Stage 6

The question is often asked about charities "How much of the money raised is actually spent on the charitable purpose and how much is swallowed up in overheads?" A very good question. When setting up the Sam Keen Foundation the family resolved that all donations would go directly to the Royal Marsden Hospital so that every penny would be used in the battle against the cancer malignant melanoma.

A fundraising dinner was held on 2nd July. There was particluar poignancy both in the chosen date as it would have been Sam's 28th birthday and in the venue as it took place where Sam and Ali were married. The proceeds of that eveing brought the grand total raised to date to an amazing £130,000.

The guest speaker that night was Professor Martin Gore, the medical director of the Royal Marsden and the consultant who had cared for Sam. He was able to announce that the money raised will be used to set up The Sam Keen Fellowship. Working in conjunction with leading oncology centres in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, there will be enough money to pay for 18 months of research into the next generation of cancer immunotherapy treatment. Professor Gore explained that there had been very encouraging results already in some patients, but that it was vital to ascertain why this worked for some but not for others, including Sam. He went on to say that really they need funds to appoint a research doctor for a full 2 years. The SKF is up for that challenge certainly and, perhaps with the help of you, dear reader, we can raise the extra £40,000 needed!

Prof. Gore announcing The Sam Keen Fellowship

So a great month for the SKF and pretty good for my training too. I rode my first cycle sportive since my hand op and clocked up just under 100 miles (well, 96 to be precise - I did think of riding round and round the block until the bike computer was showing 3 figures...but then decided that was silly and I was ready for a nice cup of tea.

Pretty good month for British sport too. No, I am not referring to the England football team's reasonably good showing at Euro 2012 before their inevitable exit or even Andy Murray making it to the final at Wimbledon. In case you haven't noticed, we have our very own Bradley Wiggins leading the toughest sporting event that exists, the Tour de France. If that wasn't enough, his team mate and fellow Brit Chris Froome is in second place. In the 99 year history of the Tour there has never been a British winner.

Only a few days to go - come on Wiggo!!!

Also, my Ride Across Britain cycling jersey has arrived which seems to underline the fact that this mega-ride is really happening in less than 2 months time.

Not so much "Done that, got the T-shirt" but more like "Got the T-shirt, now need to do THAT!"

By the way, my dog (Monty) is not joining me on the Ride Across Britain although he is a keen and accomplished cyclist in his own right....to be explained in due course. He just wanted to get in the picture.

Newsflash!

I can report that summer finally arrived in Bristol. To be precise it arrived at 10.00am on Sunday 8th July 2012 and stayed around for most of the day before it realised it was pushing its luck and skulked back to its home somewhere far beyond the white cloud cover. I use the word "summer" strictly in the Paul Simon sense you understand - "a good day ain't got no rain"- but it was a start. Sadly, it was probably a end too as it has gone walkabout ever since.

It did allow enough time though for a dry 50 miles or so without having to wear several layers of cycle gear. Bliss.

This photographic evidence is credited to my super-domestique riding partner Steve Page. Steve is a man of many talents. He is probably best known as a multi-talented musician and singer songwriter. But there is a lot more to Steve than just his artistry with words and guitars. 

I would never tell him this of course, but it is just that (what happened to the reference to 'quick sense of humour' and 'all-round good bloke' that was in the first draft? Ed.) which makes him such a great guy to ride with - the fact that there is a lot more to him. Or at least there is a lot more to him than there is of me.

Propelling a bicycle would be very easy if it were not for the laws of physics. The unseen barrier to every bike ride is quite simply air. Even on a perfectly still day you have to displace a lot of air to make any progress. If there is a headwind in an exposed flat area it can feel like you are trying to ride up a mountain on a road of treacle. But get yourself behind something ...or someone... to act as a mobile windbreak and it is said you will save about 30% of your effort.

Thanks for always being there for me Steve.

I am though working on trying to repay the favour and offering more drafting cover on those rare occasions I do take a turn on the front. Believe it or not this is what I was presented with when I made the mistake of ordering the large version of a calzone on Sunday night at the pizza place where Steve was playing with his (excellent) new band The Open Secrets. It also came with garlic bread.

Well, I have a long ride ahead of me and I heard that you have to carbo-load...

Stage 5

What is happening?!  My hand is getting better and now is the time I need to be getting in some good quality training rides. After all, the only way to prepare for a long bike ride is to do lots of long bike rides. It's July and this should be the perfect time to get out there and benefit from the hilly countryside with which the Bristol area is blessed - perfectly smooth, dry roads, birds singing in hedgerows, farmers doffing their caps as I freewheel by. You get the picture.

Instead it's chucking it down yet again. OK, I have all the right gear and technically speaking there would be nothing to stop me putting on the waterproofs and gritting my teeth. Except I know that with all the muck on the roads it will be more a case of de-gritting my teeth before I am 10 minutes into the ride. Also, the chances of puncturing are much higher when the weather is lousy and there is nothing more miserable than having to spend 15 minutes in the pouring rain changing an inner tube. But in truth I could cope with all that and there is only one real reason that stops me going out in this - New Bike Syndrome. I just can't bear the thought of my new beauty getting all mucky. I know it's sad.

So it is the turbo again and today a personal best. 3 hrs 12 mins and the equivalent of 50 mountainous miles to be precise. Normally I'd find an hour was the maximum I could tolerate before having to climb off with the sheer sweaty boredom and saddle soreness that can only be experienced on a bike indoors going nowhere fast. So thank goodness for computers as I have a setup that simulates proper riding with the help of "real life video" technology. Today people I was in the American Rockies. But Helen didn't have to worry what time I'll be home for lunch as I was right there in the kitchen all along.

