Peter's REALLY Arduous Brain Tumour UK 1,000 Miles

Dawes Super Galaxy

2008-06-04T21:06:00.001+01:00

Tonight (a few days after finishing the ride) I bumped into an old friend,
Michael, who told me I had left a strand of this blog unresolved. 'How was
the bike?' he asked. Wonderful. Yes, for the first few days I had a sore
behind - and actually I had to lavish Savlon there more than once - and in
the first days also sore shoulders; but I think that speaks more about my
posture than about the light, strong, responsive bike that my friends in
Birmingham (Taiwan?) supplied. The bike did its job uncomplainingly and
brilliantly. Oh, and while I'm on postscripts: Sabina and I were made to
feel like champions when we turned up in Edinburgh on the way home. I was
even presented with a quaich.

Made it (kind of)

2008-05-31T13:22:00.001+01:00

The last 52 miles went by quite well, powered by my now habitual diet of
muesli bars and Ibuprofen. Beautiful coast north of Helmsdale, hilly but
not wildly so, birds of prey, deer and ?curlews, and would you believe it,
even watery sunshine most of the way. Many thanks to everyone who posted
messages of support - even from Australia - and to those who rode or drove
with me: Drew, Sabina, Bob and Dick. I missed out 130 miles of my planned
route, but still covered 940 miles on the other 13 days. Now enjoying a
hard-earned bowl of Scotch Broth. Whisky this evening.

50-something to go

2008-05-30T16:52:00.001+01:00

Today was never going to be easy. After yesterday's exertions, of course I
started tired. And the goal - John O'Groats - is still most of a day away.
Add to that the cold and the drizzle, offset only by the bright colours and
coconut fragrance of the ubiquitous gorse, and I admit I struggled. Scenery
more modest than I had hoped - didn't see seals or dolphins in the Dornoch
Firth - but Loch Fleet at low tide, backed by 'gentle' hills, was
impressive... Miles and miles of mud!

Just about made it to Inverness

2008-05-29T18:34:00.001+01:00

Reached the high point of the ride today - literally. The Pass of
Drumochter, 1500 ft, and the highest point on the UK's rail network. Not
that I was travelling by train, no: for me it was about a 20-mile climb on
the bike to get up there. Seen today: promroses and narcissi still in
bloom, cotton grass in all the bogs, a chocolate-brown female deer that
scooted across my path, hillsides of khaki, olive and black enlivened by
remaining patches of snow, oystercatchers and lapwings, and a flocklet of
pied wagtails swooping along the wet road in front of me. The knee? Well, I
just about kept going, on 800 mg of Ibuprofen and three quarterrs of a
fruit cake. Sabina has all the video footage, mostly of me strugglling
uphill.

In the Highlands!

2008-05-28T17:37:00.001+01:00

Did I expect to make it here today? I admit my confidence was badly shaken
over the last few days. But I write now from Pitlochry, on the southern
fringe of the Cairngorms, after a frisky 60 miles from Edinburgh through
cold drizzle and wind, unable to see the high peaks around and ahead of me,
and facing the prospect of tomorrow's 84-miler to Inverness with something
approaching eagerness. The muscles, of course, were not tired today, and
the countryside was attractive without being harsh. All in all, I may have
earned a glass of the local distillate tonight.

Thanks for all your input

2008-05-28T08:00:00.001+01:00

Many of you have posted supportive comments since learning of my knee
problem. Here's the situation now. I saw a nurse and a doctor yesyterday at
Galashiels, and the doctor even suggested I could increase the dosage of
the painkillers from what I had thought was the maximum. Anyway, by the
time that lot was over, any hopes I might have half-entertained of cycling
that day were out the door. So we drove to Edinburgh, had a good meeting
with the neuro-oncology researchers at the Western General Hospital, a
delightful dinner with members of the local Brain Tumour Action Group, and
loads of encouragement all round. Today I'm trying my luck again with the
bike. Destination Pitlochry. Wish me luck.

