Three ‘Firsts’

Some of The Cure Parkinson’s Trust (CPT) team, Will Cook (CEO) and Mike Tindall (Patron) are used to being in front of the camera but for me, as one of CPT’s ambassadors, my first ‘first’ of the day was being filmed by the BBC. The three of us were talking about the exciting Raid Local, a socially distanced cycle challenge taking place on 28th June, for a news item to be aired on BBC Points West on Thursday 18th June at 6.30pm.

Not as easy as it looked, filming also included a few laps up and down Horsely Hill. Oh, alright then, a section of it, not the whole hill. I wondered briefly if this might count as my ‘hill rep’ training for the day but that thought was soon quashed!

Lured by the blue skies before the forecast thunderstorms, my enthusiastic fellow cyclists, and the prospect of a fun, sociable (socially distanced) ride, what else could I do? My second and third ‘firsts’ were conquering the ‘W’ and Bear Hill, two of the most fearsome hills the Stroud Valleys has to offer. They hadn’t been in my plans for today and perhaps that was the key: no time to dread them……

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Not sure if my legs, lungs or gears would be up to it, I was delighted to find that all three coped admirably. Thanks to months of hill training, they weren’t nearly as hard as I had imagined they might be. Helped by good company, a good helping of Mrs R’s flapjack before we set off and a positive outlook, I really enjoyed them. I need to learn never to underestimate the power of my slightly wonky brain. It’s not just my legs, lungs and gears that need to be up for a hill challenge, my brain needs to be up for it as well. Believing I can do it is a huge part of the battle.

In addition to my 100 mile cycle on Monday, it’s proving to be a busy week. My hope as I write this, exactly five years on from my diagnosis of Parkinson’s, is that someone in those difficult newly diagnosed days takes some comfort, hope and inspiration from seeing what can still be possible. If I knew then what I know now, those first few months would have been so much easier to deal with. As I write this, I should perhaps feel tired but I don’t, I feel exhilarated by achieving these ‘firsts’.