My Dad died last year, on 15 August 2014, just after I had enrolled to do the Hot Chillee bike ride: http://www.londres-paris.com

He loved to cycle, he was cycling up to a month before he died at the age of 89.  It kept him fit until Leukaemia took him. I miss my Dad every day but am glad he is now with my Mum again.

When I signed up to do the HotChillee version of the London to Paris ride I did not realize just how Professional an event it was.  On reading about the event I concluded that it was in fact so serious that I may even have to buy Lycra to wear in it.  (My running gear, or football jersey would be too out of place).  Apparently one also needs pockets in the jersey to hold the 60g of carbs required each hour whilst cycling the 7+ hours each day.  I also discovered to my dismay that I also couldn’t stop for a quick beer at a roadside bar, as that would mean dropping out of the peloton and being collected by the broom van...

"The 3 day event is distinguished by having motorbike outriders, rolling road closures in France and professional logistical back up along the 520km route, from Hampton Court to the Eiffel Tower. The rolling road closures into the centre of Paris on a Saturday afternoon is only experienced by riders of the Tour de France! The peloton, with its 50 motorbike outriders, rolls along the famous Parisian streets to an emotional finish.  The 400 cyclists, riding in seeded speed groups, are supported by HotChillee's 260-strong crew which includes mechanics, marshals, outriders sports therapists and our experienced Ride Captains."

So my first sponsorship request is for this ride, starting tomorrow, Thursday 25 June at 5am in London.

But then last week, on my last training bike ride before the event and also on the evening I was due to fly out to Buenos Aires for an ICANN meeting, a car door opened in front of me enabling me to take an earlier flight which despite my best efforts didn’t reach Buenos Aires but did land me on the road 10 metres on from my bike.  As I floated through the air I saw the ground, then the sky, and feeling no pain actually considered that I may be dead. When I hit the ground I realized I was not, given the pain, and found myself on my back, after what had been a nice forward flip through the air.  I stayed down, an ambulance called.  I had bad hip/back, knee and arm pain.  Luckily nothing was broken, thanks to my rucksack which had acted as an airbag for my impact, helped by a nice new unused laptop (not so new now).  When getting cleaned up it turned out I was very lucky, the pain on my knee was the lack of skin on the outside due to the slide and an impact on the inside, so able to bend and work it ok again.  The hip, hand and elbow remain painful though.

I am actually feeling incredibly lucky as it could have been much worse with me landing on my neck or head, or not having had the rucksack on, flipping into the line of oncoming traffic etc.  Thus I decided to still ride London to Paris, or at least attempt to do so.  I have a base pain going into the event, which if it does not increase I'll try to keep going.  But the 3 days of cycling may get the better of me. Time will tell...

If it does get the better of me, and I have to retire, then I have a Plan B (one should always have a plan B!): To do it again, this time on the Paris to London ride organised by the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research (soon to become Bloodwise.org) - whose aim is to beat blood cancer.  What a great goal.  This will take place on 17-21 September 2015: https://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/london-paris

And if this Hot Chillee June London to Paris does not beat me, then I figure I just got to get back on that bike and do it again on 17 September for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.  Why? Because my Dad would have.

Thanks for reading this and thanks for sponsoring.  Every little bit counts.

David Taylor