Hello there,

PKD? never heard of it, nor me...........

Until I was diagnosed with PKD at Easter in 1999.

We are raising money for the UKPKD Charity by taking part in the Dragon Ride, 162km and 3330M of climbing (that's 101 miles and 11,000ft), on the 25th June.

WE DID IT!!!!!!!! The three of us got round in about 8 hours, including a puncture, a picnic lunch and what looked suspiciously like an ice cream stop to me. ( I was too far back to see).

Actual pedaling times were:-

Mike 6hr 57min, Jon 7hr 2 min, Chris 7hr 13 min. I think the other guys would have gone quicker if they hadn't slowed down after the climbs for me to catch up.

I have to say a huge number of thank you's.

So in no particular order:-

My family for putting up with months of sweaty cycling clothes and an empty fridge.

To Mike and Jon for riding with me and helping raise money. Respect!

Paul at Cheddar Cycle Store (great time of 5hr 17min)

Parker International for exceptional customer service

Polar Electro UK for exceptional customer service

Dave Moore of Broadway House, home of the Cheddar  Challenge

Mike Saunders at switch-backs.com

Helena for feeding us the night before the ride, and at such short notice

To Breakaway Cycling for organising the event (nice one!)

To Dr Matthew Dolman and Dr Chris Dudley, for getting it right every time.

To Tess at the PKD Charity

To Mikey Pies for riding all of those miserable winter days over the last few years.

To Paul Rogger for pacing us round and never stopping talking.

To Gemini TKD for spreading the word and kind offers of support.

To all my sponsors all over the world.

And again to my family for support and love both on and off the bike.

Was it hard work? Oh yes, 6500 calories worth, 67,000 heartbeats.

Did I enjoy it? Downhill bits were great, top speed 45mph.

The climbs? err, yes there were lots and they were long, 32 mins up Bwlch y Clawdd. (55% of the riding time was uphill, 4 hours of climbing)

Best bits? hmmm, seeing our support crew on top of Rhigos with lunch, doing 30mph on the flat at mile 99, finishing and knowing I trained right and eaten right.

Worst bit?  feeling really fit and knowing it can't last........................................

Polycystic Kidney Disease is the most common life threatening genetic disease, it affects an estimated 12.5 million people worldwide regardless of sex, age, race or ethnic origin. In fact PKD affects more people than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, Downs syndrome and sickle cell anemia — combined. The chances of having it are about 1-800 in the general population but if you have it the chances of passing it on to your children is 1-2.

Polycystic means multiple cysts so PKD is lots of cysts on each kidney. These cysts grow and multiply, slowly causing the mass of the kidney to increase. Ultimately the diseased kidney shuts down causing end-stage renal disease for which dialysis and transplantation are the only forms of treatment. A normal kidney is the size of a human fist. However, with the presence of PKD, cysts develop in both kidneys. There may be just a few cysts or many and the cysts may range in size from a pinhead to the size of a grapefruit. When many cysts develop the kidneys can grow to be the size of a football or larger and weigh as much as 15kgs each.

PKD is incurable so end stage renal failure is the only likely outcome. The treatment for end stage renal failure is limited to severe interventions like transplantation or dialysis. The only way to deal with PKD at present is to stay fit, control your blood pressure, manage the pain and lead a normal life. The clock is ticking...........

Significant research is underway all around the world. In the UK the PKD charity has recently been formed to raise awareness of the condition while in the US the excellent PKD foundation has been working for nearly 25 years on the issues of awareness and research.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: the PKD Charity will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

People have been so generous that we have decided to raise our original target again! The target is now 300% of the original.

Please sponsor me now as every single penny, cent or whatever counts.

Many thanks for your support and thanks to those who have already sponsored us.

Chris Cottrell

Thanks to PKD Foundation for the background information.