Help me to raise money for Cancer Research

On 22nd July 2010 I will begin cycling from Lands End in Cornwall to John o'Groats in Scotland to raise money for the Annette Fox Leukaemia Research Fund. Please kindly sponsor me by donating at my  JustGiving.com webpage.

I will cycle the 1,200 mile journey in less than two weeks, averaging about 85 miles each day on my second hand thirty-year-old bike, posting on this blog every day during the journey. Prior to this, the longest distance I have cycled in one go is probably less than 15 miles.

Background

In the last three years, Jennie, my sister, and Ron, my father were diagnosed with leukemia and esophageal cancer respectively. Thankfully, both are now in remission and out of hospital. My dad's health has been weakened and he cannot go back to his old job as a joiner. My sister's treatment left her needing bilateral total hip replacement surgery which is scheduled for end of July 2010 - during my bike ride across Britain.

Made it to John o'Groats!

On Monday 9th August at about 2.30pm, I arrived at John o'Groats with my old bicycle having cycled 1121 miles from Lands End in 19 days to raise money for the Annette Fox Leukeamia Research Fund. With all of your terrific support, we have managed to raise almost £2000 for the charity which supported my sister during her two-year treatment for leukaemia.

I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody for your support and kindness over the last three weeks. It has been much appreciated.

A special thanks to those that helped me out on the way, offering free cups of tea, moral support, as much food as I could eat, grass on which to pitch my tent, directions, and for helping me fix my bicycle numerous times. Thank you Gurval, John and Lesley, Rory and Dave, Gareth and Jill, Ian and Graham, John, Andy and Andrew, and Jennie.

If you would like to sponsor me, you can still do so through my Just Giving webpage at www.justgiving.com/jg1983b. Alternatively, you can send a cheque directly to the charity, made payable to the Annette Fox Leukaemia Research Fund. Please enclose a covering slip with your name (optional) and address (optional) and a note saying that the donation is for sponsoring my bicycle ride, so we can keep a tally on how much we have raised. Please send cheques to:

Annette Fox Leukaemia Research Fund
Ward 7
Bradford Royal Infirmary
Duckworth Lane
Bradford
West Yorkshire
BD9 6RJ

I took photographs on the way, most of which can be seen here on a map:
http://share.ovi.com/album/jg1983.lejog?tab=map

I will soon update my blog with specifics about the route I took, strange happenings during the journey, tips for others wanting to do the same, and with the rest of my photographs. In the meantime, you can read posts I wrote before I started the bike ride here:
http://endtoend2010.blogspot.com/

Once again, thank you all for your support - I am sure we have made a difference to leukeamia patients at the Bradford Royal Infirmary and beyond.

2 days to go - follow me on my journey

With only two days left before I start my 1,200 mile bicycle journey from Lands End to John o'Groats, I have set up a couple of webpages so you can follow me on my trip.

This will be my last post until I finish the trip. Please use Twitter and Ovi (see below) to follow the journey as it unfolds.

Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/jg1983b
I will post comments to Twitter regularly using my mobile phone - you will see them instantly as I send them. Twitter messages, or 'tweets' are a bit like text messages but using the internet instead of a mobile phone network. You don't have to sign up to view my tweets, just go to the URL above. If you prefer to do it from some other application, my Twitter username is jg1983b

Ovi
http://share.ovi.com/album/jg1983.lejog?tab=map
Ovi is Nokia's media sharing service. As I cycle through Britain, I will take lots of photographs using my Nokia phone and upload them instantly to the Ovi page above. The photos will appear on a map of Britain so you can see where I have been, and guess where I will go next.

Currently, there is just one photo to view, but it is just a test photo that I made from Birmingham. As soon as I start the bicycle ride on Thursday, you will see lots of images appear from Lands Ends onwards.

GPS
I will also try attempt to map my journey using GPS if my cheap solar panel can power my phone for long enough. That depends on how sunny it is. I will upload them after I get back in a couple of weeks if it works.

