LegionLive

I apologise to those who have been following this blog but I could not get connectivity in France to keep the blog updated, even those following on Twitter and Facebook were not updated either.  The last three days across France went very well.  I did struggle with a knee injury but the physio team kept me going and I thank them for their great contribution to not only my cycle but many others as well.

For anyone who is considering doing this event I can only pass on my experience of it.  The organisation is everything it says it is.  I felt able to concentrate on the riding because all of the logistics were taken care of by the support crew, and nothing was too much trouble for them.  There contribution made it such a great event.

If you are thinking about doing it in future you do need to train for it if you are not a regular cyclist, there are some hills to negotiate and although you should not let that put you off, be prepared to do some hard work at times.  The majority of it is good fun and pretty comfortable cycling, but preparation is everything.

The response of the French people is also very uplifting, they come out of their houses to cheer you on and they have the greatest respect for The Legion.  On the final day as we were cycling through the streets of Paris, albeit at a rather fast pace, the people were hanging out of their windows, sat outside the cafe’s and bars and cheered us all on. 

That final stage riding up the Champs Elysee towards the Arc de Triomphe is a very special moment.  The euphoria at the end was a moment that will live in the memory for a long time.  The final ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe is also a very poignant moment and one of immense pride.

Just think for a minute about all the service veterans who are injured and what they have to suffer for the rest of their lives, they need our help so please make a donation at www.justgiving.com/teamtewkesbury

I was not able to update the blog from the iphone and had to sort it out from my laptop, so short of finding an internet terminal every day I will not be able to update while enroute, which is a problem I could have done without

I am testing the iPhone to see if I can blog successful so that I can update the blog while I am enroute to Paris next week

The last couple of weeks have been incredibly busy with so much coming together for the Pedal to Paris, it is difficult to know where to start.  The real stars of the last couple of weeks have been The Best of Tewkesbury and the BBC, closely followed by new sponsors and individual donations.  So many people are lending their support in so many ways it is quite humbling for me as we get closer to the start of Tuesday.

This has been a good week for me.  I had set aside Thursday to get a long cycle in and so I set off about 9am to Wootton Bassett.  I made it there in 2hrs 30 mins, which was a good time and I was naturally pleased.  My mother lives in WB so the plan was to spend an hour or so with her and then cycle back.  She was pleased to see me and had a large lunch prepared.  She was a little disappointed when I said that I only wanted something light as I had to cycle back, her argument being that I needed a good meal before setting off.  We reached a compromise and after nearly two hours I set off for the return.  I was very pleased with my energy level and I was home in 2hrs 35 mins; which as you can imagine was a great confidence booster.  No stress on the knee and the following morning no aches and pains, I am now confident that I will complete the cycle barring any major accidents.

Some more sponsorship money has either come in or been promised but it is still not enough.  I picked up another corporate sponsor in that Laura confirmed Basepoint Business Centre, Tewkesbury will purchase a Bronze Package.  Also the Best of Tewkesbury have come up trumps again by not only inviting me to have a stand at their ‘Buy local Business Fair‘ on Saturday 21 August in Tewkesbury Town Hall, but they have also made me the nominated charity, so a double success there.  Debbie and Trehane who run The Best of Tewkesbury have been absolutely great and certainly live up to being ‘the best’.  There are other businesses in Basepoint who have expressed an interest in sponsorship and I will be chasing them next week

I have sponsorship forms in a number of locations now including Halfords in Tewkesbury.  Halfords the company were not interested in sponsoring me as they sponsor the ‘Tour de France’ lol; only support the top echelons of the sport then!  However Jackie and Becky at the local store are completely different and having already made a major contribution to our Armed Forces Day celebration recently, were only too keen to help. 

The same with Keith Newby, Manager at the Beckworth Inn just outside of town.  He is very keen to help The Legion and support our current Armed Forces and veterans.  The Legion will build a long relationship with Keith and the Beckford, as we will with other businesses, so that the support for The Legion will go on long after the cycle is finished.

I have also produced a letter to go to various companies and was delighted when the Tewkesbury Chamber of Commerce included the content in their weekly newsletter.  Individuals like Shelby are vital to the fundrasing effort and Bob Davis has taken one to the Tewkesbury Cricket Club    , where he is an umpire, so if he cannot generate support some peoples averages may suffer lol. 

If you want a sponsorship form for your workplace, club or business then please email me at teamtewkesbury@hotmail.com or if it is easier just have a collection at a party, Barbeque or social gathering and donate it at www.justgiving.com/teamtewkesbury every penny helps our veterans today and tomorrow.

