The Last Post Before The Ride - It's The One About My Nan

Hi Guys,

Welcome to the final post before we set off Tomorrow, I thought it would be fitting to conclude by telling you all about probably the most important person in the whole journey.

My Nan is a superstar. She has spent the whole of her life looking after everyone. She is one of the warmest and lovliest people you could ever wish to meet, and I have been so lucky to have her as my Nan.

6 years ago however, she started to suffer heart palpitations, and a shortness of breath for no reason at all. She was admitted to Hospital and we were told that she was suffering from a condition called Atrial Fibrillation. What this means is that your heart rate is irregular. I think of it as a drummer playing a normal beat, keeping the song in time, but then suddenly throwing in a crazy rhythm and then stopping for a minute or two, before playing another completely different rhythm. That isn't going to make the song sound any good, and certainly isn't going to help the rest of the band. I realise that is probably a stupid way of looking at it, but sometimes it helps me to think of things in a more trivial kind of way.

Anyway, she wasn't in a very good state, and none of the medication they were giving her was working for any length of time. Her heart just didn't want to play. It was decided that she should be fitted with a pacemaker, to keep her heart beating at a controlled rate (almost like a drum machine - OK I'll stop with that one now!). She was taken to Kings College Hospital and had the operation, only to be told that it had been unsuccessful. I don't really know how to describe what it feels like to know that your Nan is undergoing major heart surgery and then find out that she needs to have it again, all in the same small period of time. Thankfully though the second operation was a success. She then went through a long period of constant tests and tweaks to regulate her new heart at a comfortable rate and to make sure the medication she was now being given was right too. These tests have continued over the past 6 years, but less frequently once they had everything as they wanted it.

I am so grateful to everyone who helped keep my Nan alive. Irregular heartbeat can easily lead to heart attacks. My Nan's heart rate would skyrocket, and there is obviously only a certain amount of time that anyone will be able to cope with that before your heart says that enough is enough. I can't ever thank those people enough, but by raising money and helping raise awareness of what they do and how incredible an impact that has on both my life and millions of other people's lives is a good start.
Without charities like the British Heart Foundation, research into techniques and technology able to save my Nan's life wouldn't exist in the form that they do now.

My Nan is the start of this journey for me, it was her going into Hospital 6 years ago that sparked a fire inside me that has led me to this point. I set off tomorrow from her house, after giving her a massive hug, with 3 of the most incredible people in the world. I am both daunted and excited.

I hope to be able to keep you all up to date with our progress each night. Fingers crossed we have enough reception!

See you all in Cornwall, and remember to wave at us if you see us.

Lots of Love x

www.justgiving.com/justgottarideit

London to Brighton - Training Ends In Style

Hi Guys,

With 1 week to go to the start of our ride to Cornwall, the time had come to hit a proper landmark and finish our training in style. Sunday was the perfect opportunity for us to get together as a team (for the very first time) and tackle the famous London to Brighton cycle route.

As with many things over the past few months, things didn't go to plan. Carlos didn't manage to get hold of the bike he will be riding and so wasn't able to join us. Now is probably the time to mention that Carlos hasn't actually ridden a bike since he was a kid. He has done a load of spinning in his gym, and don't get me wrong, he has the fitness, it is just going to come as a shock to him when he is out of his air conditioned room and in the real world on a bike without the aid of a Saturday's video on MTV to stare at. It's going to be interesting to see how he deals with that!

Anyway, the remaining 3 of us headed off to Brighton, from Clapham Common on Sunday morning. Usually at this point in one of my previous blog posts I have a tale of struggle, jeopardy and puncture problems to tell. This time however it was a simple and straight forward ride, over easy terrain, and an easy route to follow.

Ade had done the route before, and had some unfinished business with the daunting hill Ditchling Beacon, a few miles outside of Brighton. On his previous attempt he was forced to walk the final third of hill, although he was on a single gear bike, and to be fair he must have done an incredible job to get to where he did that time. This time however, it was a totally different story. The three of us nailed the hill!

The only issue that we had in fact was that behind us on the hill were a collection of idiots in their cars. I really think that there should be a personality test to go alongside the practical and theory test parts of a driving test. That way, if you are a total moron, you wont get to drive. That would eliminate the kind of stupidity that was happening behind us as we cycled up Ditchling Beacon. 

I'm not going to dwell on this too much as I've had enough of a rant in the past about bad drivers, special mentions however should go out to the Subaru weaving and overtaking everything, including other cars at some crazy speed (we are talking about a narrow, winding and steep country lane) and also the fat balding middle aged man in the creamy-goldish coloured convertible who decided to shout abuse at us as he cut us up, this was after a good few minutes of incessant beeping on his horn. I wish he had stopped at the car park at the top, as I had some opinions of my own to pass on to him . . . . . what an idiot!

We cruised into Brighton at 1:40pm, satisfied with what we had done, how we had worked as a team and filled with excitement for the adventure that awaits us next week.

We are on our final push for sponsorship, so please visit www.justgiving.com/justgottarideit or text RIDE76 to 70070 to donate £5. We are so grateful to everyone who has sponsored us so far, we will do you all proud, and it's your support that will help to keep us going through the tough times that lay ahead for us.

I've got one last post to write before we go, so thanks for reading everything so far. I have loved this experience and hope that you have been kept entertained too. Speak to you soon.

Inspiration: My Grandfather

This journey ends at my Nan's house in St. Day, Cornwall for a very special reason. it holds great significance to the work of the charity we are raising money for.

My Nan was married to a brilliant man. William Randall was the life and soul of my family, and I wish I had been able to meet him. He died before I was born after suffering a heart attack. As I mentioned in my last post, The British Heart Foundation was set up to help fund research and schemes to keep more people alive who suffer major heart and circulation problems, keeping families together for longer.

