When Crow met Cav

There is a page on Facebook called Holiday Inn Stay You. An odd name BUT an advert/link was spotted by my wife within minutes of it going live-


Calling all cycling fans. We're giving you the chance to ride with World Champion and cycling legend Mark Cavendish. Click to register. Places are limited. The first 150 to register will be e-mailed full details.

So, she entered me and I got a place! I actually got a place! The date for the ride was today, 31 October, which is also the date GoWithCrow stops collecting money. It's been a loooong old slog, but finally got there. As I type, the running total, including Gift Aid is £1442.50... so close to the £1500 but never mind! Anyway, it just seemed right that this should happen today if you know what I mean.

So armed with my Willy Wonka Golden ticket, off I set at 0430 for an 0800 registration and 0830 start. Got there in plenty of time despite the rubbish traffic as I approached London (how people commute every day I have no idea!!)

And as surreal as the morning was, it was well organised... just the right amount of people without it being crowded. The venue was Redbridge Cycling Centre near Ilford and Chigwell- great little set up with a 2km circuit- we were to do 20k with Mr Cavendish. So after a few autographs and pictures we were all lined up at the start for a photocall. For some reason, I ended up on the front row (must be my boyish good looks!)- pics done and off we went. 

The first couple of laps were a bit hairy as alot of people weren't used to riding in a group but eventually, we all spread out and the downhills were great for a bit o speed. In fact the course was excellent! I even overtook Cav!....well sort of :)

Lucky old Cav being photographed with me!

What happened was I got lapped by Mr Cavendish (it turns out on my 9th lap- his final) half way round the circuit. I then caught him up and rode alongside. First thing that blurted out of my mouth was "any idea how many laps we've done?" (all of a sudden I thought what a stupid thing to ask- is that the best you've got Crow, you nob!) and to my relief he says "no idea pal, I'm just waiting for someone to tell me to stop!" I then decided to cut my losses before making a total d**k of myself, so shot off and crossed the finish before him! We were then all offered breakfast whilst Cav did interviews and more pics. 

"Can you sign this to Phil and Helen please."

"Sure no problem."

"Oh and could you put Go With Crow underneath?"

"yer what?! Go with... wha...crow?  c..r..o..w?"

"erm [grins] yeah, it's this charity thing I've been doing for Intensive Care..."

"There you go pal."

"Thanks Mark- nice to meet you!"

And that, as they say, was it. Like I said, a very surreal way to finish 6 months of fundraising.

I'll be posting more as things are still going on and as long as someone is reading this drivel, I'll keep posting it. There's more up and coming events to chat about- decisions to be made about which foreign event to do in 2012, more thoughts on my counselling (3rd session tomorrow!) and the process I'm undertaking PLUS, of course, what ICU decide to do with the money!

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

Not much to say. Steve was one of the world's greatest tech visionaries. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and this guy was imitated! From the Mac operating system (Windows OS was always 5 paces behind Apple- a poor man's OS yet marketed as ground breaking. We saw right through you Mr Gates!)
to Pixar to the OSX followed by the iMac, iPod, iPhone and of course the iPad. Genius and a hard act to follow. RIP Mr Jobs from a photographer that has been kitted out by your company since 1995

Random stuff

James Cracknell and Jerone Walters record attempt was a cracker this weekend. Starting on Saturday at 3am, Cracknell and Walters were trying for the Land's End to John O'Groats (LEJOG) world record on a tandem. The record to be broken has stood since 1966 at 50hrs 14mins and 25 secs. Over the entire weekend, it looked like they were on track to smash this BUT with only 68 miles to John O'Groats, their safety team stopped them and called it off. At the moment, Cracknells blog is vague to say the least but suggests that his heart simply wasn't in it.

"[The team] detected a 'laissez faire' attitude to the record that hadn't been there over the previous two days," he said. "It was my reaction to being stopped within 60 miles of John o'Groats and a new record that was telling. Previously I may have protested or tried to argue my case but in recovering from my accident last year I've learnt to trust and rely on people around me a lot more."

The press release from the main sponsor, Project7Racing says "Richard Gorman, crew chief for the attempt run by Project 7 Racing, took the decision to call a halt to the ride at 1.15am when it became clear that sheer mental fatigue was beginning to seriously compromise the safety on the road of both riders.

“It’s the most heart breaking and difficult moment you can possibly imagine,” commented Gorman, “After 773 miles of riding not a single member of the team or crew want it to come but I had make a call on the safety of the riders and we will just have to come back again even more prepared in the future.” 
...Drama then ensued when the pair broke a crank near the Forth Bridge; having switched to spare tandem Rocket 1 while Rocket 2 was repaired, the duo lost over 20 minutes when Rocket 1 punctured in the middle of the Forth Bridge.

With just 68 miles left to the end of the record run all the calculations indicated that the pair would be within minutes of beating the existing record of 50 hours, 14 mins, 25 seconds set in 1966 by Pete Swinden & John Withers, making the decision to abandon even harder to bear.
“No-one said breaking records is easy. I’m just so terribly proud of James and Jerone and the whole crew for their ability to get so far.”

And on another note -and an important one at that...potholes. Bloody potholes. My village is one big sodding pothole. No? Well try it on a bike, then you'll see! Anyway, a new iPhone app has come to light to help report the state of our nations roads. So, all you iPhone users, download it here and get snapping! If I find any humongous ones (what do I mean if....when!)- I'll post them here.
Also, another site all about potholes- how exciting...

Finally, just adding this picture- one of the best pics I've seen for a while and an image to make us Brits feel proud. 

Well done Cav on bringing the rainbow jersey home- looking forward to the Olympics- no pressure mate!! Though I still think Bradley Wiggins for SPOTY for one of the most amazing lead outs in the Worlds. Great team, great race!

Garmin, The Rut and and did you know exactly how dangerous cycling is!?

This is going to be a LONG post! So much has happened in the last 12 hours, let alone the last 7 days! Where to begin.... well, Monday saw the Garmin Cervelo Rideout: 500 invitees in the New Forest to ride with the pro team. Excellent. 29 miles at an average speed of 18mph... hmm, ok that's do-able...just. Not gonna dwell on this one but to say it was a fab ride. Our group was led by Lucy Martin and Roger Hammond. The group splintered but we all made good time- just the sort of practice I needed in preparation for the Wiggle Rut that was ahead of me on Sunday (Gulp!)

Q&A with none other than Ned Boulting!

And so to the sorry tale of the Rut. A sportive of 102 miles of undulating roads. Having just started to develop a really bad cough and now drippy nose, I was not really looking forward to this one- luckily, the forecast was looking good. Our team consisted of Myself, Andy, Gavin and Jon- all the usual suspects that ride regularly (well, me and Andy do!) Setting off at 0530, Jon mentioned we might have a problem... in so much as his race number was 6666- Nah, we'll be fine...
We arrived in plenty of time and set off at just past 8 o'clock. I didn't feel so good at this point and the thought of 7 hours in the saddle was looking less and less like fun. Oh bollocks, let's just get on with it- stop moaning and man up! A mile in and it begins to rain...FML this is gonna be a LONG day! 5 miles in and the boy racer, Gavin, takes the front caning it down an unknown hill at a good 30mph. As his back wheel slid from under him, he corrected his position, ending up on the verge and then, in slo mo, he somersaults into a tree hitting it with his back, the bike in the ditch and him motionless. I start to pull in with Andy now having to avoid me almost crashing too. The corner is blind so we arrange ourselves at the top of the hill, halfway down and Jon looking after Gavin who by now has very vocally told us how painful his back is. oooo that's not good- ring HQ and get a medic QUICK. Number- why isn't the phone number on the back of our race numbers?!- shit- pull someone over. And now no signal... what a nightmare- all this AND more riders belting down the hill- we're now in full safety marshalling mode to protect Gavin- SLOW DOWN! 90% of the riders were brilliant- but you always get 10% of dicks who think they know better- some slid, some were plain selfish. If we hadn't been there I'm sure more people would have come off. It was awful! Eventually a motorbike safety marshall turned up as did a paramedic followed by and ambulance. Gav was moved onto a spine board as a safety precaution and after a few pics and sarcastic banter (yes, by this point we knew he was going to be ok- "if it was really serious, he'd be in a helicopter by now"-and so humour took over as it seems to in such situations- almost like a safety valve releasing itself)

Gav's new FB profile picture 

Thanks to the lovely paramedic that shot this for us!