BBC Radio Gloucestershire are going to follow my progress and will air an interview prior to the event.  They will be at the launch at Tewkesbury Town Hall on 31 August when the Town Mayor will set me on my way.  They will also be at Wootton Bassett where I will laying a wreath on behalf of Tewkesbury, in recognition of the contribution that Wootton Bassett contnues to display when our fallen heroes are repatriated.  The Tewkesbury RBL Branch and Tewkesbury Royal Naval Association Standards will be paraded in Wootton Bassett and we will be met by the Wootton Bassett Town Mayor.  

The BBC also intends covering the launch from London and naturally they want a report on my return.

You can see now why I called my effort Team Tewkesbury, because although I am the only one cycling there is a big team of local businesses and community spirited individuals behind the fund raising effort.  Each and every one is doing their bit to help our service veterans, please do yours and donate at www.justgiving.com/teamtewkesbury

Thank you

I am trying to get both the training miles in and raise more awareness for sponsorship.  I had a good day on Friday, first at BNI breakfast and then at a Coffee morning with The Best of Tewkesbury at Basepoint Business Centre in Tewkesbury.  Lots of interest that I now need to convert into sponsorship and that is one of tomorrows main priorities. 

Also had a boost with the news that BBC Radio Gloucestershire wants to do an interview, attend the launch on the 31 August and follow the event on a daily basis.  The final details have yet to be confirmed but it is another positive step.

I had a tube burst on me yesterday and fotunately it was just before I set off for Cheltenham.  It looked at first that it was a split in the tyre so I put the bike in the car and nipped round to Auto Spares.  Mark and Tony had a quick look and sorted out the pr0blem, and so I was back on the road quite quickly, job done.  Auto Spares has really taken off for Mark and he is very busy sorting out numerous problems for local bike owners.  He was telling me that he offers free safety checks for bikes on Sundays between 10am and 1pm so it is well worth telling your friends to get their bikes down there and let Mark check them over for them.

Today I had a good cycle covering 30 miles in 2hrs 18, which is a marked improvement over recent times and shows that my knee is okay now.  All being well I want to get out and do a 70 miler on Thursday, providing I can keep the day free!  The plan is to cycle to Wootton Bassett (visit my mum for an hour) and then cycle back in the afternoon.  The weather looks fair so it should be a good test of my fitness.

Remember tell your friends about the event and get them to donate at www.justgiving.com/teamtewkesbury

Thanks very much

Peter

Life has got better as the week has gone on, firstly having rested my knee for a few days I felt confident enough to get back on the bike.  After a couple of short 15 mile cycles with no after effect I decided to push it further and now I have put some 3o milers behind me so the injury scare has past.  I feel confident enough to commit and have paid the balance of my entry fee so there is no going back now.  I have enjoyed the recent training rides and have felt strong at the end and have had no aches and pains the following day.  I guess in reality you can never do enough training and I am trying to cycle every day but the reality is that is not always possible.  I want to try and find three consecutive days where I can ride 70 miles each day to gauge how well I cope with the rigours of the event but that is easier said than done.  I suppose it is not really that important because if I find I really struggle with it there is not sufficient time to put it right, but I would still like to find the time to prove to myself that I am up to the challenge. 

One thing for sure is that I am getting my hydration right, I regularly drink from either an energy drink or simple water, and on the longer cycles eat mars bars and/or bananas and it all seems to work.  So all in all I am feeling pretty good about the physical element.

I have also started to push on with the fundraising as well.  The reality is that the fundraising has not gone as well as I would have liked at this stage but that is simply a matter of time.  If I could have done anything different I would have had someone else organise the fundraising and left me to concentrate on the training but that has not happened so we are where we are.

I will up the ante on fundraising and spread the word in the blogs, so please look for any opportunity you can to make a contribution, whether individually or when at a party, bar-b-q or any other social gathering why not have a collection and donate it to www.justgiving.com/Teamtewkesbury

Thanks for all your help

Once again I picked up an injury that interupted my training.  Days to go are getting few now and I need to be cycling every day and especially on longer routes.  One of the biggest problems now is trying to find a window of several hours to enable me to get a 50 mile plus cycle in.  I have done a couple of 80 milers and what I want to do is to string two or three 70-80 mile rides together on consecutive days so that I can judge my recovery and ability to cycle for six days. 

Unfortunately I felt a twinge in my knee after a cycle last week and carried on without too much concern.  On Sunday I went for a 45 mile cycle and although there was some discomfort it was manageable.  The problem came that night when the pain in my knee woke me up in the early hours and eventually I had to get up to take some paracetamol before being able to get back to sleep.