My Nan used to live about 20 minutes away from my other Grandparents, but she moved down to Cornwall in 1997. Had she not have moved, this would be the easiest cycle ride in the world! Amongst other things, being in Cornwall holds many special memories for my Nan. Memories of family holidays with my Grandfather. It is also my favourite place in the world, and alot of the reason for that probably stems from the affection that both my Nan and my Dad have for those times they all spent in Cornwall. I love hearing all the old stories and looking through all the pictures of those holidays.

I may never have met my Grandfather, but he is still a big part of who I am, and who I am inspired to be.
I know he'll be watching over us on our journey, and i'll be thinking of him too.

Our Charity - The British Heart Foundation

Hi Guys,

I thought it was about time I told you a few things about the charity we have chosen to support on our cycle ride.

The British Heart Foundation was set up 50 years ago in an attempt to deal with the increasing cases of death caused by heart problems. This meant extra funding for research, diagnosis, treatment, care and prevention of cardiovascular and circulatory disease.

Numbers of cases are now falling slowly, but you will be astonished by the figures.
Heart Disease is the UK's biggest killer, with over 180,000 victims in 2009.
It accounts for 1 in 5 male, and 1 in 8 female deaths including 28% of premature male deaths and 20% of premature female deaths.
The UK suffers 124,000 heart attacks every year.
1.5 million people living in the UK today have suffered a heart attack and 2.7 million people are living with Coronary Heart Disease.
In 2006, 266 million prescriptions were written for heart medication. This amounts to a cost of £510 million per year.
1 in 145 babies are born with Congenital Heart Disease. This is a heart abnormality, some cases are easily treatable but others sadly aren't.

Although the figures are slowly reducing, this is a massive amount of people, and a massive cost to our already overburdened health service too.
The British Heart Foundation is working to educate people on healthier lifestyles to help reduce the risk of heart disease. Anyone who knows me will know how much of an issue this is to me. I am a huge lover of the work Jamie Oliver does in trying to help people eat better food, cook healthier and understand the effect of what we put into our bodies. I'm not saying that unhealthy eating is the cause of heart disease, but looking after your body with your diet is hugely important. It reduces the risk of developing heart disease and can also protect your heart if you do have problems.

The British Heart Foundation's "Mend A Broken Heart" campaign is all about ground breaking research into finding a way to heal the heart once it has been damaged by a heart attack. This is an incredible research programme is something that would change the lives of millions of people around the world. The aim is to have treatment in place in less that 10 years which could allow hearts to "re-grow" the parts of them that have been damaged. That sounds incredible to me.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, my Nan (the one at the start of the ride!) has been fitted with a pacemaker. She has regular checks to make sure it is working properly, at the right speed and that her blood is flowing freely around her body. I am so lucky and grateful that she has been kept alive. Without work being done into researching the causes and the way to prevent and treat heart problems, she wouldn't be here. I feel so strongly about the work of the British Heart Foundation in keeping people alive and helping to avoid future problems. Heart disease has the possibility to affect all of us. It doesn't just affect the old, or the unhealthy. It can be a condition you are born with. If we can help with the work done by the British Heart Foundation by raising as much money as possible we could change lives, improve lives and save lives.

Please visit our justgiving page, if we all do a little individually, then together we could make a big difference.

www.justgiving.com/justgottarideit or text RIDE76 to 70070 to donate £5

For more information, have a look at www.bhf.org.uk it's incredible. I could have written so much more, and I hope that I've done justice to the cause in what I have written.

Thanks for reading.

The Exception To The Rule

Hi Guys,

I wanted to share a small miracle with you all.

On my training ride on Sunday, I was going up a hill with cars parked either side. There was a white van man coming the other way, but instead of trying to run me off the road, or force me to stop and start on the hill, he pulled into a gap and let me through! He even called out "go on mate . . . . . Yeah!" as I went past.

It put a big smile on my face, especially after my last experience with white van men. I enjoyed the encouragement too, so if you see us going past you on our ride to Cornwall, remember to shout kind words and wave at us. We promise to wave back!

www.justgiving.com/justgottarideit or text RIDE76 to 70070 to donate £5

Crazy White Van Men

Hi Guys,

Just a quick post as I've just come in from my training ride today and need to get something out in the open, as it shocked the life out of me.

There I was, riding along, minding my own business, just caught up with another cyclist, when a white van man flying down the road almost clips both me and the guy in front of me. I shout "woahhhhh" and the other guy throws the van a "v" sign. We then catch up with the van after a set of traffic lights and the man in the passengers seat flicks his jumper out of the window in an attempt to knock both of us off our bikes. He only just missed the other guy and was pretty close to hitting me too.
A few choice words were exchanged and I then turned off as thats how my circuit goes.

How stupid can some people be? And how completely unaware of how dangerous it is to purposefully knock someone down. I can't quite believe it.

Anyway, that's enough about that. White Van Men just have no intention of breaking stereotypes do they.

Two and a half weeks to go now, keep sponsoring us if you can.

www.justgiving.com/justgottarideit or text RIDE76 to 70070 to donate £5

Inspiration: Stephen Gately

I am so happy that I got to meet Stephen Gately. He had an energy about him that would just light up a room. He passed away from a rare undiagnosed heart condition in 2009. We ride for the British Heart Foundation to raise money to aid research and treatment for these types of conditions. One of the things I'll be thinking about to help me through the tough times on the way to Cornwall will be Stephen.

Above is the video for the last Boyzone single to feature his vocals. Gave It All Away is a beautiful tribute to a beautiful man. I miss you Stephen, thank you for all the joy and happiness you bought me.