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The Teckentrup Flyer Has Landed!

19th July 2010

Here is the follow up, as promised in our last issue, to Jim Rodger's gargantuan task of riding across Britain in aid of The Alder Hey Imagine Appeal.

Great news, we achieved what we set out to do. In doing so you have helped me raise Â£2500+ for Alder Hey's children's hospital in Liverpool, in particular the renal unit, you'll also remember Emily who was in need of a new kidney. I say "was" because I am delighted to tell you that she got her kidney on the 1st of July! So far the operation has been a success and both Emily and her dad are doing excellently. Get well soon little one!

The whole idea of doing the Ride Across Britain (RAB) came about from me wanting to do something that was a challenge, not necessarily competitive. At 44 you realise you'll never be the fastest or the strongest, challenges become solely about you versus yourself and the course, and if you can do a little good along the way then all to the good. Riding from John O'Groats to Lands End I thought would be perfect. So here's the story.

Well, the first thing that springs to mind is how beautiful the country we live in actually is. The most northerly and southerly coasts are very similar, glorious sandy beaches with huge waves crashing onto them, the only difference was one was warm enough to swim in and the other, well, we visited that one in the middle of a storm! This land we live in is ever changing but always beautiful, mountains rising out of the sea; rolling countryside and beautiful villages. Our country is stunning from head to toe. I'll never forget cycling across Loch Leven and up into Glencoe. Glorious sunshine, mirrored Lochs and riding like a god up through that magnificent Glen! The Lake District; waking up in the morning, getting out of my tent looking around at everyone else staring at the mountains as they changed colours in the morning sun. Finally there was Sennen Bay the morning after we finished. Spectacular sandy beach (the warm one), and you knew that as you looked out across the Atlantic it was nothing but a vast empty watery desert until you got to the "new world".

If I'm already looking back with "rose tinted glasses" then this is good. However, a challenge isn't a challenge if you don't have a wobble. If you don't have that moment when you ask what am I doing here or can I go on? That said, I think it's probably good to let time soften these memories, the good times should win the day. Strangely enough the cycle itself was hard but on the whole it was exhilarating and in truth I felt as the week went on I was riding into peak form. No, the challenge for me was sharing the experience with 650 other men and women well 600+ men and a sprinkling of women.

Glastonbury on wheels was how I heard it described on the first night. Howling winds lashing rain and in fairness a goodnights sleep. But this is where the problems started. 650 people wake up and run for the toilet, day 1 bad, day 9 Hell! In fairness we had executive type "Glastonbury loos". But in some kind of perverted female revenge there was say 8 sets of toilets meaning the girls had a stall each while the blokes had a choices of 8 queues half a mile long! Then you queued for breakfast, then you queued for your drinks then you queued to brush your teeth and Oh 130miles on the bike do I really need the loo again? I don't want to seem obsessed about the toilet but cycling does play havoc with the old digestive system. Hygiene even on the simplest levels breaks down, honestly I watched people fill their drinks bottles with carbohydrate energy drinks, essentially food in a bottle, yet they looked 'manky' from the day before, it's the equivalent of eating off unwashed plates for 9 days. It wasn't long before V&D (work it out) broke out, difficult queuing situations became worse; I was getting up at 4:30am to avoid the queues! We even had a quarantine village. You would get back at night and there would be a space where red tent number 83 should have been, gone! Off to the plague village, we never talked about them again. One night we had the Metropolitan Police Cycle Club queuing outside our tent as we had got a supply of Kaolin and Morphine smuggled in by Alison for Anthony- no they didn't want to arrest us they wanted a dose each! Paranoia would set in. I started eating outside. The mess tent was somewhere you ran into and ran out of without touching anything other than your plate. Who was in your tent the night before (couldn't guarantee same tent every night?) had they been unwell? Arrgh.

Then there was kit. Again simple tasks took on gargantuan proportions. 5 days left 4 pairs of shorts! What happens if you're in the saddle for 8 hours a day? Yep, a frayed bottom. Cleanliness is next to godliness. So how do I get these shorts clean? Wash them, but how do you get them dry again? So you see the biggest part of the challenge for me was not the cycling but the day to day chores you had to complete to allow you to continue cycling each day.

What of the cycling? As I said, of course it was hard, but often it was a mental thing, right that's a hundred miles brilliant, nearly there. That's 30 miles to go Jim what another 2 hours I've already been out for 7 hours! In terms of ability the event had a couple of Olympic champions, World Champions and some decent club cyclists. On average we were probably in the first 50 back most days. Now that doesn't mean we were within the top 50 times, because you could leave in the morning anytime within a 1Â½ hour window, we held our own and were never shamed (non competitive again- not). On the other hand, there were riders who were clearly slow in fact they were often allowed to leave before the official start of the day. If you went to the finish at 9pm you would often see the same riders finishing exhausted every night. This caused them real problems not only were they exhausted but effectively they had up to 6 hours less time each day to get organised and to recover before they got up the next day and headed off. These riders in my opinion were the hero's of the RAB. Sure you could argue they should have done more training but in my mind that's rubbish. This is about ordinary everyday people throwing the gauntlet down to nobody but themselves. When you see these guys come over the line all you can do is quietly nod your head, clap them in, and wonder at their guts and determination- 14 maybe 15 hours in the saddle?

The event organisers Threshold Sports did a fantastic job and Mack and his team have to be congratulated. They whet nursed us from one end of the UK to the other. Whenever a hiccup presented itself you could bet your bottom dollar that the next night a solution was in place. The sites were huge, catering, showers, massage tents, medical tents, entertainment and of course rows and rows of tents. The logistics of moving us safely across country was a huge task, but dismantling the camps and having them up and ready the next day would be no easy task either, but one the Threshold team seemed to relish. This was the inaugural event and as such much was untested and I feel proud to have been part of it. This is a challenge that met my expectation and one that I am hugely proud to have taken part in. If you're looking for something similar I would thoroughly recommend it.

All that remains for me to do is to thank everyone who sponsored me, who wished me well and who has taken the time to follow us on the blog. You'll notice often I lapse from "I" to "us" this is because I teamed up with two great friends Matt and Anthony and together we helped, cajoled, and beasted each other from one end of the country to the other. By the end we left everything on the road in an effort to be the best non-cyclist there, I lied when I said it wasn't a competition, but what is a best non-cyclist, I've no idea now after the event but it seemed to give us a target each day. A big special thank-you to our families (especially for my part Alison and Matthew) who allowed us not only 9 days away but met us midway and were there for us at the end. That's only half of it; 12 months of training and spending a fortune on bike parts and cycling kit have meant sacrifices all around. We couldn't have done it without them.

Once again thank you to all concerned, and get well soon Emily.

If you missed out on sponsoring Jim and would still like to, the appeal is still open.

Just go to www.justgiving.com/teckentrupflyer or visit the Teckentrup website at www.teckentrup.co.uk/imagine