Ladies and Gents,
Completely shameless begging post time now (especially since I haven't been active on here for a little while)...
As a small few of you good peeps know, my daughter suffered the indescribably painful tragedy of losing her baby in childbirth approx 16 months ago, on her own 21st birthday.
Sands - The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity provided her with some much needed early guidance and support in the hospital, and helped her to make some choices that were difficult enough to make when your head is straight never mind when such a thing completely fucks up your ability to reason and think.
I am undertaking, what for me is, an enormous challenge - cycling LEJOG (Lands End to John O'Groats) in May this year to raise as much money as I possibly can for this charity.
I have osteoporosis in both hips and knees, and lower back problems including a ruptured disc, but I'm fucking we'll going to do it!

PLEASE please visit my JustGiving page, and make a donation (if you are able) to this incredibly worthy cause.

http://www.justgiving.com/mjkevans

Like I said, shameless begging, but for such a worthy cause...

Thanks for reading,
Mark.

Give my mate Stuart Cathcart a ring at High Sports in Shrewsbury (01743 231649) and mention my name.
He held (possibly still does ) the time record for cycling Le Jog. His knowlege of planning the route will be invaluable to you eg, look at the Met so you can plan the route to ensure you never cycle into a head wind etc.
Are you doing this unsupported etc?

Good luck

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

I've just looked on the High Sports web site - it's well worth checking out to see Ed Booth's 'El Cap porch swing' (Ed works in his shop ) It involves climbing El Capitan and then doing a rope swing (full rope length) with 3000' of air beneath your feet - huge fun

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

Cheers Adam,
We've been planning this for a good while now. Three riders, one support car for LE to Kendal, and another for Kendal to JOG. 11 days riding, all accommodation already booked and paid for - Travel Lodge family rooms, 2 rooms, 2 sweaty knackered blokes per room! We've got GPX files for our daily routes, we know the roads, the climb profiles etc etc. I've been putting in some serious saddle time, barring 3 days I've ridden at least 10 miles EVERY day since Jan 2nd - just back from 15 on the Lapierre mountain bike tonight (not playing out on the road bike while the weather is so f*cking cold).
Our biggest day is 92 miles up over Ben Nevis with more than 9500 feet of climb - that one scares me!!!
My knees hurt a lot, but I AM GONNA COMPLETE THIS - my Granddaughter's memory deserves it...

Wish I had the time to come with you. I did it in 96 with the missus of the moment.

You obviously know what you are doing cos you have picked a period with the best winds.

You will have a bad day, maybe your fourth, but when you get through that, it will be downhill all the way. Any further challenge will just add to the enjoyment.

You obviously don't need advice, but the way we did it was to get a map, draw a line from LE to JoG then plot the Yoof Hostels either side of the line and plan on 100 miles per day (we were carrying all our luggage), some we did less, some we did more, think the min was 60 and the max 160.

IIRC, the record holder is Gethin Butler who did it in 44 hours or so. My mate's dad (sadly passed away) holds the tandem record (slower than the solo) and has done since the 60s and another friend Dick Poole (sounds suspect) was the first guy to do it in under 48 hours (nothing to do with Eddie Murphy though).

When we did the S1 challenge (the one that the hardest S1s did) and ended up at LE Yoof Hostel, we met some guys who were starting out and it made me want to give up everything and ride the Langster to JoG...

I will be sponsoring... Make sure you enjoy it and PM me with your plans for when you plan to come through Bristol, I'll come ride with you...

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08 Specialized Langster

Thank you for the sponsorship dude, much appreciated..!!..
Day 4 is Bristol, Glastonbury to Worcester - Tuesday 21st May... (Actually day three and a bit - the first day is just arrive as LE and ride 21 miles to the Travel Lodge in Hayle!!!).

Hi mate,

Wow - doing that with an engine is daunting enough, but pedal power is a whole new ball game! I doubt I could even manage 15 miles these days.

I will be sponsoring you too, as you say its a worthy cause!

Remember to keep us all up to date with your progress and let me know when you're planning to be passing near Glasgow.

Very good luck for the ride!

Dave

Done.

There but for the Grace of God go any of us. We were very, very lucky with the birth of our grandson, which could have turned out very differently. A colleague at work has just suffered a stillbirth, and i just cant get over how painful it must be.

When are you passing through Central Scotland? Would be great to come and cheer you on!

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Go big!! Or go Home!!

Thank you very much for the generous donation, it s very much appreciated..!!..
We're cycling Dumfries to Dumbarton on May 25th, and Dumbarton to Fort William on May 26th!!!

Cheers, Mark.

Mark - donation made and best of luck with this challenge ...

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Chris & Jane Jessop
Founders of UKBEG April 1998

www.ukbuellgroup.co.uk

Thank you Chris and Jane, it is much appreciated.
A training update now.
Yesterday I rode the longest/furthest I have ever done, I did 70 miles! I expected to be starving hungry at the end, but actually I had no appetite at all. I felt quite queezy really. It was cold and windy, and my arse was aching like feck! However, I managed a quick 15 mile ride at lunchtime today too!
Think I might be getting there - sort of...

Mark, donation made. As a keen cyclist and C2C rider, let me know when you're passing through the Lake District and I'll do my best to join you for the day - I reckon it must be the 24th

Martin

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2017 KTM 690 Duke
2001 M2
2019 Street Triple RS
2004 Monster S4R
Wilier La Triestina

Martin,
Thank you very much for the donation!
Kendal to Dumfries is indeed the 24th!!!

Cheers, Mark.

You have pm

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2017 KTM 690 Duke
2001 M2
2019 Street Triple RS
2004 Monster S4R
Wilier La Triestina

Slow reply finally sent..!!..

Had a decent training weekend just past - a moderate 30 on Saturday (first time in months without leg warmers and jacket on!!!), and 65 of the hardest miles I ever pedalled in the f***ing high gusty winds on Sunday. Tried Zipvit Elite energy drink, and a Zipvit energy gel at 55 miles - they actually seemed to help (could be psychological tho!!!)...

4 weeks on Saturday, it's getting real...