New picture of me and Jennie

Whilst Jennie and my mum were visiting me in Cambridge this weekend, we took the opportunity to take a photograph of us with the bike. Hopefully, the local newspapers will use this photo in their articles covering this event.

3 days to go

I haven't done a proper cycle ride now since Friday, so I will have had five days off before the start of the journey from Lands End. I have booked a train from Cambridge to London Kings Cross, and another from London Paddington to Penzance. I will have to cycle between the London stations, and to Lands End from Penzance.

I tried to book a spot on a couple of camp sites near to Lands End for Wednesday night, but it appears you just have to turn up and hope there is space. It's slightly annoying not knowing exactly where I'll be spending the night, but I suppose I should get used to that! I'll set off from Lands End on Thursday morning.

I camped in the back garden last night to make sure I have everything I need. Things I forgot to pack for the night included a tea towel, tea bags, rope (for washing line) and something to sweeten the porridge with. I really need to lighten the load on the bike somehow. Maybe I should take fewer tools.

It's not too late to sponsor me:
http://www.justgiving.com/jg1983b

8 days to go - skin is waterproof

A longish (38.6 miles) excursion around Cambridge north and west villages. Started off fine, if a bit sluggish. Quite hard going for some reason. Went smoothly until I encountered a hill (not many in Cambridge). No problem, a few barley sugar sweets later and I was ready. Got to the top of the hill and was immediately impressed at the view from the top. I was equally pleased to see the several mile decent in front of me. I bombed down and reached a cross-roads I wasn't expecting. A check of the map: I decended down the wrong side of the hill and off the side of the map. After faffing with a compass I realised my new smart phone had GPS, so problem solved. At least I didn't have to trek back up the hill.

Then the thunderstorm. A proper thunderstorm. If it wasn't for my lightweight waterproof jacket I would definitely have been wet to the skin. Despite being cold and tired, this was quite exciting: completely enveloped by the environment.

9 days to go - back on track

I picked up the fixed bike from the shop this afternoon after cycling around Cambridge for a few days on their humiliating hire bike. They replaced the wheels and the chain. It's made all the difference. I suspect they did some other fiddling too to make it run smoothly. Gear changes are almost instant and pedaling hard doesn't make any clunking noises as it did before. So another expensive day, but at least there shouldn't be anything to wear out now.

Flyers now available

A flyer is now available as an A4 poster and as 4x A6 leaflets on one A4 sheet. Please contact me if you would like me to send you some to display/hand out to people.

10 days to go - old bike, new media

There is no update on the broken bike other than to say that it's still at the bike shop waiting for a new chain and pair of wheels to arrive. I'll pick it up tomorrow afternoon hopefully. The only thing that has not been changed on the bike, then, is the frame. This reminds me of the one broom sketch on Only Fools and Horses: one broom, but have changed the handle twice, and the brush three times.

11 days to go - explosive training

Get ready: I'm about to have a rant.

I had planned to use this weekend as a 'dummy run' for the actual trip. I wanted to cycle to Thetford forest, camp overnight and then return the following day - a 120 mile round trip. As well as being beneficial physically, the trip was intended to make sure I have everything I might need in terms of camping and cooking equipment, and to figure out how campsites work, to avoid any surprises.

Tom's Tips

1. Don't wear your t-shirt back to front: if you fall off your bike somebody might find you and twist your head the wrong way.
2. How to make underwear last four days:
1. Normal
2. Inside out
3. Back to front
4. Inside out and back to front

Thanks Tom.

Jennie's Survival Tips

Although I once saw an episode of Ray Mear's Extreme Survival, people still insist on giving me survival tips. I have an all-weather fire steel and a mutlitool, so I can survive anything. Anyway, here are more tips...

