon estuary. These palms only grow within 25 yards of the Amazon in the mineral-rich tidal wetlands, meaning that they're naturally irrigated twice a day. What's more, our acai supplier is certified as organic, and is working with the acai collectors to preserve biodiversity, address social issues such as adequate nutrition and develop other sustainable local industries, such as making jewellery made from acai seeds.

The acai berries are collected by scaling the acai tree using hemp tape looped around the climber's ankles to give a good grip.

It's easier said than done though, as Rich found out.

"Just crop the photo below my feet and it will look like I nearly got to the top."

The berries are then threshed from the branch, and placed in baskets for transportation.

If you fancy trying a whole 35 of these hand picked, antioxidant rich acai berries from the banks of the world's biggest river, then why not have a go on our detox superfoods smoothie.

 

bike accessories

If you like bikes you might like to see this little beauty, sent in by David.

We're not sure if this is an example of the Norwegians being a bit lazy or at their innovative best, but either way, it looks a lot of fun.  Here are some more pictures