Day 5: Bridport

Ok, well, so much for a day a day!

Day 5 was a well earned rest day, and a chance to explore the lovely town of Bridport in Dorset!

All our bikes had taken a bit of a bashing with the weather and hills, and Jason at Bspoke bikes on the High Street, saved our bacon when another bike shop let us down last minute about doing the repairs and tune ups! Not generally a fan of endorsing things, but here I will! If you're in Bridport and need your bike fixed, or you want to hire a bike, go visit them! www.bspokeonline.co.uk

We did exciting things like laundry, and spent hours in the local coffee shop planning routes and camp sites for the rest of the journey.

We were joined by Oscar's parents, Trees and Kym who offered some moral support and chipped in for a rather fabulous BBQ - which took place to musical accompaniment!

I also managed to hook up with a local SGI Buddhist member, which meant I could go and chant in someone's house, instead of hiding in the van or as I went along on my bike! Maybe at some point I'll do a blog about my Buddhist faith, but not here! If you want to find out more, take a look at: www.sgi-uk.org

Will do some more updates as soon as I get a second! x

Day 4: Swanage to Bridport

So, here we go, on the long long over due posts! Want to get these out before I forget! :o)

Day 4 actually saw the wind let up - a welcome relief after having faced strong head-winds for 3 days straight...

A very hilly start to the day, with some of the most spectacular scenery of the whole trip around Corfe Castle and the Thomas Hardy Monument.

The group of cyclists split into 3 today, but all managed to arrive at camp within half an hour of each other, having taken slightly different routes.

My group (I'll have to check the pictures to remember who that was...Bex, Ob, Chris, Mike...?) had lunch in a nice little park in Dorchester, and then got very confused trying to find the cycle path out of town! Went through the strangest new build town and then onto country roads...

The road to the Hardy Monument was (at a guess) the biggest/longest climb we did on the whole trip...I remember spotting the monument from a distance and thinking 'I hope we're not going up there'... d'oh! Every time we rounded a corner there was another climb! (and once a dead badger) The views from the top were pretty spectacular, and the road going down the other side was well worth it. Poor Chris over shot the turning - getting to enjoy a great down hill run, before realising he had to turn around and come all the way back up...just as it started to rain AGAIN!

NCN Route 2 did us proud, with some beautiful winding roads going through a valley, which meant that having done the climb of our lives (Chris twice), most of the rest of the afternoon was down-hill with barely a car in sight!

Oscar joined the support group for a lot of today, as the big hills proved too much for the, (not as great as hoped) 'hand bike', and towing was just too dangerous.

Found a quiet little camp site in West Bay (near Bridport) to call home for two nights, and most of the gang ventured to the local pub for a well deserved pint!

Getting up to date...!

Hello! This is Kate again here - Thank you to the very VERY wonderful Henri Fawcett who was updating the blog while we were on the road, as well as looking after us all so well. We quite honestly couldn't have done it without the support vechicle!

We're now all home, safe and sound, if not a little tired and achy!

Updating the blog (as you will have noticed) was rather difficult while we were away, due to lack of internet connection/battery power/internet cafe's etc etc...

I will post days 4 to 10 as soon as I can, as I'm sure you're all dying to know what we got up to! :o)

As you have probably gathered, WE MADE IT! 340miles completed, and we arrived at Land's End as one big happy group in glorious sunshine - what a treat!

Watch this space! x

Day 3: White Cliffs of Dorset

Despite yesterday’s dramas everyone was in surprisingly high spirits this morning. The route today was a little shorter and (hopefully) simpler, about a third of which took our hardy travellers along the Bournemouth cliffs. We’re camping at the Star and Compass pub in Swanage this evening, which I’m sure will help to encourage a fast reach to the finish today!

Today went like absolute clockwork, the entire team finished the whole thing, and at the final sprint home Roti and Oscar destroyed a ridiculous hill in Swanage with the help of a tow-rope and the sheer brute force which you can only expect from these boys. Ridiculous.

We laid our weary heads in amongst the Star and Compass chickens, overlooking the stunning Dorset coastline, entirely knackered, satisfied, and excited.

Day 2: Into the Wild

An early start for everyone today, except Ob who had to find someone to repair a wheel. A huge thanks a MILLION to City Cycles in Chichester, who on seeing Obs cute little face and hearing his story, did the repairs for free!

Today it was the rain that was against the cyclists, in a big way. I’m talking heavy, sideways, zero visibility epic rain towards the end of the day. The coastline between Portsmouth and Southampton can be bleak at the best of times, but after the first day’s success the team took to the high seas with high spirits. Today’s route had three ferry journeys, meaning a couple of ambitious time constraints. Although the route was fairly straightforward, the insane weather that came in later in the day made things worse. We were hard pressed to cross each ferry before the final one closed, and by the time the last of the team arrived in Hythe, the weather was at it’s worst and totally unsafe to continue in. The van met Oscar just outside Portsmouth, and went on.

