Just a quick note to say thank you to all those who sponsored me. Together we have raised over four thousand pounds. It will all go to support the valuable work Macmillan do, to be there for people with cancer. 

My ‘Everesting’ Challenge

I set the alarm for 3.45am on Friday morning. By 4.45am I was at Box Hill starting my first ascent, on my own and in the dark.

A few nights before I had done some calculations on the Garmin website. I worked out that at 500ft an ascent, I would need to do around 60 from the roundabout at the bottom to just short of the café at the top. I had calculated that it would take around 15 minutes an assent, and on that logic I could be done by 8pm that evening and be home in time to watch the highlights of England vs Australia with a nice cup of tea.

That soon proved to be wishful thinking, however, when on finishing the first ascent I saw I had only climbed 450 meters, not 500. I did some quick calculations on the descent and realised that to make up this deficit, I would need to add a further seven ascents. ‘Okay’, I thought. ‘That just means another couple of hours. I’ll still be done by 10pm. I imagine we will have won the test match today and the highlights will of been cut short anyway…’.

On reaching the bottom of the first full descent, I had a second realisation – that each ascent and descent was taking me more than 15 minutes to complete. As time went on, it was actually taking me over 20 minutes. My brain was still trying to compute the numbers on the second climb, when I was joined by John Waine, who rode with me for the next 20 ascents. Between the two of us we still couldn’t quite work out how long it would take but after a few more laps, dawn had come and wildlife was all around (three dear and a rabbit), and I was actually enjoying the ride.

At this point, Steve Marshall from Wattbike joined us and we started trying to speed laps up by slipstreaming on the downhills. John and Steve were also checking the junctions were clear, my food bags were being brought to me and my bottles were being refilled, which all negated the need for me to stop.

By the time Steve and John left me, I had completed 20 laps and was over a quarter of the way through. By 11am I had been joined by Mark Reader and Jon Cornelius, and we started getting spectator support at the top of the hill from friends and family, including some old friends who I hadn’t seen in some time. I want to thank each and every one of these people. Your support took my mind off the relentless up and downs and gave me the motivation to keep going. Various others joined me for phases of the ride, including John Taylor, Steve Norse, Lee Taylor, Jack Harper and finally Andy Coupe. In fact, the only ascent I did truly alone throughout the whole event was the first.

At around midnight time appeared to stand still and I started to feel pain coming and going from different parts of my body. The worst was my lower back and my right foot, which at numerous points was so bad I felt that I would need to stop. It was around this time that I also realised my Strava had turned itself off at 91 miles in! Luckily, I had two devices recording the ascents, however Strava was the significantly more generous when calculating the height I had gained!

At 12am on Saturday morning, there were just three of us left, me, Andy Coupe and Jon Cornelius (who had nipped home for supper and come to join what we knew now would be a night shift). It got colder so we stopped to wrap up, put on lights and carried on.

At 3am, just as we got to the car park half way up the ascent, a silver golf came skidded round the bend at around 70mph. How it didn’t crash I don’t know, but somehow it held the road and was followed about 30 seconds later by a police car in pursuit. If we had been anywhere else on the road I don’t think it could have avoided us (although by this time I was hoping for any excuse to stop!).

Finally, at 4am and with around five laps left, my resolve cracked, and I was forced to pass the baton to Andy and Jon, who carried it over the line.

Having cycled for 24 hours, climbed 29,130 feet and covered 224 miles Everest was climbed, however, I have found it quite difficult in the subsequent days to get over the fact that I didn’t quite finish the challenge. I’ve found comfort in working out that, had I been able to continue using Strava to record the ride, I would have finished and in a far quicker time! Instead, I had to use the not-so-generous Garmin (which I also left in ‘Auto Pause’ – adding to the distance!).

I have done a number of endurance events, including an Ironman, in my time but this was undoubtedly the toughest mentally. As with all these things, it was made so much easier with others supporting you and helping you all along the way.

Thank you all.

For those that don’t know, in September 2014 I was diagnosed with Mantel Cell Lymphoma. Over the next month, further tests identified that the cancer was stage 4 and  had spread to my neck, abdomen, spine, spleen and lungs. My 6 months of chemotherapy treatment put me in hospital twice with life threatening infections.  Some days I was barely able to walk up the stairs and simple tasks were exhausting.

Finally, after a stem cell transplant (3 weeks in isolation) I was in full remission and here I am now – 4 and half years later, still in remission, with check-ups every 6 months, waiting……..

Waiting for cancer to come back is not a very healthy state to be mentally. However, through Macmillan I was offered free counselling, which has made a massive difference to my outlook on life (feel free to ask me about ‘headlights’ anytime!). Macmillan also funded the liaison nurse, which is so valuable when you are paranoid about every ache and pain being the cancer returning.

So anyway, this April marked a mile stone for me. While in Isolation after my stem cell transplant, I remember looking at the expiry date on my bank card and realising that I would be blessed to outlive it (trust me you have a lot of time to think such things). 

Well I’ve now ticked that box and in celebration I want to give something back.

On the 2^nd August 2019 I will be ‘Everesting’ – this is an attempt to climb (on a bike) the height of Everest (8848 Meters!) in 24 hours.  

I will be doing this at Box Hill in Dorking, Surrey, so if anyone fancies joining me for a few of the 73 assents or coming to laugh (apparently it’s good for you) they will be most welcome.

Also it would be great if you could sponsor me to help fund someone else’s support - not everyone is as lucky as me to have such amazing family, friends and work colleagues to support them through the journey (Thank you all)…….and now I’m looking forward to the enjoyable pain of processing my passport application form…….

Thanks for supporting my fundraising. Macmillan Cancer Support is here to help everyone with cancer live life as fully as they can, providing physical, financial and emotional support. So whatever cancer throws your way, we’re right right there with you.Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs.