Keeping you up to date about the Dive Aid website
Dive Aid was able to replace Jo Dixie's gear very recently and she has just been back to Khao Lak. It was quite a journey for her in many ways so it was nice to be able to help make it a tiny bit easier.
Read more: Thanks from Jo Dixie
These include (in no particular order):
Thank you all. Your help made a huge difference to me when I needed it most. I hope to have the chance to thank you all individually and face to face.
Guy: 6.10.06
Well, it's bad news I'm afraid - I'm too injured to carry on so here's the story...
After the last bulletin and the day off in Tavistock - I needed very little excuse to hang around with mates I hadn't seen in years - I set off for Okehampton, Tiverton and Taunton. Despite avoiding the frankly ludicrous route straight across the moors to Moretonhampstead, I did find myself going a long way uphill past Mary Tavy until I was somewhere near the top of Dartmoor.
The scenery was amazing and I shall put the relative ease of the climb down to the 4 pints of Kronenbourg I drank with John and Mark Hillier the night before. A few extra calories always help. On the moor I was greeted with an anachronistic sight; a helicpoter flying below me. Quite impressive I can tell you.
I made it to the Okehampton turn off but there was another surprise in store for me; one of the drop bars on the pannier rack broke - I've no idea how. This called for a level head and some of the by now famous Venner ingenuity. I panicked. 20 minutes later I grabbed hold of myself enough to realise that the bungee cords I'd bought in Penzance were perfect for the job. It was ugly but I simply stuck the panniers to the top of the rack as tightly as possible. The added advantage here was that I punctured one of the energy drinks I'd bought in Tavistock and could leave the smelly mess to soak through all my newly-cleaned clothes.
Back in the saddle once again, my left pedal almost immediately fell off. It remained cleated to my foot however so I just slotted it back in place and rode on. Fields of red earth greeted me through Tiverton and although the climbs weren't as bad as before there were still more than a few of them which kept my average speed low. I followed the path of a stream towards Taunton and I'd probably call this the most pleasant day of all in terms of cycling. Open fields full of grazing cows vied with tranquil glades for my attention and just as I was thinking how much some of the properties along the road would cost, an obviously well-off chappie in a classic white, open-topped sports car drove past me on the other side of the road. It was Michael Caine. Or Eddy Murphy - I get them mixed up all the time.
Taunton arrived just in the nick of time. 80 miles and I was spent. The pain in the leg had been bad but by essentially admitting to myself that it was useless I was able to concentrate on pedalling with the left leg and leaving the right to spin. I guess I was hoping it would get better.
Unfortunately, once I got off the bike and my legs cooled, I was to understand just what a painful condition I had. Again the pain was right down the leg and even rolling the limb from side to side on the bed proved too much. I'd worried I wouldn't find a B&B, get a room for the right price, and finally, that I wouldn't be able to carry on. I tucked myself in and watched Runaway Bride on ITV1. It soon sent me to sleep.
The next day I crammed in a full breakfast of the English variety, refused the landlady's pears (they looked lovely and full of vitamins but I just didn't have room for them) and waved goodbye as I set off for Bristol and thence to Stroud. The leg hurt but I was buoyed up by a very strong wind at my back thanks to Hurricane Gordon in the Azores. I made cracking time until I got lost in Bristol and topped things off nicely with a puncture. From there on up to Stroud I was almost exclusively on cycle tracks on the side of the A38 and they kept trucks and crap motorists at a safe distance at last. Traffic had been getting way too close up till then so this was a welcome relief.
The hardest part of the day had been reserved for last though. Up a very long steep hill out of Uley to Stroud where the views were as incredible as they were fleetingly looked at by a shaking cyclist whose body had run out of food some time before. I was feeling rough, and my left Achilles tendon was starting to throb disconcertingly. At nearly 7pm I pulled in to the Bartlett family residence for much needed company and food. I'd covered 90 miles in a single day on my own and with luggage.
The route I was on seemed to follow a cycle of its own; main road one day, countryside the next, main road again etc... Thursday was a glorious but ever more painful ride through the cotswalds into Shropshire and up to Ironbridge. No panniers this time as crazy Lord Piers, my old matey from Thailand was back in the country and in charge of a rental car. Great views were enjoyed again along with an even stronger breeze at my back, and Piers even had the decency to pay for a twin room for us in Ironbridge.
That evening, my legs so painful I had to climb the stairs under the power of my upper body alone, we enjoyed a well-deserved meal of ribs and steak pie and a final couple of pints outside as the night was warm and balmy. A deranged local even stood behind me making threatening gestures and noises after I'd asked if Piers and I could slip on the end of his table. This, apparently, was asking too much.
Beating a hasty retreat we retired to bed at 10:30... and I was promptly wakened at 2am by the noise of Piers vomiting in the bathroom. He'd somehow developed a migraine, a condition I was unaware he suffered from and yet suffer he did. It was heart-wrenching hearing him chuck and not be able to do a thing about it. He really was in a bad way. The entire room soon smelled of his gastric jiuces and bile and still he was sick. By the time breakfast came round I could harldy eat. I was exhausted from cycling, pain and lack of sleep and worried about both Piers and myself. He had to get the car back to Heathrow and I had to carry on north.
We parted company in Ironbridge and I began the day with another hill and a dual carriageway. I was getting disorientated. The roads were difficult to follow not to mention downright dangerous. I was cold so I put on a jumper but completely forgot to close the pannier and began depositing my posessions all over the carriageway before I realised and turned back to collect them.
With the help of a local cyclist I made it out of Telford and took the country road to Warrington but by now I was beginning to fear the worst. I could only do around half my average speed due to my bad Achilles tendon and right knee. I enjoyed the countryside as much as I could but, on finally finding a country doctor's practice I hobbled in and begged for an appointment. A very obliging and sympathetic doctor soon looked at me but I was worried that he was taking almost too much of an interest in the sponsored aspect of the cycle ride. It looked as though he was trying to glean from me some snippet of information which would allow him to give me some bad news.
"Look," he finally said, "you ruptured your right iliotibial band (down the outside of the legs going into the knee) back in Cornwall and then you overloaded your left Achilles as a result and now that's torn."
"So is there any way you could patch me up?" I asked, a lump in my throat.
"I'm really sorry but you have to stop cycling or you will do yourself an even worse injury".
He could see how much the ride meant to me. He gave me the news in the kindest way possible, offering me water and asking if I had any accomodation where I could rest before heading home. I couldn't listen. What was I going to tell my friends and family? The people who had sponsored me? The families of the victims of the Dahab bombings? John and Mark who had been so very encouraging and a whole host of others who had wished me good luck along the way?
Training had been hard. Organising sponsorship, travel, accomodation, bloody everything in fact had been a nightmare and it all ended here with a rupture in one leg and a tear in the other.
An hour later I was hugging Steph. We'd arranged to meet up for the weekend and she was running bang on schedule as usual. I'd continued cycling until our routes coincided. Her very being there helped to soften the blow. I'd done over 400 miles on my own, it was beginning to piss it down with rain and I couldn't walk. If I'd been a horse they'd have f*cking shot me. It was time to go home. I sat in the car, watching the rain barely able to speak in case I just broke down.
Guy Home 23.9.06
PS. I'm going to give it a couple of days until I'm on my feet again and then publish a thank you note for all those who made this trip possible. Okay it wasn't to be, but I will do it one day soon and there won't be any stopping me.
I'm having a rest day in Tavistock where I'm catching up with some old mates. It's lovely but I'm worried about an injury I sustained yesterday.
The first day I did 76 miles over some really nasty hills but apart from a light head and smelling bad I was okay. That night my left knee stiffened up but was just about passable on the bike yesterday.