So Gav was taken to Leicester for X-rays and all the tests. We carried on- there was nothing we could do for him. By now, we had decided to ride the short route- this was 73 miles. That's still do-able plus the sun was coming out. Ok boys, let's ride this for Gavin- it's the least we can do. Over the next hour, I'd perked up. Dunno what had happened but I just seemed to get my head in the right place and we all began to settle into the ride. After 20 miles, Jon began to get cramp in his legs- he told us he was ok and to keep going. After the feed station he was struggling- certainly on the hills. No problem, we ride as a team, we help each other- that's how it goes. We bunched as a group to give Jon some shelter to help him recover a bit- there was still quite a distance to go. From about 40 miles, we had go a real good pace going- the HTC High Road train had nothing on us- we were shifting! We were bombing along at a good 30mph on the flat. It was brilliant- Totally in the zone and loving every minute. Then the worst thing possible happened. Jon crashed. It was awful. That bloody race number of his had struck for the second time. look at this video clip. He fell like this...

I ditched my bike as quickly as possible to get to him- I was worried he'd get run over! We recovered his bike and shuffled him over to the side of the road and dialled 999- well, we knew he needed an ambulance so we simply cut out the middle man! His legs had gone into spasm from cramping and he'd landed heavily on his shoulder. When the safety marshall arrived, he did a double take... "Didn't I see you lot earlier today?" "Erm, maybe..." "Yep, it's your collarbone mate. Ambulance on the way? Good." And then there was two.

On closer inspection of Jon's helmet, we made a discovery. It had taken a right bashing and Jon had actually rolled on his head cracking his helmet. Basically, it had saved his life. If there was ever an example of why we wear helmets and why we tell our children to wear helmets, this was it. Have a look. On the second picture showing the inside, I've circled the cracks.

So Jon was being taken to Grantham for a check up, X-rays etc... we've been here once before!
Eventually the broom wagon turns up and we (well, I- Andy wanted to carry on!) decided to cut our losses and hitch a lift back to the finish line. We'd completed 49 miles. It felt like a lot more. We were exhausted to the point of hysteria. Here's us in the wagon. This day was like being in the twilight zone. Did we enjoy it? Well, yes. It's a day none of us will ever forget. The fallen soldiers have wounds and a tale to tell. This day was not an experience any of us want to repeat but in the strangest way, we did have fun. Sort of.

Gavin has whiplash and extensive bruising. Jon has broken his collarbone in two places. Both guys are home tonight. Cyclists are a tough breed and here's to our next ride out. We're really sorry how the day panned out- Should have listened to Jon with his warnings of scary jinx'd numbers. Well, we know now don't we!

As a final warning to all you people who are too cool for school and refuse to wear a helmet, I'm adding a favourite YouTube clip.
To adults- you have to lead by example: your children will not wear a helmet unless you do. To any kids reading this- don't ever listen to your mates that laugh at you wearing a helmet- they are the idiots, not you. Be safe, not dead.

Tour of Britain week

This week has been the Tour of Britain. It's like the Tour de France but not as good. No, I don't really mean that :) Anyway, you will recall from my witterings on this blog, I rode the Norfolk section a few weeks ago. Today is actually that section of the Tour, so we're off to watch the finish at Sandringham.
Watching this race on TV reminded me of Shuttleworth Ward. This was the last ward in Lincoln Hospital I was placed and so spent many hours watching shit TV. Apart from enjoying the Tour from my bed, other memorable programmes included The Professionals, Randal & Hopkirk Deceased, The Saint (Roger Moore version) and The Champions! My God I watched some REAL retro crap! And the other thing that unfolded during this stint in bed was the Chilean miners being rescued in the tubey thing... Remember?
This week I also saw a new shrink. I was passed onto her by ICU as she has an interest in ICU cases. This day I get told that I was in ICU for 42 days.... Hang on, I thought I was in there for 4 weeks!? No. It was 6 weeks. 6 f**king weeks. What more stuff have I yet to discover? To you, the reader, this probably sounds like nothing. To me, well actually it makes a hell of a difference. Just when I think I have the whole episode ordered in my mind, something new comes to light to change it all. Some days it's all consuming. Some days it's not. Most days I think about the fact I nearly died. For the last few weeks I've not slept well. Don't get me wrong, I think I'm ok. Not getting flashbacks, just waking up at 430 and not able to get back to sleep again: irritating rather than a problem.