Finding a decent campsite also became an issue, as the route had to be shortened and neither time nor weather was on our side. The Pushers took refuge in a warm pub in Hythe while camp was set up, but the difficult day had taken it’s toll on everyone.

Day 1: Set Sail...

After an excited send off at Brighton Pier, to the sound of our very own tartan-clad bagpiper, the group set off as one into the sun. Progress was steady for the first half of the day as the team began to work out a good pace, and all the cyclists met for lunch on Sussex’s windiest beach, Littlehampton. I tell you, today it was all about the wind.

The shore wind forced a few Pushers inland, and subsequently off the planned route, so we had a little more time than expected to set up a warm welcome at Old School House in Itchenor for the first night before everyone arrived. Cyclists started trickling in at about 6, to a full on feast put on by the fabulous Mrs. Fawcett, hot showers and even a warm bed space for everyone. Somewhere in Birdham (only 2 miles from home) Sam, Roti and Chris, with the best of intentions, fell for the old “ask a local for directions” trick, but they made it home eventually!

Oscar’s hand-cycle (which I’m calling ‘the Steed’) gets up to about five or six miles an hour on average. We’ve come to realise that this may mean that he can’t complete every day of the ride, especially when time constraints or conditions are against us. After a three or four mile accidental detour at around five in the afternoon, Oscar and the Steed decided to call it a day and were picked up about six miles from home late afternoon.

The Support Van Diaries

A brief and wholehearted apology to start off with: we’ve been so carried away in the madness of this trip that keeping you guys updated has been difficult. As everything has calmed down now I’ve found a quiet moment in the corner of a seaside café in Swanage, and will upload all our blogs from the previous days’ adventures… enjoy!

Factoids 2!

Our time of blister-free backsides and undamaged calf muscles is running out and in less than one week we will be swapping our sofa's for saddle's and heading west. Thus, anxiety may be upon us.

Don't despair, check out these factoids and chill out. (They are in order of amazing to life changing)

During our 10 day cycle ride over 21,000 babies will have been born in the UK. Lovely.

Presuming we will be cycling steadily for 6 hours a day, we will each inhale 116,640 litres of air in 10 days cycling. That's enough to fill 3,800 rubbish bags or 20,000 balloons OR a small hot air balloon between us.

When we reach Land's End we will have lost about 300 litres of sweat between us. The equivalent to two baths full. Two sweaty baths.

One Week to go!

Been slow on the blogs, as realised that it's not really going to make interesting reading until we're actually on the road!

I'm feeling more and more confident as I do more riding, complete more hills and hear stories of fellow pushers completing longer and longer rides. My legs are definitely getting stronger, and with a team of friendly friends I just know we'll urge each other on and get to where we're going.

I had some words of encouragement from the physiotherapist I saw this morning, who also recommended some good stretches for us to do, so that's also really positive!

The countdown timer, ticking away on my desktop is saying we have 6days, 21hours, 43minutes and 45seconds until Push Off! My prediction is that this time next week, if all goes to plan, we will be nearing Littlehampton, and pretty ready for a (another?!) fuel stop.

I'm 60% excited and 40% terrified right now, although this is changing on a daily basis - luckily swinging mostly towards excitement! It's getting harder and harder to sit in an office!!!!

19 days and counting...

Having bust my shoulder (again) on Saturday evening (and been seduced by the sun during the day) I did a total of NO training at the weekend, which really wasn't very clever!

I cycle at least 5 miles every day going to and from work, and did 10miles yesterday - going to see the lovely Richard McMinn - my chiropractor, who I wanted to kiss after he fixed my shoulder (meaning I got my first good night's sleep in ages!)

Found out that Meridian TV don't have space to cover the ride, which is a real shame, as I though it was a dead cert, but never mind - their loss...

Very sad to find out on the weekend that Tash won't be able to come on the ride with us :o( - she took medical advice having had lots of problems with her hip and we're all very sad to see her go. Jumping straight in to take her place is Mr Andy Marshall - who is probably fitter than the rest of us put together and also has 'the knowledge' in terms of what we're going to need to eat and drink to keep ourselves going!

As you may have gathered - we're not the sportiest bunch of people on the planet, oh no, not in any way - we are all however enthusiastic and optimistic and I am sure that will power and mutual encouragement will see us through. Realistically, it is our energy levels that will make it or break it - which means making sure that we're ingesting enough calories, regularly enough to keep us at our pedals.