The problem came when I rode into Liskeard on day 2 and suddenly got shooting pains down my entire right leg. Despite trying to keep it moving and warm, the pain became excruciating over the next 20 miles and it was only the thought of seeing my mates that kept me going. In a place that began with a G about 5 miles from Tavistock I met a liar: he told me it was all downhill to my destination. 2 mighty hills later I finally made it.
The nausea and dizziness finally went when I managed something to eat but I woke up this morning really worried about the future of the ride. I went to the local bike shop - Tavistock Cycles - and they were great. Martin modified my cleats and the saddle and I stocked up on painkillers and Red Bull. He suggested a route around the moor for tomorrow which I'm going to have to take as I don't want to run the risk of not making it because of the pressure a steep climb will put on the leg. He reckons that despite the training I've put in, the combination of the panniers having to go on at the last minute and the gradient of the hills have caused a nerve in my back to become trapped. Now, every time I push down on the right pedal the pain hits me like a bolt.
I'd expected something like this but possibly not quite this bad! Still, I've been told I've done the worst part of the trip now - 125 miles on the computer (not bad for 2 days in the hills with luggage) and things should level out from Tiverton.
I must admit I'm nervous - have been from the start - but looking on the bright side my arse is holding out well and I'm having a good time counting all the funny colours my wee is turning.
A special mention must go to Will and Pete, 2 nice lads I caught up with between Truro and St. Austell. I wheel-sucked Will for a few miles and we finally stopped for a quick break in St. Austell. Will, despite a t-shirt that said "Feeling Great" collapsed on the grass looking very pasty. He'd had cramp in Truro and was feeling rough.
Pete said, "Have you done much training for this then?"
"A fair bit." I replied. "30 odd miles a day for a fair while but it wasn't enough! What about you."
"Well," he said as Will began to groan, "we've done about and hour between us in the last 2 years!!"
Boys, I hope you made it to Exeter for the footie on Sunday. I know I didn't!! And if you read this, take care and I hope we meet again.
Guy - 18.9.06
Well, the time has come and next Friday or Saturday I'll be off to Cornwall to begin the End to End cycle trip.
Daryl has followed up his non-existent training ritual by dropping out of the trip altogether, and unfortunately our support driver is also unable to come so I will be left to fend for myself when I get to the northern wastelands of Scotland where they eat Englishmen. Daryl did suggest doing the ride on a static bike at the gym but I ask you, what use is that??!!! (Sorry Porky - got to have that last pop at you!)
I must admit to a high state of nerves and agitation coupled with no little sadness and even fleeting depression when Daryl gave me the bad news. True enough looking at his rear end for 1000 miles wasn't going to be the highlight of my year but, as they say, a burden shared is a burden halved.
Nevertheless, thanks largely to a fantastic wedding in Denmark (always to be recommended), and a complete change of scenery, I'm filled with a renewed sense of hope and adventure. I'm sure to meet others doing the same as me and I'm looking forward to catching up with several friends along the way.
If anyone thinks they're anywhere near the route I'm taking to Scotland Up the western side of England, skirting Wales) and can offer me a place to kip, please drop me a line via this website. Also, if anyone's planning to get down to Cornwall this weekend or is driving back from Scotland in 2/3 weeks time, could I please have a lift?! Any money saved on transport will mean that more goes to the victims of the Dahab bombings.
Please do email and phone with support and sarky comments - it'll all help to keep my spirits up - and if anyone needs a multi-lingual dive instructor out in the Maldives this winter, I'm your man!! (You can only take so much time in the saddle after all. Feels like I've been sat on a razor blade for weeks as it is.)
Right, time to pack my panniers, pump up my tyres and, well, you can guess the rest.
Guy Venner 9.9.06
Anyone who has checked out the Dive Aid website recently (address below) will know that Guy Venner (pictured left) and training partner Daryl Barnes are to set off on the so-called "End-to-End" cycle ride on September 15th. Guy fills us in on how things have been going.