Geraint Thomas with a decent cyclist!

Cav at the start of Trentham, Stoke stage

Fans at the finish line

Cav finished and not happy!

Thor Hushovd being interviewed

Lars Boom winning the Stoke stage

Ben Swift by the Sky bus

I think I reported earlier that July/August was a difficult time for me. Flashbacks and quite bad mood swings. I delt with it- sought help, you know, all the right things. Within the family, all was not completely right. Where communication was supposed to be, it seemed there was none. I thought I'd said my piece and everyone else thought they knew what it was BUT didn't want to say anything due to fear of me shouting. Thus creating a stalemate. It doesn't take much to sit and chat. Having the balls to do it and the nouse to spot it is another thing. And it's all obvious stuff. After a good 'airing' of all things, the house atmosphere improved. Nurses, for example seem to just spot the physical stuff... they don't really see patients after they leave hospital so there is not necessarily any knowledge of the Post Trauma side of things. For our family, this is kinda important and now, communication has reached a new level for us all. Because of this, I [think] am calmer and returning to how I should be. On Facebook recently, I've called myself "Nearly Phil Crow" cos, well, I was not all there. I'm now in a way better place mentally and I think my family are calmer for it- no eggshells to walk on in this gaff! And so to anyone out there reading this who knows someone going through PTSD, talk to them. Understand them. Get them to open up. It will not be easy but it is worth it. You really have no idea what's behind our eyes and we are racked with guilt for all sorts of illogical reasons that, actually, we DO want to talk about. It's shit. But there is light at the end of the tunnel- I know, I'm cycling towards it at a rate of knots :)

Gruyère Cycle Tour

At long last it was the Swiss challenge. Up a mountain and down again PLUS the Go With Crow prizes to be drawn. When we left for Europe, the total was getting so close to the £1000 -please please let's get the target!

Anyway, down to Switzerland we go- this was not without its moments such as driving onto the ferry, the car's main engine warning light decides to come on. Oh S**t! Luckily, 400 miles and 2 pit stops later, the light went of its own accord (by this point I'd spoken to Toyota who said "oh, it might mean nothing- see how you get on"- very reassuring!) so we could relax (according to Toyota!!)
We had a bizarre stop off in Strasbourg- why the Tom Tom took us there I have no idea but after 8 hrs of driving we didn't really care.

Anyway, the following day and 2 hours driving got us into Bulle and to the hotel. Brilliant- we didn't have a room, we had an entire flat! Big enough for my bike to have its own room! Nice little town too- for a first visit to Switzerland, this Gruyère region looked like... well, it looked like Christmas!

Race nerves were hitting in (actually I think it was more about the language barrier- my French is awful but I kind of muddle through with a bit of O level French and arm waving/pointing) though when I checked my email, Go With Crow had made it to the £1000- BRILLIANT! Just in time for race day and the Ball when the tickets would be drawn!

Race day arrived with perfect weather and I set off to meet the Cervo Rosso guys- a great cross section- people from Canada, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, UK (hope I didn't miss any countries out guys) and all ages, from 15 up to.... well, up to me!

I think someone said there were 1500 riders. Great atmosphere (when I could understand!) and great riding. Team Cervo Rosso were, e'hm, somewhat faster than me on the climbs and they'd left me standing within 10 miles. No problem- I was here to ride and it was brilliant. Col de Mittleburg was a beast of a climb. Gradients ranging from 5-10% and that was (from the time-point) about 11k to the top. I was timed at 52m55s... a steady plod and not the slowest. It really didn't matter- the views were stunning. At the top of the hill (well, mountain!) I took a rest at the feed station before the descent. Plenty to drink and Gruyère cheese to eat- smashing!

at the top of Col Du Mittelberg

I'd heard to be careful on the descent so took it steady to begin with. If I couldn't see 'round the corner, sit on the brakes just in case. It was great fun! Loads of hairpins, dodgy road surfaces and marshals.

