September 2008

Been a long time since my last post. A lot has happened with not much happening.

Where do I start. In March I had my first taste of the Velodrome at a disability get together weekend. Very strange. I had trouble starting and stopping but when I got going the only problem that I had was that my right leg wings out when I put pressure on the pedals and little did I realize at the time, the clips on my shoes had slightly warn away. A couple of times my right foot came loose but I just quickly undid the left and free wheeled with my legs held akinbo until I stopped.

We were told to do a 1 lap time trial to see how fast were were. I was determined to show everybody. So I set off head down and sprinted as fast as I could. I rounded the last bend, crossed the finish line and mentally relaxed and lifted my head up not realising the bike was still going at top speed. My right leg came off but I didn't get chance to do my left before I was flung over the handlebars, smashing my face, hands and knee on the floor and wrecking the bike.

Went to A&E but fortunately nothing was broken but the swelling and the pain took several months to go away.

When it did I ended up with several months of a flu type weakness bug so my training went back a long way.

I tried the British Championships road race again but was in no fit state. I got cut up on the first corner and never recovered and with a strong wind I felt myself going backwards at times.

I hard to take a long hard look at myself afterward. Needed to find a mirror first to do this.

Was I going to get anywhere as a cyclist? I feel I had crossed the path of was it just for fun or was I taking it seriously. And if I was then I needed to train not do bits and bobs, but then again I wanted a long run of time without illness.

After I'd said to mself and my family that I was never going to ride at the Velodrome again, I ended up going down to Newport to ride there. To save money seeing as I didn't have any to save so I didn't really save anything, I drove down the night before and slept in the car. Woke up, had a bowl of cornflakes then went into ride. I was also going through that period of flu type headaches type fatigue so was up to the limit on beta blockers and pain killers so was not in the best state of mind & body to ride. I did though, didn't fall off, was invited down to an international race the next week, but my illness state took a turn for the worse so didn't make it.

At the time a Solicitor Firm in Sheffield (Aston Morton Slack) heard about my trek to Wales and sleeping in the car so decided to kindly sponsor me with clothing, equipment and paying for a B&B wherever I go.

So that gave me a big lift and made me carry on ............... a bit. I still had the mortgage to pay and was having to see benefits advisers and job centre's offering me nothing jobs, but as Martin Luther King once said ........ 'put kettle on love am spitting feathers !!!' or was it something about having a dream?

The next confidence boost was that I was picked for the New You Achievement awards at Fitness First. Out of 466,000 members that the competition was open too, I was picked as one of the 12 finalists with a holiday of a lifetime and further media work after. It was quite a big thing for the winner and I ................... didn't. Story of my life you might think. I did meet some really brilliant people and made some great friends and contacts at Fitness First that maybe putting me forward for a Personal Fitness Instructor Course !!!

Another thing that gave me great inspiration was watching the GB team at the Olympics and more so at the Paralympics. Absolutely brilliant. Did depress (in the not at all made me a trifle glum until I heard the sound of the kettle boiling type of way) me a bit thinking these are the people I've to compete against to get to London 2012. You never know, I might become Irish soon !!!

Next on my training plan was a 12 hour bike'a'thon at Asda for Tickled Pink - Breast Cancer Charity. I did it well with the help of Glynn and Fitness First and managed to do (mileometer said) 200 miles in the 12 hours and we raised over £1500