On the 6th of April 2005, cousins Jamie Mackenzie and Ben Wylson set off on their bikes on a journey which will take them to over 50 countries and to every one of the worlds great continents, all without the use of an aeroplane.
Monday, January 31, 2005: artist and patron
For the first time since the end of September, we are working on the bike ride in separate locations, away from our headquarters at Brook Farm. Whilst on a visit to his parents' home in Reading, Jamie is updating equipment companies on media and charity developments. In the mean time, up in Lowestoft, East Anglia, Ben clutches his jaw after an operation to have his wisdom teeth removed.
artist
In 2003/4 Ben worked on designs for the house and studio of Jo Self - arguably the most exciting flower painter of the twenty-first century. Over the time that Ben and Jo worked with each other on the house/studio, the ups and downs of the design process brought them together as friends. In 2004, Jo painted the garden of his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and met him on no less than nine separate occasions. She is currently putting the finishing touches to a much talked about exhibition, due to open at the end of the year.
Today, a very exciting call was received from Jo. She has volunteered to donate a painting to be auctioned off for ITDG and Free Wheels East. We asked her to be our patron and she accepted. We will add Jo –and her painting- to our associates page in due course, but for now, please take the time to have a look at her work by visiting her gallery’s website: www.redfern-gallery.com
Thursday, January 27, 2005: another local paper
Would you believe it, our picture has appeared in the Tunbridge Wells Focus -and they didn't even ask our permission!
Wednesday, January 26, 2005: the latest
website
Chris Porter -our website designer- has registered this site with the Google search engine. Soon we will be much easier to find. He is also setting up video, photography and links pages; many thanks to Chris.
The 'Free Wheels East Map' was drawn free-hand by Ben... If your country doesn’t look quite right, we are sorry. Tonight we are working on updating it, so that you can click and zoom, into even wonkier, more detailed maps. We hope this feature will be up and running in the near future.
advice
Over the last few days we've been given a lot of very helpful advice from Edwin Tucker who cycled around the world to raise awareness for our chosen charity: ITDG. Visit his website: www.howsmycycling.com.
Laura Stone of www.pocketsprocket.com has also been great. She plans to cycle from Pakistan and the KKH across China, India, Nepal, and Tibet to Bhutan & Sikkim. She is also leaving in April. Laura helped us find Edwin in the first place, and gave us an idea of what preparation really is; visit her website, and you'll see what we mean.
film
Our rollercoaster quest to have Free Wheels East filmed continues. There have been some developments, although nothing has been confirmed yet, so we will say no more.
Sunday, January 23, 2005: local paper article
Click here to view the article
Tuesday, January 18, 2005: phone interview with local paper
Today we have been in contact with the local paper (The Sevenoaks Chronicle).
Ben had a chat with one of their reporters on the phone. We will be
interviewed and have our photograph taken tomorrow at 3:00pm.
We've also been emailing people -including famous producers- left, right and
centre. The office is a tip, need to clear it up before 3:00pm!
Monday, January 17, 2005: Ben's Phone Interview
Today contact was made with the local press (Sevenoaks Courier). Ben gave a brief telephone interview, which will continue tomorrow with a reporter, photographer and two adventurers. Contact was also made with various T.V producers.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005: news section added
The News section will show the latest updates from Ben and Jamie as they prepare for their journey. Once they have started, this section will become your first port of call for the latest tales from on the road.
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