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O
I will update this page regulary, so don't forget to visit :-)
15th January 2010 - Southampton , England . Cycle
4 Leukaemia Cycling Club is launched . To assist in making your cycling training and riding more
enjoyable, social and rewarding I have decided to start a Cycling Club so that there is an emphasis on friendly fun in the
sun .
20th Nov 2009 - Western Cape , South Africa . A very
courageous Cycle 4 Leukaemia Cycling Team made up of 12 mighty men and women will take on this years 17th Double Century Cycle
Challenge .
The Double Century is a team event over 202 km , with 12 members per
team . Starting and finishing in Swellendam in the Western Cape , the route goes through Suurbraak , Barrydale , Montagu ,
Cogmanskloof , Ashton and Robertson . Although it is a race , it is more about participation and team spirit but I can assure
you 202km on a bike is the cycling equivalent of an ultra-marathon .
10th October 2009 - Lands End , England
They said
it couldn`t be done - it was impossible ? Well ....
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| Lands End |
... 917 miles , 7 hospital and
14 platelet transfusions
... nothing is impossible !!!
10th Oct Newquay - Lands End 42 miles Last day ... 42 miles to Lands
End :-) I think emotions are going to be quite high as 19 days of riding comes to and end and the sun sets on an amazing adventure
. Day 19 ... Job done ! What a great day on the bike with the
best cycling team in the world . The sun came out for a truly amazing day :-) . Riding into Lands End was the
best feeling and sharing it with the person I shared it with was exactly how I dreamt it would be - thank you x . I`ll be sad to wake up tomorrow and not have to get on the bike . ... probably a good
thing because I just fall off it .
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| Oops ... |
After 19 days without any incident I over-balance at the end , still clipped in:-) !
9th Oct Bude - Newquay 44 miles Day 18 ... done ! The day after a lay day is pure torture . There are so many BIG hills in Cornwall after 40 miles
coming into Newquay which nearly finished me off right then and there . I even had to throw up again and sit and take a few
minutes with a cup of tea in a cafe` on the beach at Watergate Bay ... then the heavens opened and I got pissed on for the
last 30 minutes into Newquay. That`ll teach me to sit and rest :-) . Staying in a lovely B&B
with a really nice owner across the road from a South African night club in Newquay :-) . I
have got the ultimate food now . A burger closely followed by ice-cream then milkshake !!!
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| More food |
8th Oct LAY DAY in Bude 0 miles :-) Life`s a beach ! What a fantastic
day on a real beach ... in England - amazing ! Life can`t get much better than spending a sunny day on an amazing beach with
the best company in the world ... ever !!! Then to have a chelsea bun and coke :-) a real cornish pasty for lunch and a burger
for dinner ... I`m in heaven ... I`m moving :-) . I`m well rested and feel so comfortable , the
van is now re-stocked and ready for the home straight .
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| Bude |
7th Oct Porlock - Bude 65 miles
Day 16 ... done
! Eish ! I`ve never been so wet and so cold for so long in my life - up hill and down dale all day long . I was shaking so
violently at times I thought that I`d crash for sure . Funny ... brakes don`t seem to work in the rain at 45 km/h :-) pretty
hair raising times and my phone learnt to swim :-) Thank goodness for capt. Ollie , even when times are tough , he`s
still a comedian . We found a lovely B&B right in the middle of Bude , perfect for a
lay day in paradise .
6th Oct Avonmouth - Porlock 64 miles Day 15 ... done ! Ah , what a
long day on the bike ... everything hurts . No burgers last night and no porridge this morning ? How is this sex machine suppose
to perform on an empty tank ? :-) It is so risky doing what I`m doing - so many people have lost their lives cycling the length
of this country - and that got re-affirmed today on a country lane when one of us was nearly run over by a car that came racing
around a corner , down this hill , saw us at the last minute so he slammed on his brakes causing him to skid down the road
sideways before losing control and crashing head first into a pole closely followed by a grass bank . Thank God we are all
still here to tell the tale . God , please bless my team - we are nearly there .