Out of touch

2008-05-26T13:41:00.001+01:00

Three long days (average 85 miles) behind me now. Sorry I didn't post from
Warrington: I was tired. Drew and I made good speed into and out of Stoke,
stopping briefly for a masala dosa on the way, and through Cheshire, with
my left knee the only worry. Yesterday I met up with Dick P-J (on his
motorbike) at 8 and made haste through the post-ndustrial landscape of
south Lancs. My goodness, Wigan certainly doesn't show her prettiest face
to the A49. Met up with a buddy of Dick's for lunch and pressed on towards
and out of Lancaster. Paused for tea, fruit cake and (ominously) 400mg of
Ibuprofen for my knee. Made Hawkshead in good time, using the ferry across
Windermere, and had dinner with Sabina. Today's breakfast was followed by
another 400mg of Ibuprofen, but half way along Thirlmere the inevitable
happened: my knee refused to go any further. Now I'm in Keswick with a bowl
of soup and a number of questions about what to do next. The bike is on the
back of the car and I'll see a doctor tomorrow morning. I have ridden 670
milesm but at the moment I am worried I can't ride any more.

Gone for a Burton

2008-05-24T10:43:00.001+01:00

Drew's bike had been making occasional graunching noises for much of
yestterday. Nothing consistent, mind, and we couldnkt trace the souirce.
Well, today, a mile or so out of Burton on Trent, the back wheel bearings
started to sound like a cement mixer... and we rode gently back into town.
Halfords don't do repairs on a weekend; but fortunately Dan at Halfords in
Burton DOES. Currently drinking coffee at nearby Tesco, and looking forward
to riding with Drew on his new wheel in about 10 mins. Kudos to Dan.

Home for 14 hours

2008-05-23T07:18:00.000+01:00

A very pleasant ride through the cool and leafy lanes of north London and
south Hertfordshire yesterday, to reach Schering Plough late morning. The
reception committee included the Temodal product manager, communications
and patient advocacy managers, and even the MD (who kindly gave me a - very
fluent - interview to camera). I was anxious about the time, so declined
their offer of lunch, grabbing instead two bananas from the canteen, then
hurtled up Ermine Street - the near-deserted Roman road from Hertford to
near Cambridge and beyond. At the Cancer Help Centre, there were numerous
volunteers, David from Scotsdales who helped them with the building and
funding, a number of members of the Rotary Club who have collectively been
my biggest sponsor, and assorted news media with cameras. Celeb for a day!
We drank tea, ate cake, and then I rode home with a couple of neighbours
who had also come to say hello, to a further reception at the Plough +
Fleece in Horningsea with chili and baked potatoes for all... before an
early night. Sigh. Off to Leicester today with brother Drew.

The last post

2008-05-21T22:43:00.000+01:00

... On this battery charge. Man Utd won, I met my MP and then my buddies in
the pub. Easy ride into London. More tomorrow when I can recharge my and
the BlackBerry's batteries at home in Horningsea.

Brothers

2008-05-21T05:48:00.001+01:00

Break from blogging yesterday. After the rigours of Dorset's coast (90
miles total that day) yesterday was a gentle 65 or so, partly across the
Isle of Wight, with a long and agreeable break at the University of
Portsmouth being shown around the Brain Tumour Research Lab by Prof Geoff
Pilkington. Geoff loves his kit, like any scientist. It was very striking
how little of it had been provided by government funds, though: much if not
most was from private individuals and chariries like BTUK. Met up with my
brother Drew in the evening, so for a few hours the three of us have been
together. Drew and I head off for the Smoke (London) this morning.

Where am I?

2008-05-19T14:17:00.001+01:00

Burton Bradstock, Dorset coast. This is the Jurassic coast, named after the
fossilized remains of knackered pre-stone-age cyclists who lost hope on the
hills, lay down, died and were preserved in limestone. No blog post last
night: we were in the bottom of one of those Devon valleys that block
mobile reception. Then this morning's ride was characterized by several
extra miles while we looked for the right road. Eventually we found it: up
the side of a 1 in 4 hill. At least the weather's nice.

Floods, flowers and food

2008-05-17T19:47:00.001+01:00

Just so that you don't think I was exaggerating about the weather: the pub
I went to for dinner tonight was flooded! I squelched around on their
carpet in my Tevas. The flowers here are more advanced than at home:
foxgloves everywhere, in mid-May. And I saw the first poppy of the summer
this morning. Talking of pubs, as I was... I aim to eat and drink local
produce to the extent possible on this ride. Along with my pasties today, I
was introduced to the fruity charms of the 'tea treat', an oversized
saffron bun. And for dinner, Cornish cider (6 percent, hic) and chiken
tikka masala, which is local fare throughout England.

