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Update 16th May 2010

We have done it.

Day1: we started on Friday 14th from ASDA Weymouth @07-20hrs towards Dorchester climbing the ridgeway and circling Dorchester towards Yeovil. Unfortunately Stuart got a puncture after 9 miles and despite us trying to repair it we eventually needed to replace the inner tube and progressed on our route. Once we reached Grimstone we encountered two long steep inclines and at the 16mile have our second stop. Approx 1 mile later we encountered another massive hill and our next stop was Yeovil. The next portion of our journey was on busy A roads and we were able to keep close proximity to each other. The real problems started at approx 42 mile point at Pylle, this was the first of some gruelling hills that we encountered such as Shepton Mallet, Binegar, Ston Easton and Pensford Hill to name a few. We then moved onto Bristol where we again encountered both hills and trafic together with peak time trafic. We eventually arrived (we got lost) at the Bristol North Hilton hotel @ 17-40hrs 10hrs 20minutes after our departure. We used some of the facilities at the hotel and had dinner and all went to bed and asleep exausted.

Day 2:  It was a later start and we all had a large breakfast prior to setting off and all feeling the effects of the previous days exertions. We left the hotel at 09-20hrs and proceded along the A38 to Gloucester for 25miles going across regular terrain, then taking the A417 to Ledbury and subsequently the A438 to Hereford. It was when we left Gloucester that we again started to encounter hill after hill and we started to really struggle to our efforts on Friday. It was during this time and difficulties that our humour and teamwork got us through and nicknames such as Rover and Squeaky (you know who you are) helped to alleviate the stress and pain that we where all experiencing. We finally arrived at the RNCB in Hereford at 16-20hrs 7hrs since our departure. We were met by Heidi from the fundraising team and recieved a brief rub down to ease our aching limbs. We met up with Stefanie ( my daughter who attends the RNCB) and her boyfrind Stu and went out for a meal. After a good nights sleep me Bob and Stuart returned to Weymouth and Claire and Pete went home to Cardiff, Stefanie remained at the college.

It  is important that we give a huge thank you to Claire Foster (and Tobes) who provided us with support throughout the bike ride and without her we would never have been able to complete the ride. I would like to thank you from all of us.  

P.S keep donating to our great cause and we will post some additional photographs on this page. Again a big thank you to The Ocean Spa, Westham cycles, The Bristol North Hilton hotel and ASDA Weymouth.

 

Charles McCaig

 

 

Please note the date of our event has changed to 14th & 15th May 2010 due to unforseen circumstances.

My name is Charles McCaig and I am a criminal justice drug worker in Dorset, working with chaotic drug users who commit crime to pay for their drug misuse, My job is to help these people get the appropriate treatment that they require, removing them from chaos into treatment and out of crime.

This work can be very stressful and one evening whilst destressing at our local spa Stuart and me discussed the effect the work had on our health and the stress that we experience on a daily basis. The conversation somehow switched to my daughters college in Hereford (RNC) and the brilliant work that they have provided for not only my daughter (Stefanie), but for all both past, present and future students that attend the college.

It was then that we decided that we would like to do something to raise money for such a good cause, we discussed many alternative possible ventures but we decided that a sponsored cycle from Weymouth our home town to the college in Hereford. A distance of over 135miles, and for men of our age and fitness this is an enormous undertaking. Having discussed this to other friends and family we have had a positive reaction to our venture and my future son-in-law Pete enrolled to doe the ride.

We have started to get support from friends/colleagues. We have also received invaluable support from the staff and management of the Ocean Spa in Portland Dorset (www.theoceanspa.co.uk). They have been providing us with the gym trainers to help us to obtain the physical and nutritional advice and providing us with any classes that we may find beneficial in our fitness routine. As I have said previously none of us are fit and it will take us a long time to reach the fitness levels needed to achieve our target of getting to Hereford in two days. Currently we are training 3-5 days per week and our routines have been going well (but painful), attending spinning classes to bulid speed and endurance in our legs. To date I have personally lost 9lbs since we commenced our training and I feel a lot healthier in the process.

The Royal National College for the Blind is such a good cause and if anyone wishes to see the great work that they are doing please visit their web page (www.rncb.org.uk) to understand the vision they have to provide the specialist educational, recreational and social training that they provide for their students.

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