Mountains & Saddles
I am not looking for sympathy, but I'll say right from the start, I've been very busy these last 6 months.
Hence the paucity of blog posts and the hiatus between the last post in January, just before I left for Everest and now.
Mountains
Regular readers (you know who you are) will be forgiven for thinking that I had lost all my fingers to frostbite or decided to set up a laundrette in Namche Bazaar. Not a bit of it - I, and the rest of my group, survived penetrating cold, debilitating altitude, the worst storm to hit the Khumbu for 30 years and a diet of noodle soup, popcorn and Mars Bars.
The three weeks away included 13 days spent trekking to Everest and back from Lukla in Nepal were some of the most exhilarating, enjoyable, exhausting, excellent and cold weeks I have experienced. Three weeks with a 13 day period without the chance of a shower, camping in temperatures of minus 32C, suffering altitude sickness, and summiting Kala Pathar, 5,545m after only managing to eat a Mars Bar and half a Twix in 24 hours.
There were so many highs - the stunning mountain landscapes, the diverse landscapes from lush forests, to barren windswept sand plateaus and paths skirting the edge of glaciers, all surrounded by the most amazing amphitheatre of peaks on Earth, the Himalayas.
Add to this the wonderful camaraderie of the trekkers, the guides and porters and even the yaks. We all had personal moments of weakness, either due to altitude sickness, illness, exhaustion etc, but everyone got on and pulled together. The team managed to raise over £45,000 for Scope, to help this excellent charity continue their work supporting and helping people with cerebral palsy and raising awareness of disability in general.
The trip left me with many new friendships and reacquainted me with my old friends from Kilimanjaro, Giles Conlon and John Shaw. In particular, Jim Yeoman, Kate Adams and Peter Stanley have become great friends in a short space of time and it feels as though we've known each other for years, let alone since January.The lifelong friendships these charity adventures give you is one of the wonderful and worthwhile reasons for challenging yourself to raise money for a charity, as well as the physical challenge.
One of the most unnerving of highs were the swinging cable bridges over the raging rivers of the Khumbu. To a sufferer of vertigo, these bridges had kept me awake before leaving the UK. The first was the worst; a horrible experience with the bridge swinging wildly underfoot and made worse by the nasty cuts from the steel cable when you reached out to grab the sides to stabilise yourself. However, after watching a train of yaks delicately plod across, you learnt to overcome your fear and the bridges no longer seemed so frightening.
I loved the trek to Everest, it was a dream come true, an adventure I had always wanted to go on since I was a boy and the fulfilment of an ambition, if not to actually climb Everest, but to stand opposite its massive form and imagine standing on its slopes and slowly, step by step, making my way to the top.
I did stand opposite Everest (which decided to sulk and wrap its summit in cloud that morning). However, the reverie and dreaming was short lived as the wind was blowing hard and the temperature was around -20C and various parts of me were in danger of freezing and dropping off.
Saddles
Fresh from returning from Everest, exhausted and over half a stone lighter, ill from a nasty chest infection picked up during the trek and exacerbated by the ravaging cold, dry air, altitude, tiredness and a tonne of sand and dust inhaled during the trek back down to Lukla - most of it into the worst storm for decades, I decided that I'd never do another charity challenge in my life again...ever.
Five minutes later I was formulating my plan for my next charity challenge.
What is it about the brain that decides to forget pain? Every charity challenge I have done has been uncomfortable (if fun), exhausting (if rewarding) and downright painful (if worthwhile). Cycling and running from Worcester to Liverpool and back hurt - especially running 19 miles after cycling 215 miles the previous couple of days. The climb up Kilimanjaro and the exhausting descent back to Marangu on blistered feet, spent and without a drop of energy left - hurt, a lot!
Cycling to London and back - the Cotswold hills and a saddle sore were very sore!
Cycling to Dublin and back - 470 miles, 6 days, 3 mountain ranges including the Llanberis Pass, the highest pass in Snowdonia was.....you get the picture.
Then Everest and all the pain, cold, discomfort etc.
But not a couple of weeks after getting back to England and the brain has erased all memories of pain. If you 'think' about how it hurt, it doesn't come close to the actual feeling at the time.
So, what next......?
Aha! The bicycle was looking forlornly at me, willing to be taken out on rides longer than an hour, wanting to inflict more pain on my legs.
