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Málaga paints the shirt blue!

Malaga released one of the most ingenious adverts ahead of their La Liga clash against Real Madrid at La Rosaleda, encouraging the fans to support their local team.

In the tongue-in-cheek ad, a man is shown painting the trademark blue stripes of Malaga, down the face of a Real Madrid shirt, before asking the fans to chose a side and support Malaga.

“There comes a moment in life, when you need to make decisions.

“You can’t have two teams. Support your team!”

Full article on Inside Spanish Football

Footnote: sadly it was not to be. Real Madrid won 1-0 with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring.

In footballing terms, I now announce my “pre-season training event in Lanzarote which will be for the benefit of The Kennel Klub of Lanzarote. Over three days I shall do a leisurely cycle tour of the island stopping at many local businesses. I am sure that we can get 50 bars, restaurants, businesses etc to sponsor the ride at 10 euros each. This would be 500 valuable euros for Laura Johnson and her team at the Kennel Klub. If we also find 500 supporters to donate 1 euro each, the Kennel Klub would make another 500. I will definitely be going out there looking to make 1000 euros for our four-legged friends whilst I pedal away. Hope this helps them! The second cause I am supporting is the community at Sun Park Living where the Sunrockers and I are looking to raise 500 euros for their cause. More on that soonest.

Laura tells me that 5 euros will pay for one day in private kennels for one dog. That will mean one day of safety, food, water and shelter. The more 5 euros I can raise, the more days/dogs they can afford to look after without the risk of them being euthanised.

* 10 euro will pay for a dog to be microchipped which greatly reduces the risk of a dog being abandoned or lost in the future.

* 20 euros will pay for a dog to be vaccinated against common illnesses and prevent them from contracting them.

* 50 euros will pay for a male dog to be sterlised thus reducing the number of unwanted/unplanned litters.

So, if you would like to donate a fixed amount for a specific cause, Laura will be pleased to advise. My target is 1,000 euros. How she decides to use the money is 100% up to her and her team!

The tour is being organised by Mike and Julie at www.LanzaroteInformation.com which is the ultimate source of information in English about the island. Without them the tour would NOT be possible. I will be proud to wear whatever shirt they choose for me over the three days! THANKS, guys.

Norway 2014

The Shirt project wheels along! The next stage in the Journey is announced! On June 14 I shall set out from the Kirkenes Stadion (=stadium) home of Kirkenes IF in Kirkenes on the Russian border. This is probably the toughest challenge to date as we are not talking the flatlands of the Netherlands or the East of England. No, I shall face the mountains and valleys of the west coast of Norway. The backbone of the journey will be a visit to all the clubs in the top three divisions of Norwegian football. The journey will take me down from Kirkenes to Bodø (the most northerly of the Tippeligaen clubs to Trondheim (RBK), Molde, Aalesund, Sogndal, Brann, Haugesund, Stavanger on to Kristiansand, Skien and then 1000 km loop inland before finishing with the clubs in the Oslo area. A journey of some 5000 km. Hopefully, I will finish at City Hall, Oslo in one piece on or before the 31st August. This trip is NOT for the faint-hearted!

Why Norway?

In the 1840s, Ivar Aasen from Ørsta, Sunnmøre travelled the length and breadth of Norway to collate the dialects and language usage of the country. He wanted to hear and annotate the language so that he could create a standarised pan-Norwegian language. This he realised was very different from the “official” Danish language spoken at that time.

Yes, I will also travel the length and breadth of Norway to find out what Norway is REALLY like in the early 21st century. This may or not be very different from the “official” view of Norway and/or foreigners’ perceptions. This is part of The Shirt project which started in 2009 when Porsgrunn’s favourite son Bjørn Heidenstrøm cycled from Oslo to South Africa to raise awareness for the United Nations’ High Commission for Refugees. It was continued by Steve in 2010 when he cycled to the 92 football clubs in the UK. (See www.bjornheidenstrom.com and www.theshirt2010.co.uk ) We collect football shirts and Bjørn now has over 700 sewn together in to the largest shirt in the world!! The 2014 journey will be to raise awareness for the Norwegian Red Cross, Røde Kors.

Ivar Aasen was armed only with pen and paper for his studies. He did not have a 21 gear bicycle or the legendary Hurtigruten boats to get him from town to town, village to village and farm to farm. I will have daily video updates, as well as access to 4G and the internet. I will have audio recording BUT to get NEAR to the people I will be on my own with just my trusty bike for company. I will have no car and no back-up vehicle. The entire journey will be recorded on www.ThisIsNorway.info website.

So, who do I want to meet? I want to meet YOU, Mr or Mrs Norway. I want to talk to you about oil, trolls, Hurtigruten, Norwegian.com, football, skiing, and brunost. I want/need to meet oil-rig workers, Erasmus students, the young, the old, the rich, the poor, the loved and the lonely. I want to meet fishermen, hill farmers, Lapp nomads, asylum seekers and those living in the poorer quarters of the cities. I want to meet church-ministers and atheists, brain surgeons and tree surgeons – in short, the 5 million people who make up 21st-century Norway.

And who do I want to meet more specifically? I also want to meet some of the people who have put Norway on the world map. The heroes and survivors of Utøya, Drillo, Bjørn Heidenstrøm, Bjørn Kjos, Idar Vollvik, Petter Stordalen, Petter Northug, Erna Solberg, Jens Stoltenberg, Jane C. Owen and many more. It is invidious to name names but these people (and many, many, many more) would add much to my understanding of Norway 2014.

