Big Brother's Training Program

I can hear the car skidding on the icy roads as it goes to overtake.

It’s January, it’s freezing and it isn’t light for very long. If you are lucky it’s not windy. It’s probably fair to say that most people’s idea of what constitutes a fun Saturday¹ does not include a fifty mile bike ride. I don’t really have much choice.

In a little over three months my brother and I will be setting off to ride, as you have no doubt gathered, from the most north-easterly point of the British mainland² to the most south-westerly. It’s a journey of about one thousand miles in fifteen days – averaging about seventy miles a day. On the longest days we will be riding over 100 miles. That’s about six and a half hours continually in the saddle. That’s not all that much less than a day in the office just pedalling. A lot of that will be uphill³. Since cycling is unkind, a lot of that will be into the wind. With added rain. And more wind. And car drivers trying their best to kill intimidate us.

That means I/we need to be capable of riding over 100 miles by, at a conservative estimate, mid-April – hey, we don’t want to overdo the training. If you work gradually, increasing distance by about five miles every week, that means I have to be capable of riding fifty miles a day ten weeks before this date. That means January.

My first effort was a mess. Start easy, maybe forty miles to get the old legs back in the swing of things. The Alps weren’t all that long ago, after all. Hey, for January it’s even pretty warm!

Bullshit. My last serious ride was a month ago, and since then we’ve had Christmas, with all the good food, alcohol and lazy days that seems to promote⁴. Thirty miles into the ride I’m in trouble. Everyone who’s ever run or cycled enough will know that point when you hit the wall⁵. Suddenly your legs go pop and your average speed drops off a cliff. You think to yourself ‘Come one, it’s not much further; I can do this thing in my sleep!’ Your legs are a bit more realistic. The irritating buggers just turn round and say smugly ‘and whose fault is it that we’ve got into this state⁶?’ Mike, my training partner on this ride, tries to tow me the last five miles back to Royston, but I’m completely shot and keep disappearing off the back. It’s a lonely world back there. It doesn’t take much for him to persuade me to head to his house for tea and a couple of slices of toast. Sensing that I am probably more wrecked than I would like to admit, he very kindly gives me a lift home.

John O’Groats to Lands End will be hard. I am under no illusions of that. I like to think, though, that the true heroes in all this are not Stuart and I, but the people who are sacrificing time and money to help us round this. Those who, know us or not, put their hands in their pockets and give up their hard earned money for a very worthy cause. Those who come out with my brother and I for the training runs, even though the weather might be ghastly. Mostly, Mum and Dad, who are doing a huge amount to support us on this ride.

So, on behalf of my brother and I, thank you. Knowing that you are looking out for us, thinking of us, as we head out on training runs during the worst part of the year is what helps us do this. We appreciate all your support.

The car doesn’t lose control. He goes past us slowly, suitably chastened. This time round I complete the ride without Mike disappearing off the front – all fifty miles of it. Clear blue skies, not a hint of a breeze. It’s perfect cycling weather, apart from the ice. Did I mention January was cold?

¹Perhaps I should say ‘day off work’ – not all of us have the luxury of a Monday-to-Friday job. God bless retail.

²I said British! Not English! Does that get me a medal? Maybe one that reads ‘only bigoted by accident’.

³Probably about 50% (funny that) - not much of the UK is flat. Definitely not the bits we are riding on. Think of that – 500 miles cycling up a hill. My idea of fun!

⁴It’s certainly true of me. At heart I’m a lazy slob. My family despairs.

⁵The cycling term is ‘bonk’, which will doubtless send some people into fits of giggles.

⁶The self righteous little buggers. It doesn’t help that they’re right.

(Written by my brother Alex Parsons... cheers Alex!)

It has begun!

Now that the Just Giving Website is set up, I suppose it about time I started writing some articles! Why the heck am I riding from John O'Groats to Lands End!? This is after all, technically a holiday for my brother and I, as we are using our own free time off from our respective jobs. I could think of any other millions of things I would rather do with my time other than a tiring, gruelling and potentially very soggy two weeks in the saddle; but then just doing it for no other reason is not the point.

Back in 2010 our father was diagnosed with Parkinson's, a progressive neurological condition. Basically nerve cells in the brain die off and the sufferer can no longer produce enough dopamine which reduces their ability to move and control their own body, and the older the person becomes the worse the symptoms become. Whereas before my father was always very active (I will always cherish the memories of holidays climbing mountains in Wales or Scotland, or cycling in the Alps or Pyrenees reaching speeds of over 50mph on the descents), he now is unable to walk long distances, nor cycle to the extent he used to.

Naturally this has caused drastic changes for the family of which we are all having to accept and adapt to. At first it was such a big shock that all those things that we took for granted have changed. Still these things take a while to sink in but our parents have taken the correct approach; rather than sulking and trying to hide from the facts, they have taken the decision to find out more about Parkinson's, and going to Parkinson's meetings. They have also taken steps to find new things to do by way of enjoying themselves. They are now proud owners of a motor-home, something I'm fairly certain they wouldn't have bought if my dad had never been diagnosed!

I've come to realise that a lot of people suffer from this condition (not long after my dad, my best friends father was also diagnosed), and while scientists still do not really know what causes it, they have managed to make a lot of progress in finding a cure. Parkinson's UK, the charity, provides a lot of money to research; it's network of support and nursing is fantastic. Being a charity it is purely reliant on donations from people like us. I'm not entirely certain where the idea of riding from the top to the bottom of the UK derived from (probably one of those beer fuelled suggestions that would never usually ever happen) but this is what we are doing.

So who are we? I am Stuart Parsons (28), and together with my brother and fellow rider Alex (30) we will attempt to ride from John O'Groats to Lands End over two weeks in May all in aid of raising money for Parkinson's. We will be riding our own bikes, and we will be backed up by a fantastic support crew (our parents Geoff and Alison and their motor-home). This is funded purely out of our own pockets; we would appreciate our friends, family and colleagues to donate as much as they can, which will all go straight to Parkinson's. Follow this blog, as I will be keeping everyone up to date with training and planning and ultimately the progress of the ride, all in accompaniment to some rather splendid pictures, videos, and some witty bike related banter (I just hope my wits hold out by the end of it).

From the left: Stuart, Alison, Geoff and Alex

Cheers