Day 4

Green Day

Our team leader had graded today a ‘Green’, the easiest in a traffic light sequence of rides based on distance, climbs and a variety of other factors. Buoyed by the confidence this brought, I didn’t feel the need to be first on the road and a slightly longer breakfast seemed like a very befitting way to start the day. On my, by now, very uncomfortable saddle, by 9am, it gradually turned out to be by far my hardest day yet.

At the back, frustrated by my medication’s poor effect this morning, then lack of energy, I made slow progress, painfully slow at times. Making it to our next location, Auxerre, after nine hours of cycling, was a such a relief and was made possible by the support of John, Geoff, Declan and Steve, our team leader, all of whom patiently stayed with me when they could have finished the ride some significant time earlier. 

It was during discussion with the team later that evening that I realised many of us had found the day’s cycling a real challenge. Geoff and I are eight days and 686km into the ride from Cheltenham and with the rest of the team, we are four days and 447km into our Brighton to Barcelona. We have all come a long way but there is still a very long road ahead of us, 1,153km to be precise. 

However, this challenge is not just about the physical distance or duration of the ride. It is so much more than this. We each have our own reasons for doing this challenge and for many of us, it is very much about pushing beyond the barriers that Parkinson’s tries to put in the way, to focus on what is possible, rather than what is not, to show what can be achieved despite Parkinson’s or perhaps more accurately because of Parkinson’s. It is because of Parkinson’s that this wonderful group of people, have come together to do something extra ordinary and already, for me, my life has been enriched by the experience and in building these relationships.

There is so much more I want to write about this but time will not allow me to do justice to something so important and so, I will stop now but will return to these thoughts when time and energy allow but for now, sleep beckons.