Days 1-3

Day 1:
Day 1 started at Lands End. Obviously, being England, it was raining. However, both my dad and I were excited to get going. Soon after starting, we realized we were in a bit of trouble. The 95 mile day turned out to be mostly uphill and steep. Ordinarily, this problem would annoy us but we would get by without too much trouble. This time, however, we were carrying quite a bit of extra weight. My dad was riding a bike that was more than 10 pounds heavier than his normal bike and he was lugging a trailer behind him that weighs about 60 pounds. I wasn’t carrying quite as much weight but I didn’t have as small and easy of gears as my dad has on his bike so the steep uphill part of the ride turned out to be difficult for the both of us. On top of the extra weight, the rain made the roads slippery which was a problem on the few down hills we encountered. To avoid sliding and crashing, we had to descend carefully and slowly which gave us barely any momentum for the uphill that was invariably around the corner. Descending slowly also provided another problem. The extra weight put more strain on the brakes and by the end of the day, there was barely any brake pad left on my dad’s bike. This meant that he literally could not stop the bike. Mine wasn’t as bad because I wasn’t carrying as much weight but by the end of the day, they had worn down. Despite the rain and the up hills, the day turned out to be quite enjoyable. The views of the British countryside were incredible. Nevertheless, the Bed and Breakfast at the end of the day was a welcomed sight. Once we got inside, my dad told me that we had climbed in vertical feet more than the vertical climb of Mount Washington. For those of you who don’t know, Mount Washington is one of the steepest mountains that people are allowed to bike on and climbs about 4400 feet. We climbed about 5100 feet. Needless to say, we were glad Day 1 was over and we definitely slept well that night.

Day 2:
Day 2 started with a problem (is a theme emerging?). The GPS we are using couldn’t find us a way to get to Bristol, one of the major cities in England, without going on the highway roads, called the M roads. Cyclists aren’t allowed on the M roads so we couldn’t use those. We ended up having to just go by the map on the GPS and find our own way. Our plan was just to head as straight towards Bristol as possible. Throughout the day, we found roads that must have been small foot paths before they were paved, roads that the GPS must not have known about because they were so small. This day turned out to be like the first day; almost all of it was uphill. The one good bit of news was that it wasn’t raining. When we stopped for lunch, the lady at the stand made a donation of Gatorade and candy bars to help us on our way, a very kind gesture which actually got us through the day. The Gatorade turned out to be essential on the last stretches of the route. However, it was actually quite sunny and warm throughout the day so it wasn’t too bad. In the end, we ended up travelling another 95 miles before we got to the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at. Again, once we got inside, my dad told me that we had once again climbed more vertical feet than the 4400 of Mount Washington. We had climbed around 6000 feet. Whoever said that England was pretty much flat obviously never tried biking across it. However, the views were once again incredible so the ride wasn’t miserable. Before we started the trip, we had worried about the motorists of Britain being inconsiderate of cyclists on narrower roads than we have in the United States. However, we only found considerate drivers on our rides which was a welcomed surprise. Although the trip thus far has been difficult, we have both enjoyed the challenge. The next morning at breakfast, as a last note, we met a group of fly fishermen and one of them made a donation of $15 which we were very pleased about. The trip is turning out to be very successful.

Day 3:
Day 3 started with a visit to a care home in Bristol affiliated with the company my dad works for. The care home was called the Amerind Grove Nursing Home and the tour of the facility turned out to be very interesting. We learned about the growing emphasis on the care of dementia patients at the care home. When we toured the dementia part of the facility, we found the patients in very good hands and taken care of well. Susan Thorne, the Deputy Manager and the person who gave us the tour, was a very nice lady and I could tell that she was very enthusiastic about her work and thoroughly enjoyed helping the residents. She told us a story of a lady who entered the dementia part of the care home a few years ago with quite severe dementia. Through the work of the staff at Amerind Grove, the lady was able to leave the care home and return to society with the severity of her dementia greatly reduced. After the tour of the care home, we only had a 52 mile ride for that day, a number that we were excited by. The ride turned out to be mostly flat and uneventful. We traveled mostly on an A Road, a two lane road that was at times quite busy and at others quite quiet. We started the ride at 12:30 and arrived at my grandparents’ house at around 4:15. 40 miles less of riding helped us recover from the previous days. However, our hunger remained. We were burning so many calories per day and unable to eat enough to replace it. A big meal and then a long bike ride wouldn’t be very comfortable. The next day was our rest day that we took full advantage of. We certainly needed it to catch up on sleep and to eat as much as we could while we could. Some of my grandparents’ friends stopped by for dinner and they donated another $15. So far the ride is going well and we are pleased with our performance but we are even more pleased with the amount of money we have raised thus far for Parkinson’s Research. In total, we have managed to raise about $5,200. We exceeded our original goal and have now raised that goal to $6,000. Thank you to all who have donated so far and please encourage anyone you can to donate.