On Monday the knee was swollen and I contacted my surgery to get an appointment, but had to phone back Tuesday morning. I then had to wait for the Triage nurse to ring me back.  When I told her what I had done and that I was going on a 400 mile cycle to Paris in six weeks I was pleasantly surprised when she told me that she had cycled to Paris herself and so she fully understood my concerns.  She arranged an appointment with my GP that afternoon.

My GP diagnosed that I had damaged the quad above the knee and recomended that I have physio take a look at it to ascertain how long it would take to recover.  He was happy that my knee joint was not damaged so that was good news.  By the time I got home (and yes I did cycle, albeit very gently, and it is only a couple of miles) I had a message from the physio department of the local hospital to contact them for an appointment the next day.

On telephoning Physio I was able to get an appointment at 8am yesterday morning with Linda.  I had a better nights sleep but took paracetamol before I went to bed just in case.  I was awake at 5am  and my leg felt better albeit still difficult to walk on.  I opted for a gentle cycle over to the hospital and that helped to ease the stiffness.  Linda confirmed that I had not damaged the knee but would not commit to how long it would take to heal.  We agreed that I would rest it for a few days, use some stretches and stepping exercises to keep it from stiffening up and then if all seemed okay I could get back on the bike.  She recommended that I take it easy on the bike for the first few days and see if everything was okay.  If not I was to stop and let it rest some more.

I felt that was a reasonable position to take and was quite relieved that there was no major damage.  Another reasonable nights sleep and a couple of paracetamols and I feel even better today.  Tempting as it is to get on the bike I will wait until the weekend and maybe go for a 15-20 miler and see how it holds up.

I phoned Dan at the Legion to update him as I am overdue paying the balance of my entry fee.  He was happy that it was looking good but told me to wait until after the weekend to pay the balance in case it does not respond to the rest and some cycling.  I was grateful but I am confident that I will be okay to carry on and really this is a minor setback considering what some of the troops coming back from Afghanistan have to contend with, I am determined not to let them or the Legion down and complete the journey.

Team Tewkesbury are pleased to welcome the Tewkesbury Saw Company as a Gold Sponsor.  Tewkesbury Saw is long established local company and Managing Director Bruce Keen in particular has given a lot of time and support to the town.  A former Chair of the Tewkesbury Chamber of Commerce and a regular and consistent promoter of Tewkesbury, Bruce’s family are long standing Tewkesbury residents.  The Tewkesbury Saw Company Ltd has been Supporting Woodworkers and the Manufacturing Industries since 1961.  The company is based on the Newtown Trading Estate and has a well deserved reputation for customer service and delivery, supporting local issues and being at the forefront of everything positive about Tewkesbury.  For details of all the services and equipment on offer please visit http://www.tewkesburysaw.co.uk/

The last few weeks have had a number of highs and some lows.  Firstly work and other committments have had a negative effect on the amount of training I have been able to do,  but on the positive they have enabled me to recover from some of the niggling injuries that I had picked up.  My finger injury appears to have repaired now, and I recently visited a hand specialist surgeon, who on seeing the xray immediately stated he was looking at an ‘arthiriticy joint’.  I am not sure if arthriticy is a bonafide word but the fact that he was then able to advise me on what I could or couldn’t do about it was some comfort at least. 

I have had physio on my shoulder and the diagnosis is that I have not injured the joint per se, but that I have a frozen shoulder.  This will heal itself, but can take up to two years and I will go through phases of pain and discomfort.  Funnily enough, now that I know what it is I don’t seem to feel the pain and discomfort so much, or perhaps it is just that I don’t worry that I am making an injury worse, as I know it will heal in time.

One real positive is that I have completed an 80 mile cycle.  It was not without pain and difficulty but I proved to myself that I can do it and I was not  exhausted the following day so my recovery is good.  I learnt a lot about what I need to do to stay hydrated and how often I need to take on fluids and food.  I would say overall it was an enjoyable experience but at some stages it was not.  However the bottom line is that I am confident that my training is paying off and that I will be able, barring injury or accident, to complete the cycle in September.

Sponsorship is starting to gather momentum now and I have received my first Gold Sponsor in the form of Tewkesbury Saw.  I will be writing a  blog about Tewkesbury Saw shortly and making sure that as a sponsor, the company gets all the exposure and promotion as I have described in the package.

I have also received publicity from the healthy towns initiative ‘Count me in’ and once again I will be explaining that in more detail later.

So as we now get into the last couple of months prior to departure and all is coming together, now I must focus for the final push across both the training and sponsorship fronts.