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| Porlock - Glen , Ollie and Mike |
5th Oct Hereford - Avonmouth 58 miles Day 14 ... done ! Except 1 mother
hill , we had a fantastic day on the bike . We stopped for tea and cake near an Abbey , Glen managed to get us evicted from
a pub before we even got in the front door for pissing in the bush , Ollie knocked his beer over in the van doing an illegal
right turn , we crossed from Wales back into England ... and I found out by text message that I`m now unemployed - what a
scream :-) Some people have no balls !!! But I`m having the time of my life - This is how
life is meant to be ! :-)
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| Tintern Abbey |
4th Oct Shrewsbury - Hereford Day 13 ... done ! What a great day .
Welcome Team :-) Today I picked up Glen to ride with me and imported a new van driver Ollie to entertain us . What an enjoyable
day on the bike and a total laugh all the way ... except the last hill to the B&B - Hamburger Hill :-) I'm pretty
tired now but managed to show Glen that cancer patients are still quite strong . Bring on tomorrow cause we have a massive
hill to climb before we decend towards South Gloucestershire . I think Glen can tow me for 58
miles tomorrow ... but don't tell him .
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| ... company |
3rd Oct Lay Day Thank goodness I`m off today because it poured with
rain and blew pommies out of pubs all day :-) ! The van is re-stocked , the diesel tank
is full and I had a hair cut all ready to go !
2nd Oct Warrington - Shrewsbury 54 miles Day 11 ... done ! I
decided to ride today because tomorrow is going to be bad weather . Man alive , I think I'm getting better at this riding
thing :-) because I had such a nice ride to Shrewsbury today in sunshine for a change and was then welcomed by a lovely lady
called Jo at a B&B , Charnwood Guest House which I would thoroughly recommend to anyone . Thank you to Jo for washing
all my kit too :-)
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| Rocket fuel |
1st Oct Lancaster - Warrington 57 miles with a transfusion at Liverpool Hospital Day 10 ... done ! It was a pretty cool ride towards Preston but then I had a van trip thru Preston cause city's
are too dangerous . I'm seeing things that I'd never seen before - ever . Liverpool Hospital is now THE BEST HOSPITAL
. What a great place !!! I was met by such cool staff and then presented with an envelope which I initially thought
was just a card but was then told that they has taken a collection in the Haematology Lab and inside the envelope was
£150 ... I was speechless !!! No one had ever shown me such generosity - especially considering
they had never met me . A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO THE KIND MEN AND WOMAN OF THE HAEMATOLOGY LAB AT ROYAL LIVERPOOL
HOSPITAL .
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| Windermere - Lake district |
30th Sept Carlisle - Lancaster 67 miles .
Day 9 ... done ! Another
day another mile on the Penny Farthing :-) .
29th Sept Sanquhar - Carlisle 61 miles . Day 8 ... done ! Goodbye
Scotland ! Out the Scottish Highlands today and crossed the border into England ... but not before I checked out where
you can elope from England , to Scotland to get married in Gretna :-) Are you listening somebody ? I'm sitting in Carlisle
hospital now getting 2 bags of platelets , all ready for tomorrow . It's funny because now I can compare hospitals and
nurses . So far Inverness is well in the lead - but Carlisle wins the prize for the most trendy looking :-) .
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| Kissing gate - Gretna Green |
28th Sept Largs - Sanquhar 56 miles .
Day 7 ... done ! Wet ...
good if you're in the shower , bad if you're decending tarmac mountains at 50 km/h ( especially with trucks passing
within 2 feet of me ) . It starts to get a bit eventful when the potholes fill up with water so that you can't see
them too . But despite the rain , it was a pretty good day on the bike . I only began to feel sick about 5 miles from Sanquhar
. Mikey my van driver flew home today ;-( sad to see him and his antics go ... especially climbing up onto my van roof with
one hand in the pouring rain to "get the shot" - you`re the man .
27th Sept LAY DAY in Largs :-)
Day 6 ... done ! Sleep , sleep , sleep ... and more sleep . I slept till 1pm ;-) . Managed to do a bit of shopping
to re-stock the van , got it washed , then went for burgers - yeah ! Trust me to pick one hot enough to burn the hair off
my feet ... it should have burnt the hair off my legs instead :-) .
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| Ouch - ITP , gotta love it . |
26th Sept Tarbet - Largs 54 miles .