So, then it happened. What is a realistic and demanding challenge that will be interesting to do, of interest to sponsors, media, friends and family? Of course, cycle the entire length of Britain. End to End.
Most people do what is known as LEJOG (Lands End to John O'Groats). We've (I've) decided to do it the other way around JOGLE (John O'Groats to Lands End). 874 miles / 1,405.5km from the far north of Scotland to the far South West of England.
Most people do it over 2 weeks - around 75 miles a day. Hard enough with the constantly challenging, hilly terrain, the weather, exhaustion etc.
We've (I've!) decided to up the ante a little. We are going to do JOGLE in 9 days, averaging 100 miles per day. Oh, and to add that little bit of extra spice, throw in the fact that the prevailing winds will be south westerlies, ie. directly into our faces.
So why this challenge and who have I press-ganged into agreeing to come along for the ride?
The charity I am raising money for with this charity challenge is the Make A Wish Foundation. Every year in the UK, thousands of children face the difficulty of living with life threatening conditions and serious disabilities. These children know what real discomfort and pain is. Constant hospital trips, operations, chemotherapy, physiotherapy and being unable to live normal lives as other children do.
Make A Wish grant special wishes for thousands of children each year. The children may want something simple; to be a princess for a day, meet their favourite footballer or pop star or something more challenging - a room makeover, with specialist equipment like lifts / hoists or a holiday of a lifetime.
My daughter Milla (6) was a recipient of a wish in May. She, together with my wife, twin sister and myself, had a never-to-be-forgotten week at the Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee, Florida. This included VIP access to all the Disney World theme parks and Seaworld, immediate access to all attractions and the chance to meet all the Disney characters. Our daughters loved it. Every minute. For a short while we could forget the problems and stress caused by Milla's disability. This was all thanks to Make A Wish.
So, in order to raise much needed funds for Make A Wish; to enable them to continue giving other children and their families such wonderful experiences, myself and 5 friends will put on Lycra shorts and cycling jerseys, straddle the saddles of our bikes in John O'Groats and cycle south for 9 days.
The team are;
Oliver Groß: 43 - Germany
Oliver is a veteran long distance cyclist (well, he cycled to Dublin and back with me, so that makes him a veteran). Oliver is the most enthusiastic person I know. He never complained once on our trip to Dublin (although he wasn't too happy about being soaked to the skin on day 2 in Wales). Oliver lives in a particularly flat part of Northern Germany and nothing makes him happier than when the roads go up and point skywards, with a slope of >15%.....
Simon Whitton: 43 - Wales
Jim Yeoman: 42 - England
Most weekends you'll find Jim popping out on his bike 'for a quick 100' (miles that is) and revelling in the prospect of cycling up some 25% climbs in a hurricane and torrential rain.
The only person I've met who has cycled up Alpe d'Huez. No that's wrong, I've met Allan Pieper and Phil Liggett, who I am sure have done it too & perhaps even Danilo di Luca (all of whom were slower than Jim).
Bob Whitelaw: 48 - Australia
I am sure nothing will give Bob more pleasure than being first to the top of every climb....although Oliver will have something to say about that!
Nathan Coll: 34 - England
Nathan loves fitness and spends every waking moment in the gym. He is keen as anything to participate in the JOGLE challenge. One question Nathan, have you ever had a saddle sore?
Tony Frobisher: 43 - England
The man behind the blog, veteran of 3 major long distance cycle challenges, 2 mountain treks (Kilimanjaro and Everest) and possessor of legs that don't enjoy being shaved.
I am still trying to attain that elusive six pack and am determined to lose around a stone before the JOGLE starts. The reason; hills. We have Oliver, Bob and Jim who seem to 'enjoy' going up. I only enjoy them going down.
The liposuction is booked for next month.
The JOGLE cycle challenge will hopefully take place in May 2013. I will blog about the planning, logistics and training at a later date, with more details of our essential support crew. We hope to be joined by fellow Everest trekker, Kate Adams and my former colleague at Kingsway English Centre, Marc Bull. They have kindly agreed to drive a motorhome the length of Britain in support of us. More next time!
You can sponsor the team via our team justgiving page;
http://www.justgiving.com/teams/millasendtoendchallenge
Just select one of the individual pages already set up and please donate what you can, big or small.
Many thanks.
Right...I'd better go and shave my legs, training has begun.