Dodgy knee

2008-05-17T18:23:00.000+01:00

I'd have loved to make an upbeat entry, but two Ibuprofen haven't helped.
My left knee - the one that caused me to give up running - hurts. We'll see
how it goes overnight. I know its patterns of misbehaviour, and it might
just be a touch stiff rather than agonising. At the moment, though, it's
making me very twitchy. The cycling went OK today: I didn't notice my knee
was bad until I got off the bike. There were a lot of cyclists at Land's
End, all of them planning to go a lot faster than me, albeit in company.
Four lads from London with a target of eight days. I hope they had a good
day's riding. We (I) had a couple of hours of 'torrential downpours' (Met
Office's words, not mine) but negligible wind, at least, and clouds all day
so low you felt you could grab them. A nice lady outside the pasty bakery
gave me a fiver, and a man on the spectacular bridge at Wadebridge (built
1468!) stopped his Dawes Super Galaxy, took my photo and did the same. Soon
I'll learn to post photos so you can see.

Arrived at Lands End

2008-05-16T21:51:00.001+01:00

(On the train through Somerset) Modern man cannot switch off straight away.
Yesterday - intended as a quiet day at home, gardening and packing panniers
- turned into a minor media circus. A TV crew even filmed me packing my
panniers. Today I was making last-minute appointments to pop in at a
research lab (Portsmouth) and a hospital (Edinburgh). The ride from Kings
Cross to Paddington was, unsurprisingly, horrible. And when I should have
relaxed on the train I started doing a Sudoku instead. Aagh. (Dawlish,
South Devon) Palm trees in the town square, strangely eroded red sandstone
cliffs. I'm far from Cambridge. Have I changed time-zone? (Land's End) low
cloudn but mercifully neither wind nor rain, yet.

Different folks

2008-05-13T16:54:00.001+01:00

I hope you all had as lovely a weekend as I did. Three visitors descended on Horningsea for a national cycling conference that was held in Cambridge. I think they were a bit worried to begin with, 'cos we're not that close to the middle of the city. But when they found they were eating eggs from our very own hens and drinking water from our very own well, they soon got reconciled to the slightly longer than expected ride into town.

What different folks they are. A cycle politician, one of the geniuses behind the magnificent Facility of the Month website http://www.warringtoncyclecampaign.co.uk/ and a fundamentalist: don't give us crap cycle lanes, just enforce road rules, apply sensible road design and cyclists, drivers and pedestrians will rub along just fine. A man who has devoted a significant proportion of his life to training youngsters to cycle safely. And one whose idea of a good time is to cycle 1200 km in 90 hours (including sleeping time). They were all very supportive of my LE->JOG ambitions.

On Sunday we went for a long and slow ride. 50 miles including a cafe and two pubs, in glorious sunshine, chatting our way through the countryside. Just what I needed to reinforce my growing confidence that the physical strain of my forthcoming ride will not be the hard bit (except maybe that daily confrontation with my hard new saddle).

First Transport-Policy rant

2008-04-30T16:17:00.001+01:00

I wondered, when Bob set up this blog for me, what sort of things I would write about on it. Cycling, obviously. The wonders of the English and Scottish countryside. Getting lost. The weather. Regional cuisine. Brain tumours and healthcare funding policy. Charming folk encountered en route...

But I admit from the beginning I knew the day would come when I wanted to let off steam about transport policy in Britain. Riding a bike can turn one into a bit of an eco-warrior. Disputes over road space with 4x4s, breathing in diesel fumes shortly after breakfast on the way to work, they chip away at one's natural tolerance for other people's transport choices, and occasionally lead one to think it's all the Government's fault. How about this one?

My brother Drew is bravely accompanying me by bike most of the way from Petersfield to Warrington, perhaps 220 miles over three days. I asked him last night whether he had had any luck in identifying a fast, economical and comfortable train journey back to Brighton, where he lives, from Warrington. No, he said. The journey would have to be made on a Sunday. It would have taken nine hours and cost £90 by train. His cheaper, faster and more comfortable option? Taxi from Warrington to Manchester, British Airways flight to Gatwick, pickup in van and drive back to Brighton. Three hours and £88. All that including the bike. I applaud British Airways, especially for taking the bike. But how, in all honesty, can a rational person keep their greenhouse-gas emissions low when those are the options? Answers please on a recycled postcard to Sir Nicholas Stern, HM Treasury (ex).

The half-way mark

2008-04-24T14:32:00.000+01:00

You have all been receiving my standard thank-you note from Justgiving. But THANK YOU! from me directly, too. Each time someone makes a donation, I get an email, and each time I look to see your comments and they make me smile, as does your generosity. So while I have not yet reached even the starting line of the bike ride, let alone the half-way mark (which I think comes somewhere around Warrington), YOU have reached the half-way mark. Thank you again. Keith and Jackie Price were the ones who pushed me past the £5,000 barrier.

I'm acting as though the ride itself will be the easy bit. Perhaps it will be: we'll see. As Tamsin said, the distance will make Singapore to KL look like a walk in the park. My confidence is high at the moment, though: the new Super Galaxy (bike, for the uninitiated) is such a delight to ride! I got rid of my old racing bike nearly three years ago, and I had forgotten how responsive, light and fast a bike can be, until this last week.

It's not about the bike!

2008-04-18T14:49:00.000+01:00

Oh yes it is! Or at least it is today. Last night I returned home to find a large but suspiciously slim box with DAWES written along it in big letters. I sawed my way into it using the carving knife (sorry Sabina) and found a lovely gleaming bike IN BITS. That's how they despatch them. The next three hours were spent in baffled industry trying to put the bits together, in the conservatory (sorry again Sabina). Today I gave up and brought the nearly-assembled bike to my favourite bike shop, Blazing Saddles, for final assembly. Now I know what bicycle dealers do. The bike is bronze-coloured. Sabina calls it brown. Why is it that women and men never agree on the name of a colour? Is it bronze or is it brown? See for yourself. http://www.dawescycles.com/dawes/super-galaxy-1.htm

Giant leaps forward

2008-04-04T16:00:00.001+01:00

Well, this has been a great week. I finally plucked up courage to mail a load of friends and family, and boy did they (you) respond! Sponsorship on the Justgiving site and promised now amounts to over £4 per mile. At 13 mph, which is my expected average speed, I'll be earning a good deal more by cycling than I do in the office. Sabina told me I could give up work and become a professional cyclist. As if...

Promise of the week is from the Rotary Club of Cambridge Rutherford who responded to my heartfelt lament about long rides in middle age by offering a four-figure sum in exchange for getting their logo on the back of my jacket. Only my chest to go now, and all my bodily real estate will be sold.

Where have you been?

2008-03-27T09:21:00.000Z

Well, of course, I've been on my hols. Indonesia, staying on a deserted beach and snorkelling with the reef sharks, and Singapore, running and swimming with my friends. Back for a month, now, though, and I admit I've been a bit slack on the training and blogging.
The Point Of No Return comes, of course, when I set off from the B&B in St Just on the morning of 17 May. But there are a number of intermediate steps that feel each almost as momentous. Buying the one-way train ticket to Penzance was one. And last night Sabina and I cut up a road atlas so I have a light and economical paper route map.
Still looking forward to the arrival of my 2008 model Dawes Galaxy, which I've been promised for 'early April' by the nice people at Dawes Cycles. Expect a euphoric blog when that arrives. I'll have a meagre five weeks to get it set up nicely, and the saddle and my bottom adjusted to each other. Just in case, the Koga - my daily commuting bike - got a new chain, middle chain ring and gear cassette last week.

Technical support

2008-01-31T15:10:00.001Z

'Oh,' people say, 'You're doing the End to End! Unsupported?' Well, there are the pure and the not-so-pure versions of 'unsupported'. Apart from the sponsorship offers, the main assistance I'm getting at the moment is from my brother Bob, who has been wrestling with the vagaries of Google Maps to show an accurate version of my planned route, and who established this blog for me and showed me how to use it.
I also have no intention of being unsupported when I ride. Purists camp. The rest of us stay in B&Bs. Admittedly I will carry my own (pared down) luggage; but apart from that, all support is welcome.

How's the training going?

2008-01-28T15:02:00.000Z

About 132 miles last week, my best yet. And (nearly) no aches or pains on Sunday evening. The aim is to get up to about 200 miles a week in April. I don't see how one can combine any more than that with hanging onto one's job and wife (or should that read wife and job?).
Best news of the week, though: the 'soft' launch of my Justgiving website brought in some pheNOMenally generous donations from friends. Thank you so much, guys. I'm already earning £1 a mile.

Support so far

2008-01-08T14:44:00.000Z

Three offers of sponsorship to date:
1. My brother Drew, who is a builder and has offered to sponsor my cycling shorts with his logo across my rump. The classic builder's bum?
2. My father in law, who has a solar energy business. He wants me to carry a solar panel on my cap.
3. My employer, Cambridge University Press. Thank goodness they don't want me to carry books. But they have kindly given me additional leave this year to cover part of the ride.

The start of the blog

2008-01-05T20:35:00.000Z

The blog is up and running. Hurrah!