Bex and Tash have done some research on this, and I've been doing some reading myself; as well as talking to professional sports people and there really is nothing to stop us as long as we're sensible! Hip hip Hooray!

On a different note - been reading several stories about cyclists in the local rag and on the BBC website - was very interested to hear that it is perfectly legal for cyclists to ride side by side (in twos that is - not taking up the whole road!). A cyclist recently got sent to prison for colliding with a pedestrian while cycling on a pavement, which also involved his driving licence being suspended - I knew that this was possible, but had never heard an instance of it.

I really hate it when other cyclists cycle irresponsably - I'm no angel...I've been known to skip the odd red light - although in fairness, not without having a thorough check first and I HAVE (shock horror) cycled down the pavement, although, again, not when there are lots of pedestrians about...I got stopped by a police officer for doing this once - I wish they'd patrol the cycle lanes and stop pedestrians wandering aimlessly in and out - it's dangerous for cyclist and pedestrian! If you really want to hear me rant about this - bring it up with me in person...

I should really get over my cycle-lane-rage before we start this trip!!

Busy week!

24 days to go...so much done, so much to do!

Yesterday we had our first 'photo-call' for the local Argus newspaper, which will hopefully be published over the weekend.

Our website has gone live and donations are rolling in via the paypal account, which is wonderful - thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far!! If you haven't taken a look yet, check out: www.thebigpush.co.uk

I had to mend my bike with sandwhich tags as the front mud-guard was hanging loose...hoping this is just because it was old, and not because someone tried to knick it from outside my flat...hmmmm - Think it's a sign to get that new bike I've been dreaming of and with some early birthday gifts from my family, boss and lovely boyfriend I should have some new wheels next week! Hooray!

Sustrans (the sustainable transport charity) have continued to be very helpful providing information on routing, via their website and helpline number - if I manage to grab a minute to call their regional managers and wardens I'm sure it will be even more valuable!!

We've had a whisper of some interest from Meridian TV about doing a piece, so fingers crossed on that, and we're all lined up for some more local press over the next few weeks!

The Hop Poles on Middle Street have very kindly agreed to sponsor our t-shirts, so I'm now (not so) patiently awaiting their arrival so they can go off for printing.

Need to get some serious training in this weekend, as I'm away the two weekends after, and then it is the weekend before Push Off!

Push it real good....x

Countdown! 28days, 22hours, 4minutes (approx)

Wow...I can't believe that it is now less than a month until 'Push Off' !

There is still so much to do!

Need to follow up with a friend who has offered to help with getting the press involved in Brighton, and hopefully we'll have the t-shirts done this week.

The idea is that money from t-shirt sales will be put towards helping us actually GET there - i.e: food and possible camping fees for the riders.

As long as there is space in the support van - we will also be taking musical instruments so that we (I say 'we'- I'm probably the least musical of the whole crew) can busk...literally 'sing for our supper' on route!

Not all of us are lucky enough to have jobs with holiday pay and the like, so we need to make sure that all the riders can get there in the first place, or there won't be much sponsorship going on at all!

Sam, Ollie and I did a good ride on Saturday - to Devil's Dyke in the pouring rain! Good endurance training! 5miles up hill, was not as hard as I thought, although we certainly weren't going at any speed. Sam had some problems with his gears, which certainly slowed us down and we got to the top in about 40minutes.

Now we need to know how fast Oscar can go on the same terrain!!

Factoids!

After the 300 mile journey each rider will have burned off approximately 31000 calories. That is the equivalent of 520 eggs, 130 chocolate bars or 90 pints of beer.

During the 10 days each cyclist will have completed about 724000 pedal rotations.

Hmmm, should be cycling really....

Note to self

Do not wear converse trainers when cycling in the rain.

No grip - scary!

My Mum's Story

My Mum, Jane just sent me an email of encouragement - she is living proof of recovery from severe nerve damage!

For those who are sceptical of the treatment Oscar is undertaking at The Mind Clinic I would like to tell you a bit of my own story:

Four and a half years ago I had an accident in Spain; I tripped and fell onto the side of a trailer, dislocated and fractured my left shoulder, severely bruising my upper arm and in the process received a Brachial Plexus injury – this is nerve damage in the shoulder which caused me to completely lose the use of my left arm/hand, my wrist hung from the end of my arm with five swollen sausage like fingers at the end. The Brachial Plexus injury was not spotted whilst I was in Spain as after treatment for the dislocation my arm was put in a sling and was told to keep it there for some time. It was not until latter on I realised I could not move my fingers and went to the local A & E on my return to the UK 3 days later and was subsequently referred to see an orthopaedic surgeon.

In the meantime friends rallied round to help; I was taking a variety of homeopathic remedies – Arnica* – Symphytum* – Ruta Grav* - and Hypericum*, and started receiving regular massage and Reiki healing.

