“This is the first of what will hopefully be many updates from the road, and there`s lots to say seeing as though a week has already flown by, despite it seeming like only yesterday that we were cycling away from the Minster! The send off went extremely smoothly, far from the small family affair that we had expected, but it was great to have so many people outside the Minster supporting us. The 50 miles to Hull were pretty uneventful and we made it in plenty of time to have a picnic with our families and say the last goodbyes before we sailed away. There were surprisingly few tears – not because we don´t care about all the people that we are leaving behind but more because it hadn’t and still hasn’t sunk in what we were embarking on. The Netherlands was a great country to ease us into the touring lifestyle. The weather was perfect with a nice tail wind and plenty of clearly marked, smooth, flat cycle lanes across the country. We only cycled on the road once for about 5 minutes before we were shouted at by several motorists and directed towards the cycle lane that we had somehow missed!! We spent the first night at Rob´s Auntie and Uncles house about 50 miles north of Rotterdam, where we were spoiled rotten!

Germany has been a bit more challenging. Firstly there are hills (some pretty big ones at that) and secondly the cycle lanes are not so good, so our map reading skills (or lack of) have been tested. The weather has also been less kind with a fair bit of rain, particularly during the night. We both thought it was nice to lay in a cosy tent and listen to the rain outside – it gets pretty boring after 8 hours though! This being said we have really enjoyed Germany so far, the scenery has been lovely and the people very friendly.

All in all the first week or so has been great. We have soon adapted to the cycling lifestyle. Our saddles are worn in, the tent feels like home, peanut butter foldy overs have become a staple in our diet and we are keeping up a daily average of about 60 miles.

We have also experienced some great hospitality so far including a Dutch lady giving us lemonade and biscuits on a hot day, a guy called Frank letting us camp outside his house and cooking us tea and a lovely man called Stephan who’s house we are staying in tonight. That is about all for now, our next destination in Nurnberg, where we will be doing our first talk in a school close by and then it’s on to Austria!!”

But hey, don’t let that stop you enjoying a nice crisp bowl of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, we in the Foska Cave often do (with our Marmite toast). Pre-order yourself one of these bright, fun jerseys and save £5, standing out in the crowd and expressing your love for the world’s greatest breakfast cereal in the process!

P.S. I have just learned that the rooster that has been the iconic image of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes since the beginning of time is called Cornelius (Corny) Rooster, who knew?!

Saw the most amazing thing on the web today, a train company which knows how to please the people, well the simple minded of us anyway! The freshly renovated railway station in Overvecht has the world’s first transfer accelerator. The slide, sorry, transfer accelerator, is situated next to a large flight of stairs and provides a faster method of descent if you are running late in the redeveloped station.

The developers say it was created as a nice gesture to the people for a playful spin on the usual mundane journey to work. I can’t stop looking at it, it looks like quite a lot of fun, indeed! I do hope they bring one in at Victoria!

Here’s a video of it in action, I love the thumbs up at the end.  Although I wonder if it meets health and safety regulations?!

I was awoken to a quite excited phone call from Foska Tony, who already was wide awake and raring to go. I, on the other hand, was feeling a little bit furry from the night before. Persevering through, got ready putting my Duff freeride jersey on to be joined by Tony, Viks and Brian (all in their Pride jerseys) for a short trip to the brewery on our bikes.

After a sight detour which got us a little lost, we used our beer-homing abilities to find it, which worked a treat. After being stopped for photos, we headed straight for the beer (as you do), but they were only serving them in small glasses, of which they ran out! Luckily I had my London Pride water bottle there with me which they kindly filled up. After a long while sampling, then re-sampling the beer, we decided we were getting a bit hungry so headed off to the pub (there’s a theme here…), after some very nice snorkers and mash we sat and watched the final time trial of the Tour De France then headed off home.

Grand day out courtesy of Fuller’s brewery, Foska’s favourite! Check them out on Facebook here, and ‘like’ us here for exclusive deals and offers.