…and let us not forget football. The Shirt project is inexorably linked to football and Norwegian football touches every aspect of society. I will visit every club from the biggest teams in Tippaligaen to the most humble clubs of Oddsligaen – and all those in between.

I have no funding nor corporate sponsorship and want to finance the journey with the love and support of the Norwegian people and 5,000 individual sponsors all pledging 10 NOK (or 1 euro!). The aim is to collect 5,000 signatures on one shirt, which is the symbol of the journey. 5,000 signatures and 5,000 donations – one for every 1,000 Norwegians. This should give a good overview of “ThisIsNorway 2014”. I also wants 500 fans to sponsor a 10 km stretch which will be dedicated to their favourite club.

My other challenge is to learn Norwegian. I have set myself the challenge of speaking conversational Norwegian by the end of the journey!

Let’s see if learning Norwegian is the toughest part – or will it be 120 days on the road in the sun and rain, snow (?) and storms.

If you have any ideas I’d love to hear from you.

PS: My second “Why?” “Ja, jeg elsker dette landet” (In English: “Yes, I love this country”) is a play on “Ja, vi elsker dette landet” (In English: “Yes, we love this country”), the Norwegian national anthem. Obviously, there is also a deeper significance in that Bjørn is a Norwegian and the very first push on the pedal was from Oslo in July 2009 and that he is a Norwegian citizen. The photo above shows the Shirt in 2011 after Bjørn had cycled the length of Norway!

Here is a good page in English with details of all the Tippeliga clubs en route. The Adeccoliga clubs are here.

Norway 2014

The next stage in the Journey is announced! On June 14 I shall set out from the Kirkenes Stadion (=stadium) home of Kirkenes IF in Kirkenes on the Russian border. This is probably the toughest challenge to date as we are not talking the flatlands of the Netherlands or the East of England. No, I shall face the mountains and valleys of the west coast of Norway. This stage is NOT for the faint-hearted!

Further details in the next 24 hours!

Absolutely delighted to confirm that I will be able to announce the 2014 tour details on Wednesday – feels soooo good.
Thanks to those who have given me so much help and advice……and kept their vows of silence!

….sent me this today. Kristin N. Øhrn is the Project Manager at Norway’s biggest exhibition company.
The info is in Norwegian and only of interest if you are in Oslo BUT I support those who support me so here goes:

Jakt, Fiske & Frilufts Messen

Reiselivsmessen arrangerer en ny spennende messe på Telenor Arena – Jakt, Fiske & Frilufts Messen !

Enten du er en ihugga fisker, jeger, ivrig turgåer eller en som generelt nyter friluftslivet – så er dette en messe verdt et besøk!

Velkommen til Telenor Arena førstkommende helg!

Fredag 28. februar – Søndag 2. mars
Fredag 12.00 – 18.00
Lørdag og Søndag 10.00 – 18.00

Pris entrè:
Kr. 50,-
Barn u/16 år – gratis

For mer info besøk gjerne: www.telenorarena.no and www.reiselivsmessen.no

Two British Friends

As I am tidying up the last details of my journey, I have receieved a couple of requests from friends in the UK.

Andrew Wilcox says, “On Saturday 7th June we are holding our first specialist section along with our standard general auction at Itchen Abbas Village. The theme is cycling and you can find more details on our Specialist Cycle Auction page. It is a requirement for submitting lots to this specialist section of auction. We are promoting it well in advance to give buyers and sellers the best opportunity to see and sell the cycles or related items. We are limiting the number of lots to 100 and will give preference to higher value items.”

Full details here:

Today, I also got an interesting post from my friend Stephen Bailey at Tring Tornadoes Junior Sports Club

“Hello, now we know what our new kit for 2014-16 is going to be, we’re keen to find a sponsor who wants to become part of the team too. Could that be you?”

So, if anybody wants to get in contact with a progressive youth setup in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK (50 miles north of London) please make contact with him direct at communications@tringtornadoes.co.uk

It’s an exciting day, I have been in contact with Bjørn and we are in agreement. Today, I have sent out the project for 2014 to a handful of key people asking them for their initial thoughts and advice. Tomorrow, I shall outline the whole plan to everybody. It’s been frustrating bouncing so many ideas about but it’s a great feeling to finally have “everything” (joke) nailed down.

At this stage, I really only wish to thank those who have been working with me to plan the trip. In no particular order HUGE thanks to Stig & Carola at BoISmaland, Jan at Skinny Fiber, Mark Nessfield, Pete at HotCosta, Keith at Club Torrevieja, Roger Cummiskey, Helen Johnson at Property Quest International. Ali Meehan at Costa Women, Sam Campbell at Business 1st, William at Málaga Bike Solutions, Gil at Sun Park, Lanzarote and Mike and Sue at Sun Haven Guest House.

I must make one VERY special mention – to David Blight who looked after me after the hit-and-run incident. He gave me his 10 NOK, four years ago, when I could hardly walk, never mind cycle. He KNEW I’d bounce back. I’ll never forget that, amigo! You will meet them all these guys in the weeks to come.

Final words to Young Gil at Sun Park. “Steve, I hear some people are saying you are crazy to do this trip. They are WRONG. You’d be crazy NOT to do it!”(To put this into context Gil has known me 15 years. He has known about the health issues, the hospital visits, the fire …. everything. HIS opinion is VALID!)

Tomorrow, I hope that I will be able to upload the project and the draft route….which WILL change!

I really don’t think I need to say anything else!