However, there is really nothing quite like smelling the countryside smells and feeling the wind in where my hair used to be. Must check the weather forecast for tomorrow. Oh, what a surprise, more rain... I suppose I'll just have to stay home again and bag me some classic Alpine climbs...

Stage 4

The time came when I felt it was safe to venture outside on my beautiful new Legend bike, now desecrated by the addition of a set of tri-bars. Some things just don't look right. Tri-bars belong on bikes made for time trialling or triathlon. The geometry of these machines is completely different to that that of a normal road racing bike. Mine now looked as if it wasn't sure what it wanted to be.

Aesthetics was the last of my problems when I tried it for the first time. It felt like I was having to learn to ride a bike all over again and I was not at all a good pupil. Perhaps it would have been better had I chosen a day when there wasn't a howling gale trying to push me into the gutter or overtaking cars, but that would have ruled out the whole of 2012 so far. Call me a wuss but I have got used over the years to having 2 brakes immediately at hand. There is something vaguely comforting about the thought that if you are tonking along and something unexpected happens (and when cycling it pays to expect the unexpected whether that comes dog shaped, pedestrian shaped, white van shaped and yes, also other cyclist shaped).

With clip on tri-bars you are in an odd, stretched out position, almost prone on the bike rather than sitting on it. Because your head is down your field of vision is limited to the road immediately ahead. Yes, you can lift your head but that makes your neck hurt and, as your back is already complaining, why double the grief? And there are no brakes. Well, that is not quite true. The brakes are there where they have always been of course - at the ends of the handlebars. But although bike technology is improving all the time, thought activated braking systems are still in their infancy being tested in some laboratory in Japan.

Currently, to slow or stop a moving bicyle you need to apply pressure on your brakes with your hands. Or you can of course just fall off, which works just as well but is generally considered a one off solution. And here's the rub. With tri-bars your hands are somewhere else entirely. For all the use they are they may as well be in another galaxy many light years away, or so it seemed to me that windy day when I was taking my first hesitant pedal strokes and couldn't rid my mind of multi-shaped unexpected reasons I might need to stop this stupidity urgently and how I would achieve that without needing immediate paramedic assistance. But riding with tri-bars is in some ways like learning to ride a bike. One minute it seems it is all going to end in tears and the next it feels the most natural position in the world and you are wondering if you have left it too late to claim your rightful place in Team GB for London 2012.

Stage 3

It has been an interesting couple of months. First I decided to treat myself to a new frame and have it custom made for me through Bike Science, specialist bike fitters based here in Bristol. All very exciting especially as the frame was being built for me in Italy by renowned frame builder Marco Bertoletti. It was the first frame he had made for the British market and he was able to present it to me personally when visiting Bespoked, a posh bike fair for handmade machines which took place in Bristol in April.

However in the meantime I had something of a setback in my plans and training for the big ride in September. In March I realised I had a problem with my right hand. I was out on a ride and found I lacked the strength to change gear. I had it checked and the diagnosis was entrapment of the ulnar nerve. After nerve conduction studies (sounds innocent doesn't it but having electrodes applied and then 6 volts every minute or so for the best part of an hour is the nearest I hope I ever come to torture...)I was told the problem was in my wrist and that the nerve was being compressed at Guyon's canal. You've heard of tennis elbow and housemaid's knee - well, welcome to Handlebar Palsy so called because it particularly affects cyclists. Oh, and for good measure I also had carpal tunnel syndrome. I had it bad and would need surgery but the initial advice was that this could wait until after the Ride Across Britain.

Something didn't quite seem right about this so I saw a hand surgeon who specialises in sports injuries and he advised that I should not delay in case it got any worse. The good news was that I could be back on the road after about a month although I would have to use tri-bars for a month or 2 so that I was carrying my weight on my forearms rather than my recovering wrist. So the knife it was! Training could not stop completely. I set up a bike on a turbo trainer in the kitchen and instead of enjoying the delights of this wonderful early summer weather we have been having resigned myself to churning away indoors, going nowhere and producing a pool of sweat on the floor almost as deep as the puddles of rain in the garden outside.

Stage 2

This will not be the first time I have done a long bike ride! In fact, you could say I've been around a bit. In my time I have ridden in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rockies and have even been mountain biking in the Himalayas.

My love of cycling really started when Helen and I took a year off, many years ago now, and cycled through Europe to Israel. We enjoyed the experience so much that we decided to cycle home six months later!

More recently, we rode together from London to Paris and with our dog Monty even did a charity ride from Bristol to London together! All this must add up to many thousands of miles.

But never have I tried to tackle a trip of over 100 miles a day for 9 days non stop. The RAB seemed a fitting target for such a good cause.

Stage 1

So, why am I doing this ride and what is the Sam keen Foundation all about?

Sam Keen was my nephew. He died of malignant melanoma in November 2011. Sam touched the lives of all who knew him. His overriding thought throughout his long illness was to remain positive and protect all those around him. He fought his cancer for 7 years; with dignity, great courage and a total lack of self pity.

Undergoing over twenty operations to remove tumours, Sam endured chemotherapy, radiotherapy, gamma knife brain radiotherapy and several cutting-edge experimental melanoma drugs.

At the forefront of the fight against malignant melanoma is Sam’s oncologist for the entire 7 years, Professor Martin Gore, Medical Director of the Royal Marsden Hospital, the UK’s centre of excellence for cancer treatment. Sam’s wife and family are aiming to raise £100,000 to help Professor Gore in his fight against this cruel disease.

We are asking everyone to contribute to The Sam Keen Foundation, the vehicle being used for us all to remember Sam’s heroic fight. To donate online, simply follow the link to my Justgiving page and don’t forget to tick the Gift Aid box.