So I completed the descent and got to the split point (2 distances and I was on the 85km 'green' route) and I was pretty much on my own. I plodded on until I eventually made it to the '25km to go' sign and I spotted some Brits! I knew they were Brits as one was wearing 'Kilo to Go' shorts. Turned out, Steve was living in Switzerland but his Yorkshire accent gave him away as being originally from Huddersfield! If you're reading this Steve, get in touch! So I took shelter with his group for a while to save some energy. This I did a few times- piggy backed from one group to another and it made this last stretch far more fun. It was about now the first of the longer distance peletons started coming through- and at a hell of a speed- bloody impressive to an old plodder like me!

balcony view of the race from our apartment

We were soon back in Bulle and riding up the street where our hotel was (above pic is shot from our balcony with the hotel shown clearly- told you it was nice!) and about 2k from the finish- minutes later, it was all over. I'd survived my first Swiss hill!

We regrouped for a beer and team photo before heading our separate ways- hope to ride with some of the guys again! Think I'll need to speed up a bit first!

Team Cervo Rosso

and some interesting facts about the race...

1732 participants, ages ranged from 15 -74

17 Nationalities

and now for the video...

An Interesting Week

In preparation of Switzerland I've increased my training over the last week or so. I'm sure I'm going to regret this one...A mountain FFS- and what hill climbing practice is there in lincolnshire!?...well quite a lot really but nothing that is going to  prepare me for a Swiss mountain. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be a laugh if nothing else. The other thing that needs prepping are the cameras. I'm taking a GoPro HD which I've decided to use on the rear mount on the seat post as this gives quite a nice shot. My other camera is my trusty old Sony TG3. In previous attempts (such as the New York ride) I've handheld- not easy and to be honest, dangerous- especially riding in a group. So, let's make a camera mount for the front handlebars. A little bit of research on t'internet and a rummage in the garage and the Mk1 is built.

Quite a neat design- Now to road test it. Oh dear- it's crap :( the plastic is too soft and vibration is unbelievably bad! Recorded a small bit of footage to playback and the picture was totally unwatchable. Back to the drawing board. After taking a bike lamp apart and adapting its mount (which is a/ closer to the handlebar and b/ far sturdier plastic) we seem to have something more like it.

Out for road test number 2.... massive improvement. Not perfect, but not bad. If anyone has any ideas to dampen vibration from my bike, please get in touch :) I'm sure a few of my engineering friends are up for this challenge (Nigel...Claire?) So the cameras are all set. This ride, I think I've said before is more for the experience than gaining a time. I'm hoping to try and enjoy it, the scenery and soak up the atmosphere. It's going to be a great day I'm sure.

Anyway, later on in the week Swiss brand Cervo Rosso invited me to join their test team. Not as amazing as it sounds (as in, I'm not that good a rider! lol) but a fantastic privilege and free kit. Thanks guys!

This was closely followed by an email from Team Garmin Cervélo offering me a place on their annual team ride out in the New Forest next month. Only 500 places, so again- Brill! and thanks!!

I'm a bit concerned with the fundraising- Ideally I'd love to hit the £1000 mark before the Gruyère Tour next Sunday as this is when the draw will take place at Lincoln Drill Hall's Bangers and Mash Ball. I've put out more emails, badgered people on Facebook- what more can I do? I've a few GWC T shirts if people want them BUT you'll have to sponsor me to get one!

Finally on this blog I'd like to thank Gavin for sending me some You Tube clips on climbing technique. Surprisingly, they have made a difference and saved me a fair old bit of energy. Whilst I'm at it, I'd better thank Andy too. A great chap and has been an inspiring riding buddy. I'm no where near his standard but he's been patient and a mine of information. Dale as well- thanks mate. Way back in January you got me out and back on the saddle- hope you're coming out for the Wiggle Rut next month. Will be 101 miles of fun I'm sure. God bless the British weather in September!!!!

passista: Andrea Pinarello

passista: Andrea Pinarello: "The first time I met Andrea, he introduced my wife and I to the Pinarello factory. For an hour he patiently showed us around while I made a ..."