1. Flapjack, crisps & coca-cola for instant refreshment and high salt and calorie intake
2. Alcohol handwash for germ free hands
3. Wet wipes for a quick clean up
4. Torch to see at night
5. Blanket, those night-times might get chilly
6. Pillow and eyemask for restful sleep
7. Painkillers for aches and pains 
8. Floppy hat to look good (and sunglasses and suncream)
9. Mind out for the trucks, you get hit by one of them it's going to sting
10. Finally when your legs go to jelly, think of me... 

Thanks Jennie.

Dave's Tips

1. Barley sugar sweets provide a good source of energy.
2. Wear socks with sandles to avoid blisters when feet get sweaty.
3. After washing socks in the morning hang them on the handlebars whilst cycling to dry quickly.
4. Put talcom powder between toes before bedtime to keep feet dry and fresh.
5. Use truck stops for showers and food.
6. When legs turn to jelly don't stop because it will be very hard to get going again.
7. Salt tablets can help with hydration.
8. Sip water slowly and regularly during cycling rather than few large intakes.
9. Don't wear trousers when it rains: skin is waterproof.
10. Wear a floppy hat: prevents heat loss when cold, and keeps the head cool when it's hot.

Thanks Dave.

16 days to go - camping it is then

Over the last couple of days I have been cycling as much as I can, although certainly not as much as I would have liked. I have made progress in other areas though, mainly in maps and camping.

After looking through the road maps in Waterstones, I noticed that the Phillip's Complete Road Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland show campsites. Much detail is not included, but it is adequate for an end-to-end bike ride of Britain. I wanted to test a couple of the campsites to make sure they do exist and can be found, so I loaded Google Maps and used Streetview to do a virtual bike ride of an area. Three out of the three sites I looked for do indeed exist.

18 days to go - should I camp?

I'm thinking about camping on the trip instead of using Youth Hostels and B&Bs - I'm attracted to the idea of using little or no electricity at all. I'm not so much worried about the weight - it'll only add about 4kg, but more so about the initial cost of the equipment. Below is what I've been thinking about (if the info below doesn't make sense, that's because I don't know anything about camping). Please feel free to leave comments.

19 days to go - bike modifications

Today was a day off from cycling because the bike's wheels were being serviced. They're the old fashioned size of 27 inches in diameter. The tyres are 1 1/4 inches wide. The bike shop said they were in good shape apart from a few missing bearings in the back wheel - a previous owner must have taken it apart to service and lost a few in the process. The tyres were replaced with new Schwalbe Marathon tyres with a Kevlar lining to prevent punctures. These are the tyres of choice for long distance cycling, apparently.

After hearing about the 1,200 mile journey these wheels would have to endure, the bike shop kindly taped some spare spokes to the inside of the rear pannier rack so should one break for any reason, I wouldn't be delayed further by waiting for the local bike shop to order them in, wherever that might be.

20 days to go - I need a map

When I got back...

Long story, long route. Too tired to explain now. Will post tomorrow.

The day after...

Despite some quite timeconsuming planning, yesterday's cycle didn't go as planned. Two wrong turns increased the planned distance of 26.4 miles to 39.5 miles. Despite the last ten miles being quite tiring, I was actually quite glad to find out that I could cope with such setbacks mentally and physically. Although it's still only half of what I'll have to do everyday for two weeks during the actual ride.

21 days to go

Today I cycled the same route as yesterday (but without the detour to the bicycle shop) in order to quantify the affect of adding two full rear panniers. Total distance: 25.5 miles.The panniers were filled with useless items including blankets for bulk and books for weight. Oddly, my average speed increased 0.4 mph over yesterday's, to 13.1 mph. Either I'm getting fitter, or yesterday was an off day.

22 days to go

Today I did my first cycle ride with the new cycle computer. Distance 27.4 miles, average speed 12.7 mph. Took just over 2 hours. At this speed I will have to cycle for about 7 hours to reach my target of 85 miles per day. And today my bike wasn't fully loaded.