Welcome
Thank you for visiting Challenging Times, The Ramblings of a Cyclopath.
Blogging seemed a good way to publicise a charity cycle from Vietnam to Cambodia with a group of friends who became affectionately known as The Cyclopaths. Still chronicling my cycle training and challenges, four years on, this blog now also offers insights into my experience of living with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease. By doing so, I hope to promote an understanding and provide an easy opening to a conversation about the trials, tribulations and the occasional triumphs of living with Parkinson’s.
Blog Posts
Film ’22
Barry Norman, I most definitely am not but a film critic I have found myself becoming this week. And, what an exciting week it has been for those of us living with Parkinson’s who love nothing more than to indulge in a spot of symptom comparison with others. Two TV…
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It All Adds Up
Today, my blog received its 10,000th view this year. Before I get carried away, I acknowledge that this falls quite short of the 5 million views required to officially become a viral TikTok sensation. A mere 4,990,000 views short to be precise. Oh, and it took me nine months to…
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Jumping to Conclusions
I recently attended my local hospital for a test. Slightly anxious at the prospect and my medications not working their best, I sat in the waiting room, fidgety and shaky. I struck up a conversation with the only other person in the waiting room. Despite the noise of the television,…
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‘Old’ Friends
Image Source: Bright/Kauffman/Crane I met a friend for coffee recently. Our conversation flowed easily, we were both relaxed in each other’s company and we talked like ‘old’ friends. We shared a deep understanding of the many challenges we each face while living with Parkinson’s before we had even started to…
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Reflections of The Raid Alpine
Exercise, the only thing that has been shown to delay disease progression in Parkinson’s, should, in theory, be easy to commit to doing on a daily basis. Yet at times it can still be difficult to find the motivation to exercise, particularly on a cold, wet, windy winter’s day. In…
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Rory’s Reflections
Reflections – The Raid Alpine 2022 by Rory Chappell I was part of the support crew for a group of five cyclists as they took on The Raid Alpine. 770km long. Over 18,000m of climb. Geneva to Nice. I had never even heard of such a challenge, nor would I…
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Thank You!
Time to say ‘Thank You’ to everyone who supported me to do the Raid Alpine challenge. A HUGE ‘thank you’ to John Anderson, John Wilkinson, Roland Valori and Claire Lehman for embracing this colossal challenge, all the training involved and for making it a wonderful adventure. To Callum Anderson and…
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Pedalling with Parkinson’s
Feeling vaguely qualified to write about cycling with Parkinson’s after the last ten days in the saddle, here are a few reflections of the impact of Parkinson’s on cycling. Speed Slower than almost everyone I know. Maybe even without Parkinson’s this would be the case but I believe it is…
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Raid Alpine – Day 10
Setting off in already blistering sunshine, our last day proved one of the hottest. Perhaps a little blasé about having ‘only’ 834m of climb to do, by the time I was 15km into the ride, already on the wrong road, still leaning heavily on my right hand side in a…
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Raid Alpine – Day 9
Distance 83km. Elevation 1700m. Our penultimate day saw us leave according to our speed. That was Claire and I setting off first for a ride that would take us 8 and 9 hours respectively. The others who are much quicker were rewarded by a slightly more leisurely breakfast and had…
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