Commanders do the craziest things pt 2 - Truckers up Teide!

Vingtetun

Vingtetun
The Hutton Truckers (and a couple of friends) count among our number some proper nutcases. We've also got amongst the core team at least 4 ambassadors for SpecialEffect and one for Hearing Dogs UK (our two chosen charities).
Two years ago, Hober Mallow (a.k.a. Chris) decided to do a little cycle ride as a rather unfit Hutton Trucker in aid of SpecialEffect to try and raise £500 - 50 miles across the British countryside. He raised nearly £3000 by the time he finished with a team of riders and supporters.

So. The guys decided at Lavecon last year to do something PROPERLY difficult. "Let's cycle up a volcano" someone said. "Then climb to the top". "Then stop overnight under the stars".

280px-Teide_a%C3%B1o_2011.jpg


9 riders and 4 support team later, there is a plan. In November this year, Hutton Orbital will reach for the sky and put their backsides on the line for charity, supported by this excellent community.

We are cycling up Teide on Tenerife, as high as we can cycle on roads then locking up the bikes and hiking to 150m from the summit. The next morning (with permit in hand), we are rising before dawn and climbing the final 150m to see the sun rise.
We're in our (early) middle ages, we're not fit (yet), we WILL be followed by Hutton Orbital Radio throughout the ascent, with updates via phone where possible, and wearing a tracker so people can see our progress. All in aid of our two charities.

Interesting Fact: Teide 1 is a brown dwarf in the Pleiades! (Yes, that place, the one full of Thargoids) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teide_1

Accompanied by CMDR Flossy in the UK (you may know her from her sterling work keeping everyone updated on the Communtiy Goals) on her exercise trainer as she did last time, each of us will find this challenging - even the support drivers as EVERYONE is hiking to to the top where the oxygen levels will be HALF that of sea level.

The Team - you may have met many of them at events over the last 4 or so years:
Bret Riverboat (the planning maestro)
Snos
Vingtetun
DeadmeatGF
Hober Mallow
Splendour (Docking Darts supremo)
Fletch
Evenstar (he of the awesome Elite stickers and the dog tags)
Elmasri
Ms Green (our only non Elite person)
Mr Whitehouse
Twrchuk
Overlight
Flossy (Our telepresence cyclist crewmember)

With help in the UK from:
Psykokow on the radio!

Snos will be separated from his hearing dog (Alvin - the four legged master of the Hutton Truckers) for the first time since they were paired as a team - his own personal challenge. Alvin will be in very good hands and being spoiled thoroughly whilst he is away - and with the blessing of Hearing Dogs.

We'l be postion some bios of the riders over the next few weeks and spreading the word about the event - so, if you're a streamer, you have your own group you regularly play with, if you know "people" who can help us achieve this monstrous challenge - get in touch!

The Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/TruckersUpTeide/

The Fundraising page
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/TruckersupTeide

SpecialEffect
https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/

Hearing Dogs UK
https://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/

Team biographies

Bret Riverboat
Bret Riverboat here aka Rob Hooper. 42 years old, father of 3 and husband to my beautiful wife Ann.

Drives a Mondeo, runs the best PizzaExpress in the UK and does not like fitness.

After doing Hober’s 50 mike bike ride with no riding for 20 years and climbing Teide myself back in 2014, my wife told me it would be a great idea to come back to the volcano with the lads on bikes. We spoke about doing this at LaveCon in 2017 and that lead us to where we are now.

I’m not fit enough, scared biowaste-less and excited as hell to get this challenge done. Thank you all so much for your selfless donations!!
Click to expand...

Vingtetun
Support driver, 40 something, husband, father to 1, exhibition deity and businessman - oh, and I do gaming a bit ;-)
Lost 2 stone already in preparation for the hike 16st4 at 6ft2 was a little heavy, so have trimmed down to 14st2 already and more to go
Proud to be a SpecialEffect ambassador.
Click to expand...

DeadmeatGF
DeadMeatGF aka Steve. 48 years old, father of 2, and past the point where I can stave off the bulge around the galactic centre.

I used to cycle to work but when I moved office and the trip was more than 5 miles I gave up and stuffed the bike in the garage. Hopefully it's not rusted solid and I can get a few practice runs in.
As a late entry to this crazy venture I'm more than a little nervous that there isn't much time to get fit enough for the distance, let alone the elevation or altitude!

