Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

My motivation

For those of you who know me, you will have to agree that I am not the greatest gift to sporting prowess. Michelin man himself would have beaten me in a race 2 years ago. This ride will simply be the ultimate physical and no doubt mental challenge of my life. For this (and for most wild, irrational ideas in the Wood household) I have my children to "thank"! Around 18 months ago, as I entered the second half of my century, I knew I wanted to do something "big" to cement the goal of shedding 21kg in weight but it was only when the pounds finally dropped off about 6 months ago that the crazy idea of a long distance ride began to infect my consciousness, galvanised by comments from the children to the effect that in all probability I would pile back on the lost weight within 2 years, as statistics amply demonstrated. So, having acquired a bike, this is my attempt, for once, to prove them wrong…….

Preparation and the event

I shall be undertaking a solo, self-funded, unassisted cycle ride, the length of the UK, of over 1000 miles, from June 5-19, riding an average 70-75 miles per day, through some of the hilliest parts of the UK. As I have not yet strung together 2 continuous days' cycling of 75 miles this ride will involve at least 14 Personal Bests! When I proudly told a cycling friend that I had hit 70 miles one Sunday, he replied rather too knowingly that I should be congratulated but that "I ain't seen nothing yet" until I had got up each morning, coaxed aching muscles into action and repeated the same every day over a fortnight. His level-headed advice has been the greatest motivation to not overdo the training too early!

Apparently, I shall be climbing the equivalent of over twice the height of Everest from sea level (lucky I cannot remember big numbers) and will require additional energy requirements during the fortnight equivalent to eating over 300 extra bananas with 150 fig rolls (cripes - where will they fit?). Figs and cycling? On reflection, perhaps I will give the figs a miss....

 

The charities I am supporting.

Frankly, as this ride is definitely not being been undertaken for fun, I need a HUGE incentive to get me there. To pile on the pressure, I have chosen 4 charities to support.

The charity on this page, FRAME is influential in the debate over finding alternatives to the use of animals in medical experiments. It hopes over time to secure recognition that there are viable alternatives to the use of laboratory animals in any kind of medical or scientific procedures. The EU is actively addressing this issue. FRAME recognises that immediate abolition of all experimentation cannot happen overnight but actively is supporting University research that demonstrates realistic alternatives to animal testing do exist and where alternatives do not exist, offers solutions for reducing the pain and suffering experienced by the animals being used.

A BIG BIG THANKS in advance for any support you can offer. It would mean a lot to me personally and act as the best pain relief possible for my dodgy knee to know there are people out there willing me on………..

If you would like to consider selecting any of my other preferred charities (whether or not as an alternative), they are:  you may need to copy paste the links into a new browser

Cyclists Fighting Cancer, is child focused and uses donations to award bikes and trikes etc to children who are going through or recovering from the mill of cancer treatment.  See http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/flyingbanana

Bumblebee Conservation Trust - seeking to halt the alarming decline in the native UK bee population, that could have disastrous results for pollination levels and therefore food production. See http://www.justgiving.com/flyingbananabumblebee

SOS Children's Villages UK: Caring for abandoned and orphaned children around the world in secure caring communities. See http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/flyingbanana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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