In July this year I was meant to be cycling from London to Edinburgh and then back to London (LEL), an Audax event run once every four years. 1000 plus riders from over 90 countries riding 1,400 km in less than 96 hours.
But 10 days before the event I was hit by a lorry. I was lucky but did damage my knee and suffered from some gruesome road rash to my forearm. I limped to the line (quite literally) to start the event but only got as far as Thirsk in Yorkshire and had to head back to London. I didn’t think my knee would make it back – but it did.
Hoorah! I hear you cry.
But no! Because I made it back without the knee collapsing, it has been playing on my mind ever since that I just gave up – used the dodgy knee as an excuse when it got tough.
So, to prove my manly toughness to myself I am going to ride from Lands End to John O’Groats – just slightly further and over roughly the same sort of terrain. If the knee collapses I know I made the right decision on LEL. If it doesn’t then – hoorah! – all that training earlier in the year will not have been wasted.
I am riding in aid of Macmillans to help raise money on behalf of a friend at work whose father is terminally ill with cancer. They have expressed how helpful and understanding the charity has been in supporting their family and I thought it was a worthy cause, dealing with an illness that still sees off over a third of us.
Here is a link to the sponsorship page: http://www.justgiving.com/Roy-Wood
It is also an opportunity to create a new, more user friendly, route.
I have used the new Google map bicycle routing package that is being beta tested at the moment. To fully test it I have just types in Lands End to John O’Groats, adjusted the end points to the signposts and asked for directions. the plan is to follow the route no matter what! Could be the best route ever. Could be a disaster.l Let’s wait and see…