These two charities are important to me as I've had many friends and colleagues over the years who would have benefitted greatly from the help they offer, so if you can stump up anything, however small, it would make all the effort worthwhile.
Click to expand...

Elmasri
Elmasri, aka Jerry. A mid-40s, not very fit man, father of two and husband. My main hobbies include computer gaming and brewing (and drinking!) beer. Neither of these are particularly conducive to general fitness. The closest I usually get to cycling is riding my motorbike. Inspired by Hober's previous cycle challenge, I said that if he did it again, I would join him. At the time I agreed to it, I had no idea that it would escalate to the point that it has. So, instead of a nice, gentle cycle somewhere, we are going to be cycling up a volcano!

I have started training, mostly on a bike on a turbo trainer until I felt confident enough of my fitness to risk going outside. I have lost a few kilos in weight (below 100kg for the first time in ages now it seems), but still more to go to be honest...

Both these charities are amazing - SpecialEffect: you just need to watch some of their videos about the work they do and the people they have helped to see why what they do is so great. Seeing the change made to people's lives from being able to enjoy the fun and social interaction of playing computer games brings a tear to my eye. Hearing Dogs for Deaf People: I have been priviliged to see the change that a hearing dog can bring to someone's life. So, please, anything which you can spare would be gratefully received!
Click to expand...

Hober
CMDR Hober_Mallow here, oh wow did my initial plan 2 years ago of raising money for charity by cycling spiral into even more awesome through the support of the Elite Community and my Hutton Trucker friends…
What to say about me? 31, got kids, not the most healthy person with loving the booze, smoking and the donner kebab in pitta bread being my favourite take away.
I’m a cyclist, mainly through necessity of 1 car family and a 3 mile ride to work and back each day. I took up cycling outside of work as a hobby mainly to get some fitness in and help clear the cobwebs from my brain, so at the weekends when I can, I try to push myself out into the countryside.
If you weren’t around for the first Trucker charity bike ride I did, then the main reason I choose to raise money was that my cousin Richard had muscular dystrophy as he grew up. I was about 10 years younger than Richard and we went to visit him, Russell his brother and my Aunty Jackie every other Friday night. I remember from a young age seeing Richard play games on the mega drive, Atari Jaguar (at 8 I played the first AVP game, Leisure Suit Larry and got to watch Beavis and Butthead), using controllers and. As his condition grew worse, I watched him go from using a controller, using his hands to his late stages; where he had to resort to using a wooden spoon in his mouth to play Civilisation on his laptop.
When I first heard of SpecialEffect, it really touched my heart and brought up memories of Richard; had SpecialEffect been around at the time they could have made his passion of gaming a better quality of life.
Through the Truckers, I’ve met some amazing people and not just those on the mad rides, but one of the people is CMDR Snos whom I consider one of my best friends. I didn’t know Snos when we first met at Lavecon 2015 or really understand the struggle he has lived with all his life. Snos had recently got Alvin the Hearing Dog. Talking to Snos over the years I’ve come to understand and appreciate how they have both changed each other lives; if every person deaf or partially deaf could have a Hearing Dog for Deaf People like Snos has Alvin, then there would be bonds of friendship stronger than either you or I could ever understand in every day life.
To Richard, he could make me laugh with just the movement if his eyes, funny voices and appreciate in life that it is all about what you are able to do and make it the most enjoyable experience.
Click to expand...

Evenstar
Evenstar, or Russ Pitcher to the non-Elite community, is 47 year old IT geek with 2 daughters who is married to the lovely Ms Featherstone of the Canonn Interstellar sketches on Hutton Orbital Radio, otherwise known as Caroline. Having been properly unfit for decades, Hober's original Hutton cycling event inspired him to get a bike and start riding the trails with CMDR Spike. He enjoyed it so much that they ended up riding the 75-mile London-to-Brighton off-road event last year, and he's doing it again this year in an attempt to beat Truleigh Hill into submission (don't hold your breath).LaveCon has been the catalyst for a number of daft ideas, including the Hutton Truckers, and on a sunny June day with good friends and after a few pints, tackling Teide seemed like a fine idea. 'Walking' up Teide in VR at ECM put paid to the notion that this would be an easy ride and galvanised him into some proper training. A few months later he's 10kg lighter and somewhat fitter, but still feeling mildly terrified about the steepness of slope and scarcity of oxygen, but he's packing a rope and grappling hook in case he needs to snag the support car when no-one's looking! Russ is really excited about the challenge, and about raising as much as we can for these two great charities.
Click to expand...

