Cycling 1,000 miles listening to God’ s music & raising £ 10,000 for 3 charities
I have fulfilled a teenage dream to cycle 1,000 miles from Lands End to John O’ Groats. I find it incredulous that I completed it in one piece and even more so that £ 10,000 was raised for three charities, thanks to the generosity of family and friends.
The charities are listed below- I have already presented cheques to each one.
HEALTH: Institute of Cancer Research-( Company No: 534147) most of us have been touched in some way by this dreadful disease and this cancer research organisation has an outstanding record of achievement.
EDUCATION:- SPA ITF Education Fund( Registered Charity No: 802570)- helps Prajapati families in UK and India with invaluable contributions, helping to finance degrees and higher education diplomas for those from poor families who can barely afford life’ s basic necessities. In the UK, we are blessed.
SOCIAL WELFARE: Business Office Supplies Charity( Registered Charity No: 279029) previously BOSS BenFund- helps individuals and families who have worked in the stationery industry and have fallen on hard times, having exhausted all normal channels of social welfare.
The manic desire for an epic adventure streak seems to ignite every 10 years or so. In 2007 I trekked to Annapurna Base Camp( 4123m) with my cousin Hemantkumar A Mistry and as President of SPA Birmingham raised over £ 5,000 for essential community hall renovations.
It seems my 53 year old brain wants to attain lots however my body has its own challenges – the usual aches and pains that come with age and split disc, back pain, glaucoma – to top it, I had to have a hernia operation 3 months before the ride which meant training started only mid-April. To my own amazement, I managed to clock up 1,000 training miles at a steady pace. And then the big day – 14th June 2016 – start of Land’ s End to John O’ Groats. The first two days were in Devon and Cornwall- it proved I had not practiced half as much as I should have especially the hill climbs. Worse still, we had torrential rain for 2 days to contend with- there was a moment on Dartmoor when I could have given up- the mist had descended, the rain came in bucket loads, I was climbing yet another hill and could barely see 10 feet in front of my bike … and then you have to fight your own self … focus on the task, let each pedal revolution count as one step closer to the finish line, think of those wonderful messages of support you have received. Day 3 and 4 onto to a relatively flat Somerset county … and onto glorious Avon County …. And then the rolling hills and valleys of beautiful Wales. Days passed by in a daze …. repeated patterns of eat, sleep, ride- I cannot sleep a lot … probably 4 hours at best … wake up at 4:30am, breakfast at 6:00am, start riding with my partner Robert, a wonderful Scotsman who was a very private individual.- His occupation was as a Ghillie( look it up!). We used to have a water stop around 10am after 35 miles or so, lunch at 60 miles at around 1:30pm and a final water stop around 80 miles … day in day out for 11 days.
On Day 4 we reached Shrewsbury having cycled 286 miles and Nila, Krishna and the extended family met
36 vol. 41 | Prajapati Sandesh 2016