Day 5 ... done
! What a great day :-) No wind and a flat road !!! Awesome ride down Loch Lomond , I'd recommend it to anyone :-)
I think today is the best leg of the trip . I wish I had someone to share it with on the bike . After being awake all night
with diohrrea I never had any toilet trips today or puking sessions :-) you gotta love that ... except Mikey never managed
to film the hot chick on her bike today - shooo she was even too quick for Mike "Armstrong" to catch :-) .
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| Gourock ferry |
25th Sept. Fort William - Tarbet 68 miles .
Day 4 ...
done ! I went to check out Ben Nevis today before I started riding - maybe i`ll climb it one day ... but today it`s about
the bike . The stomach cramps and now diahorrea as well throwing up are making it pretty uncomfortable going - I kept
having to go from toilet to toilet :-) not cool .
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| Loch Lomond |
24th Sept Inverness - Fort William 65 miles .
Day 3 ... done
! After yesterdays antics I only threw up twice today but managed to get pushed into the bushes by a bus in the pouring rain
just outside Fort William . To add insult to injury I couldn't lie down on the tri-bars today because of severe stomach
cramps , so I had to contend with riding into the wind , sitting up which is pretty energy sapping . The best part was the
ride along Loch Ness which I`d been dreaming about but was blinded by the pain in my stomach so I never saw "the Loch
Ness monster" . :-)
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| Loch Ness |
23rd Sept Brora - Inverness 57 miles .
Day 2 ...
done ! After overdoing it a bit in yesterdays headwinds , I found myself throwing up at 3am and then again 1 minute before
getting back on the bike at 10am this morning . Pretty tough day - actually brutal because I`m feeling really sick and I threw
up twice more on the road today but I got to stay in an awesome B&B in LochEnd called "Kimcraigan" with a fantastic
lady called Kim and had a great visit to Raigmore Hospital for my 1st platelet transfusion and met some great nurses too .
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| Glenmorangie Whiskey Distillery |
22nd Sept. 2009 John O` Groats - Brora 52 miles .
Day
1 ... done ! Riding into 40 - 50 knot headwinds , at times , makes it pretty tough going - that's where I expended a lot
of energy today . I eventually got the van to drive right infront of me because the headwind was so bad - I was even having
to pedal down some pretty steep hills in 3rd gear just to make headway but generally a good day on the bike . Not bad for
a 1st day ... decending tarmac mountains at 55 km/h In the Scottish Highlands is pretty tricky at the best of times :-)
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| John O Groats |
20 June 2009
Round The Island Race - Taming the ICAP Leopard I raced ICAP Leopard around
the Isle of Wight and won ! 64 miles in 6hrs was tough on me in my condition but "no pain , no gain" . A BIG
thank you to Mike Slade and his crew for giving me the opportunity .
12 June 2009 Here we go again - Round the Island ! I will be cycling around the island
this year to raise funds and awareness for Cycle 4 Leukaemia and the Anthony Nolan Trust whilst we take
on the mighty challenge of racing ICAP Leopard .
4 April
Iron Man South Africa update
Nicola had her last training session this morning and is all ready to rock and roll in Iron Man South Africa
! Good luck Nix . You can track her progress To track her progess sms race no: 529 to 32069
22 March 2009
I have deputised a new member . Nicola Lockhart is a tri-athlete from Cape
Town who will be competing in the South African Iron Man for Cycle 4 Leukaemia .
Saturday , 1 November , 2008
Today was the official start date of our End -End Epic adventure but due to health issues relating to complications
post transplant , it is with great sadness that I must announce that we have POSTPONED our trip .
If you know me you will realise that I do not often fail - so it is important for you all to know
that the trip has only been POSTONED .
I am still visiting The House of Pain , Southampton General Hospital , twice a week receiving platelet
transfusions . So for me to do the trip would be near impossible , if not suicidal .
God willing , we have a new start date in mind which will be towards the end of summer ,
around September / October .
My Team and I thank you all for you generous donations , sponsorship and support :) I promise you that it
has not been in vein - we have a long road ahead of us and with your help we will succeed .
Many thanks for your understanding
Mike Coburn .
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| Johnny Clegg |
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