The orthopaedic registrar I initially saw was not very helpful/experienced and said I would have to wait months for tests and sent me away with no physiotherapy and not a lot of hope; however fortunately when I returned to A & E again a few days later (because I was so troubled about the state of my hand which was by now ‘clawing’) the consultant at A & E was so concerned about my hand/arm, and appalled at the treatment I had received he sent me back to see the consultant with a letter saying he must see me and not his registrar. On seeing the consultant I was immediately booked in for tests the following morning at Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre, referred to the Institute of Neurology, UCL National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery in London, and sent for physiotherapy and eventually hydrotherapy.

After having all sorts of tests to my nerves and muscles at Hurstwood Park and the Institute of Neurology the prognosis was not good, however about 6 months later, and a lot of hard work mentally and physically, I saw a small twitch in my thumb and very gradually over the last 4 years I have regained nearly full use of my arm, wrist and hand. I have had to think my arm and hand to work again by sending the right messages to encourage the crushed and damaged nerves to start regenerating. I exercised my hand constantly using my right hand to bend and turn my fingers, wrist and elbow.

It is most important to fully participate and take responsibility for your own recovery – no one else can really make you better! Consultants, therapists, homeopaths. Chiropractors etc. all have their place in aiding my recovery; but I believe unless you put the work in yourself and accept as true that you will get better it is unlikely you will recover to the best you of your ability. When my hydrotheraphist said she could no longer help me, I would have to do the rest ‘on land’, she also told me that when we first meet she thought my arm would not recover as the damage was so severe and that I would end up with a flail arm – she said ‘…your determination has made this happen..’

I still have a slightly wasted looking left hand, my fingers do not feel quite ‘normal’ and my touch is affected because the Ulnar nerve has not fully recovered though I can now use, move and bend my fingers almost normally and do the vast majority of things that I want to do. I still exercise my hand daily using a squeegee ball and grip master and attend Aqua Rehabilitation classes 1-3 times a week.

I have recently been discharged by my consultant at Institute of Neurology and told that I have made a ‘miraculous’ recovery; however the consultants and doctors I have spoken to give no credence to the alternative methods of treatment I have used alongside the conventional methods they have prescribed. I feel very strongly that the homeopathy, massage, other healing methods and my attitude of mind have greatly complimented the methods used in my treatment by the NHS. I do not think I would have made such excellent recovery by using conventional methods alone.

It greatly saddens me that most of the neurologists, orthopaedic surgeons and physiotherapists I have seen do not accept that using complimentary/alternative forms of healing has led in great part to my ‘miraculous’ recovery.

*Arnica – used for the treatment of bruising, swelling and shock

*Symthytum – amongst it’s common names: Knitbone and Boneset an excellent first aid remedy for broken bones

* Ruta Grav – also used for the treatment of bruising particularly to the covering of the bone (the periosteum)

*Hypericum – used mainly for treating nerve damage caused by injury and shock

Beautiful cycling weather today!

A great day for cycling! Hardly any wind, slightly overcast, so not to hot - and wonderfully not too many people wandering aimlessly in the cycle lane! :o)

Must try and remember that we're going to be cycling in all weathers...really appreciated my waterproof trousers last night on the way home....nothing worse than a wet arse!

Ohh updates from my home page!

Stuff to do this week:
*order high viz vests
*divide the route into manageable chunks for people to plan
*find somewhere safe and dry to keep my bike so it doesn't rot
*raise more sponsorship money!
*sort t-shirt printing (talk to Bex and Taz)
*Talk to the lovely SusTrans again about route planning help

Things I've done (check!)
* emailed the wonderful organic clothing company howies about mentioning us on their blog/facebook etc
* been sponsored ?1 a mile for the ride from my boss (BPR Music) and her husband's company: International Blueprints - MILLIONS OF THANK YOUS!

So - still a long way to go, but stuff is happening!

Blogging

So, I realise for people to read and follow a blog, you actually have to write one.

This seems to have been an issue so far, so here is my first attempt!!

Planning is in full swing! Roti worked out a way to put the sponsor form onto the facebook page, so as many people as want to download it, can help with raising funds! (please shout if I should put it here too!)

Found out this morning that we can get some t-shirts printed for free (as long as we provide the t-shirts) - so I'm going to have a stab at finding a company to sponsor us by paying for the t-shirts in exchange for wearing their logo...

Roti, Bex and I made a massive list of things we're going to need to take with us, which I need to get out to the rest of the team to check what we've already got - there's also a big list of 'things I would like' - which is in danger of becoming ridiculous!

Looking forward to the meeting tomorrow and also test riding a new bike this afternoon!!