All that remains for now is to say it's all #forthemug (and by that, we mean for CHARITY!)
url
 
Last edited:

Ashnak

Ashnak
Not to throw any stones in your way - but you did clarify that with the Spanish national park administration and got the permit for cycling on the hiking path(s)?

---

Edit: forget that - just re-read your OP thoroughly. You'll still need a permit for the hike, though.
 

Vingtetun

Vingtetun
We have all the necessary permits - this has been in planning for 9 months ;-)
We are cycling as far as roads allow then hiking the rest.....
We have a permit for the summit and our space at the overnight lodge booked.
 

M00ka

M00ka
Brilliant effort guys, you are all a credit not just to ED but to the rest of us.

kind of hope someone from FD actually reads this and throws a bunch of donations your way. Hell they could provide shirts or hats - or just anything you guys need for free.

Will be looking forward to reading the updates.
 

psykokow

psykokow
Ashnak said:
Not to throw any stones in your way - but you did clarify that with the Spanish national park administration and got the permit for cycling on the hiking path(s)?

---

Edit: forget that - just re-read your OP thoroughly. You'll still need a permit for the hike, though.
Click to expand...

Great Question, and glad Vingtetun has clarified that it's not been done on a whim. The guys involved have been very careful to keep it official and properly sanctioned and licensed.

And of course we will have a live progress report stream on twitch for the event too http://twitch.tv/huttonorbitaltruckers
 

Elmasri

E
Elmasri, aka Jerry. A mid-40s, not very fit man, father of two and husband. My main hobbies include computer gaming and brewing (and drinking!) beer. Neither of these are particularly conducive to general fitness. The closest I usually get to cycling is riding my motorbike. Inspired by Hober's previous cycle challenge, I said that if he did it again, I would join him. At the time I agreed to it, I had no idea that it would escalate to the point that it has. So, instead of a nice, gentle cycle somewhere, we are going to be cycling up a volcano!

I have started training, mostly on a bike on a turbo trainer until I felt confident enough of my fitness to risk going outside. I have lost a few kilos in weight (below 100kg for the first time in ages now it seems), but still more to go to be honest...

Both these charities are amazing - SpecialEffect: you just need to watch some of their videos about the work they do and the people they have helped to see why what they do is so great. Seeing the change made to people's lives from being able to enjoy the fun and social interaction of playing computer games brings a tear to my eye. Hearing Dogs for Deaf People: I have been priviliged to see the change that a hearing dog can bring to someone's life. So, please, anything which you can spare would be gratefully received!
 

Vingtetun

Vingtetun
OK - in with the sponsorship so far, we've had one large donation to take a Hutton mug with us to the summit. Consider that a DEAL!
 

Guy De Lombard

Guy De Lombard
Take enough water for the climb up and take some time to get acclimatized to the height, I did some hikes in lower regions before climbing up.

I did the tour without staying on the hut, I started at around 3 o'clock in the morning and made it to the top in about four hours, arriving just
in time for the sunrise.

It can become really cold up there, so have at least some warm and windproof clothes, a pair of gloves and a warm cap. I had some small
patches of ice and snow in the higher areas, but no need for crampons or ice-axe. Anyway, check the conditions before with the rangers or
people coming down...
 

Elmasri

E
Guy De Lombard said:
Take enough water for the climb up and take some time to get acclimatized to the height, I did some hikes in lower regions before climbing up.

I did the tour without staying on the hut, I started at around 3 o'clock in the morning and made it to the top in about four hours, arriving just
in time for the sunrise.

It can become really cold up there, so have at least some warm and windproof clothes, a pair of gloves and a warm cap. I had some small
patches of ice and snow in the higher areas, but no need for crampons or ice-axe. Anyway, check the conditions before with the rangers or
people coming down...
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Will take some warm clothes too then!
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
Donated. :) Good luck and remember as tempting as it is Don't throw Kow in the volcano.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
Nearly at the £1000 mark already,

What a amazing community this is. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom