LEJOG - The Route

After some crafting and serious planning, with a few big humps along the way, we have announced our route from South to North...

...Here is your stage by stage view and insight - http://challenge19.co.uk/lejog-route/

LEJOG in 9 days for what?

LEJOG is an acronym that has only entered my vocabulary in the last 12 months! LEJOG = Lands End to John O'Groats.

Playskill is a word I have known for slightly longer and is a charity that provides parent and child playgroups in Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Three Rivers, Dacorum, St. Albans and Bushey for pre-school children with physical difficulty or developmental delay.  An occupational therapist, speech and language therapist and paediatric physiotherapist work within the groups to ensure maximum progress for the children.  Support for parents and the family as a whole sits firmly at the centre of the structure and they desperately need financial support to continue their fantastic work. www.playskill.org

So what I am doing to help? Well, a year ago I committed to cycle LEJOG and there have been tough, physical, mental and life changing experiences for me to position myself in the best possible place to complete this in October 2014. Whether it has been regularly battling the elements in 100+ mile rides (over 8 hours in the saddle), conforming to lycra, joining a cycle club or reigning in my beloved alcohol in order to train for this monumental task I have always done what is needed.

One of my nearest and dearest friends Andrew (a real driver of this initiative) will be embarking upon this epic challenge with me.  Our hope is that through the money we raise, it enables Playskill to continue to help many young children in the future, like Andrew's son, William, who suffers from a rare chromosomal deletion of 19p, 13.2 and has been and will continue to be supported by the amazing charity.

·         Event date start - October 15th

·         Total duration of event - 9 days

·         Total miles covered - 1000+

·         Sponsorship target - £15,000

This challenge is only being undertaken by Andrew and me and there is no support from a company organising this event. We pay for everything ourselves and carry all of our belongings we need for 9 days on our bicycles or shoulders. This will be the biggest challenge of our lives and already I envisage pain, punishment, sweat and maybe tears on my behalf...

This is the important part, if you only read one thing in this long plea. I need your help and support to drive me to the end of this challenge. Donating is safe, quick and easy. Please visit this link and show your support - https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/challenge19

I will be writing a daily update on my blog after completing the stage for the day and adding a map of the route covered so that all sponsors can be part of the journey and see our progress

I thank you all in advance for your generosity when donating.

Déjà vu but quicker

Last Sunday I participated in the London Bikeathon for the second time. This is an event I would like to ride every year from now on as it was my first event I entered on my cycling journey, it has a lot of emotional attachment and gives you a spectacular ride around the greatest city in the world.

More than 6,000 cyclists got on their bikes to help beat blood cancer and raised more than £830,000

After getting up very early on Sunday morning to take the first train into London I arrived at Euston and immediately followed the stream of Red shirted cyclists making their way to the start of the event.

It was a beautiful day with sun shining down, blue skies overhead, upbeat music pumping out of loud speakers and a real sense of intent at the start line. Riders were let out in manageable groups every minute or two. As it neared my turn to set off I was overcome with emotion and remembered why every other rider was here and taking part and everyone here had their own story to tell. I had my story and being caught off guard by a song that came on those big speakers i set off with a lot of feeling inside of me.

Pushing on with the ride around our capital I rode with a guy, for the first 20 miles, that lives close to my area and I convinced him to join my newly formed cycling club in Berkhamsted. It felt far more sociable this year mainly due to understanding I would be able to complete the distance and a year down the line i know my self a lot better from a cycle stand point. After a break mid way through for a drink a sugar top I rode the last half of the event in a good group. Bad sign-posting lead to a few hiccups but made for extra bonding and camaraderie.

The biggest pain about the event is that the roads are not closed off meaning the traffic and more importantly traffic lights are a huge problem when trying to get any sort of momentum.

The biggest high about the event is the incredible support that people show you when cycling the whole course but when you come in to the cross the line their are crowds that are really applauding and cheering the effort of all riders as the cross the line and get their medal. It is truly overwhelming.

The event is not a race and as I said it is hard to treat like that due to the lack of momentum you can gain. However, I tracked my own performance this year and I have improved my time as a cyclist by a considerable way and completed the course in 3 hours and 24 minutes knocking over an hour off last years time