Things have not been going well. May and the early stages of June were a washout. I've never liked cycling in thunderstorms but when in a violent downpour Daryl casually informed me he'd once been hit by lightning, I found the nearest bus shelter and told him to carry on or at least stand a good way from me. Fifty metres did the trick, "Don't worry mate, it's only rain. Be over soon." And when the storm passed I could have been forgiven for mistaking the steam coming off him for smoke. He's never smelled too good anyway.
If our fitness has improved slowly, our knowledge of cycling vocab' has increased dramatically. I've now considered EPO, Daryl and I have had several bonks in tight lycra and he's always sucking me off. EPO seems to be the drug "de choix" amongst professional cyclists and if I'm not entirely that way inclined myself I'm sure a box of Pro Plus and a couple of cans of Red Bull will help me over those gut-busting hills.
We have to keep fed and watered regularly; before we feel hungry and thirsty in fact, otherwise we "bonk". This appears to be the cycling equivalent of the marathon runner's "wall" and has so far given rise to wide-eyed, vacant stares and interesting hallucinations; fields full of levitating sheep, birds flying backwards, Daryl getting the drinks in on a rest stop.
And he's not the most gracious of training partners, it has to be said. He's developed a nasty habit of wheel-sucking me. Slipstreaming me saves him 20% effort but getting to within half a mile of my home - the start and end point for training runs - and cycling past with a casual "I'll take it from here mate", really has to be putting the cycling shoe in.
Not that it's happened for the last month or so. Whilst on a comfort break in a well-known department store he slipped on a freshly-washed, warning-deficient floor and dislocated his shoulder. Six weeks and the due process of the National Claims Hotline, "Had an accident? Not your fault? Bit of a fatty?" means he's now back in the saddle.
Meanwhile I've been lamenting the absence of a knowledgeable instructor with standards to adhere to. More Clueless than Reese Witherspoon I've just discovered the reason my back's gone out three times in two weeks is that to ride my bike in comfort you should be at least six foot two. I don't come anywhere near. So it's goodbye to the old girl and my video camera housing and hello new bike.
There are a couple of things we really need from readers however. Sponsorship of course (check details online at www.diveaid.org.uk) but if any divers/dive centres can offer us beds/food/massage/Savlon on the way our gratitude would be immense. Perhaps small events - barbecues etc… could tie in with our arrival (time permitting). Remember, all proceeds from the ride go to Dive Aid and then to those affected by the Dahab bombings, which is what it's all about.
And if anyone's ever registered a charity, please get in touch to help me make sense of these forms as it looks like what started as a reaction to the tsunami is going to become a more long-term project.
Thanks to all and please do make contact via the website as we need all the encouragement, good wishes or even heckling that we can get. Well it's time to grease up my perineum, shave my legs again and jump on the old girl...
Daryl's gone missing. The last time I saw him I was coveting his 100% waterproof running jacket shortly before we parted on the Aylesbury bypass. Yet again I was soaked to the skin (my feet were freezing) cold and miserable. My back light had broken in the rain and Daryl was light-hearted and smiling. My crappy nylon top clung to my crap-covered skin. Daryl went off down the bypass and I pounded some more tarmac through the villages.
I'd just made it back to what I thought was the safety of my lane when, Bang!! I hit a pothole with both wheels. Bloody thing was obscured by the rain. I'd phoned the council about these nearly 2 weeks ago. A torrent of abuse from me diffused into the torrent from above.
My back light lay smashed on the floor now, next to the treacherous pothole. More abuse. I got back on the bike. The rear tyre had been holed and the inner tube sliced. O Joy!
After a far more heroic and hilly ride home, Daryl chose to reward himself with retail therapy. It proved to be his undoing. Needing to relieve himself in a well-known department store he stepped onto a just-washed floor with no warning signs and went sizeable bottom over man-boob. He now has a strange bump on his collar bone and his right arm in a sling. Worse still he can't train so yet again the onus falls on me. The boy is such a let down! Rapateeti, come back to dadeeeeee!!!!!
So it's off into the hail, wind, rain, dirt and ubiquitous horsedung for me again. At least I hope it's horse...
Please see the Dive Aid website for more information.