On Sunday 8th May 2011, a rider named Scott Shepherd fell off his bike while racing the senior quarter finals at Penshurst Off Road Cycling Centre in Kent. It was a bad one. After catching his head on some tree stumps left by the side of the track, Scott was in serious trouble, suffering extensive brain trauma and being left in a coma.

Scott was rushed to hospital by KSS Air Ambulance and is slowly recovering, although still in a coma. He was being treated at London Royal Hospital for five and a half weeks but has now been moved to Royal Derby Hospital and is working hard towards recovery.

Rider Down has been created to try and raise some funds for Scott’s rehabilitation and has been widely well received across the mountain biking world. Heinz Beanz being Scott’s favourite jersey, Foska has donated some of Scott’s friends (and fellow riders) some Heinz Beanz shirts to help raise awareness for this cause to wear during races and events.

Follow his progress here.

Remember, always wear a helmet…

Our beloved aardvark, Oska, now has two more friends to play with! Kiyo and Misha currently reside as two in-love aardvarks at London Zoo. The iconic Oska appears on all our clothing and has always been a sense of inspiration to us, the simple, yet humerous creatures never seem to fail to raise a smile, something that Foska has strived to achieve.

Updates on how our quirky looking trio are doing will be posted here, on our Facebook and Twitter. I must warn you though, their typing skills aren’t great and they have a strange sense of humour about them. You can visit them here, or see them for real at London Zoo.

Kiyo’s favourite food is avocado, Misha’s is mealworms and Oska’s is of course, Marmite! So if you would like to send them a treat then this is what they enjoy most Or alternatively, my favourite is London Pride, you can send this direct to Foska HQ… Maybe not the mealworms though, that might get a little messy!

Foska Ben

We at Foska were very impressed by this and decided to help them along their way by supplying them with some quality gear, officially becoming the main clothing sponsor Hopefully bringing the spectators along the route a smile will spur them into helping our heroic riders! The lads are raising money for Wateraid, a quest to provide clean, running water and sanitation to some of the world’s poorest communities, a worthy cause we feel.

Visit their page or their Facebook to see how the preparations are coming along,  or to donate even a bit of money, they’re trying to raise £20,000! Let’s just hope they have some comfy saddles!

Photos of the courageous (or daft, we’re not quite sure) pair coming soon.

Follow their progress and apply for next year at http://www.greatbritishbikeride.com/ we hope to see you there

Foska Ben

World Naked Bike Ride in London, England. (Photo courtesy of xguayx from Flickr.com.)

Foska Tony has just appeared in the Cave (Foska HQ), discussing something he did a couple of weeks back; The World Naked Bike Ride. Now, I’m not sure who of you know this, but Foska Tony is my dad, so this did come as a bit of a shock. Story goes that he was talking to someone about hiring a bike when he innocently asked the reason for such a hire. Foska Tony thought this to be a splendid idea and proceeded to disrobe and jump on a bike for the start of the ride. All was going well until around the busy streets of Mayfair, where between the protests of car culture and frivolity, disaster struck. Foska Tony’s chain had jumped clean off his bike, much to the amusement of everyone spectating. He tried fruitlessly to hold his bike up and return the chain for a good number of minutes, which is quite a long time when you’re standing in the buff! After drawing a small crowd the chain was successfully replaced and Foska Tony cycled back off to rejoin the ride to the sound of cheers and applause from the public. I’ve never been so proud of him, although I’m not sure what will happen to Foska’s sales if naked cycling catches on!

The World Naked Bike Ride is a series of naked rides that take place in June all across the UK to protest the car culture that we have fallen into and to also to demonstrate the vulnerability of cyclists, drawing in over 1200 people. http://www.worldnakedbikeride.org/uk/ (not for the faint of heart!)

We’ve opened a poll on Facebook to hear your thoughts and opinions on what we think are some cracking potential designs! Ideas and criticism welcomed in the comments both here and on Facebook. Running for a limited time only so get in fast to have your say http://www.facebook.com/foskacom

Foska Ben (It’s good to be back!)