Andrea Pinarello RIP

Shocking news today: Andrea Pinarello, the son of  the Pinarello bicycle manufacturer founder Giovanni, collapsed and died following the opening stage of an amateur cycling race, according to reports in Italy.

The 40-year-old suffered a heart attack following the first stage of the Giro del Friuli, an amateur Italian stage race. He is reported to have collapsed immediately after crossing the finish line in apparent good health.

Paramedics successfully revived him, but a second heart attack shortly afterwards was to prove fatal.

Andrea, who had a long association with the highly-regarded Italian bike manufacturing family, is survived by his wife and two children.

The Pinarello family has close links to sport, sponsoring major professional teams and riders of the calbire of Miguel Indurain for many years. The company currnetly supplies bikes to Team Sky and Movistar.

Andrea rode the Gran Fondo New York and was at the after race party. He was fitter and younger than me! This sort of news is hard to stomach. I rode with this guy! It only just reinforces exactly how lucky I am. God bless and condolences to your family x

Tour of Britain- East Anglia Stage

On the 24th July I arrived at the start line for a gentle 62 mile ride across a flat landscape. Myself and Andy were driven over to Diss for a 9am start. The weather was pretty good- some blue sky beginning to peep through BUT- head wind and with this not being a circular route, it was going to be a head wind for the full distance. First half of the ride went well. For the first hour, Andy and I led the way and eventually we were caught by a small group with which we tagged on to and took some shelter- slipstreaming at this point was very welcome as we were beginning to tire (or at least I was!) so some energy was save there. At the feed station half the group stopped and this is where my mistake was made. I should have stopped too. I didn't know it, but I was running low on fuel and should have topped up. Foolishly I carried on and by the 3 hr mark I was starting to tire....badly. Andy is a pretty good cyclist. No, actually he's an extremely good cyclist and he tolerates my pace. I could tell he was holding back (let's face it, he had from the starting line) so I said I was happy to go it alone and for him to go at his speed. Within a few miles I began to regret this - I was in the middle of no-where riding into the wind... no other riders in sight (which always makes me think I've manage to get lost!) and I was low on water and getting mardy because I knew I should have stopped earlier. Only got myself to blame, so I plodded on.

As you can see from this picture, I'd got my GoPro camera on my head- this was beginning to get heavy. You will also note it's angle and you'll see the results shortly...

By now, I was watching the miles on my cyclometer. 100kms...approx 62 miles...fantastic...only 2 more miles to Sandringham... or so I thought. When you're tired and getting, a'hem, 'fed up' the last thing you need is for the course to be longer than you thought. And it was. It turned out to be 68.5 miles and whilst I'm (now) happy with that achievement, at the time I was cursing every revolution of my pedals under my breath. I was absolutely wrecked. No water, no energy and no sign of the finish.

At last the turn into Sandringham appeared- a massive stately driveway which led to a fabulous finish line as used by the pro riders on the Tour of Britain AND with quite a large and an excitably noisy crowd to cheer all us riders to the finish line. Phew. It was all over.

I collected my medal and found Andy and his family- he'd finished about 25 mins earlier. I was pointed toward the pasta, drinks and...a chair! EXCELLENT- heaven does exist! So, with hindsight (always a good thing) a great day. A lot of lessons learned for me... keep hydrated, don't be a smart arse by not stopping at the feed station and, finally, try to keep within a group to save more energy. These are gonna be important for the ride in Switzerland. With some major climbing, I'm going to have to prepare and pace myself properly. As for the Go Pro, I should have checked its angle before setting off- a short bit of footage below. And I'll need to plan camera positions carefully for the Swiss ride to get the best out of what will be some stunning scenery.

And a final word on this ride below. My time and finish position. Better type it cos it's small in the picture... I came 38th out of 273 with a time of 4hrs 22mins. 

Quite pleased with that even with Andy getting 10th (well done mate)

St Ives 10k

And so I can proudly write up a small piece on the first extra team member to complete his event. Lincoln Drill Hall's one and only Simon Hollingworth put in a very respectable 59m27s for the St Ives 10k. Well done Simon and within the space of 24hrs an extra £100 raised with the promise of more to come!
Simon writes...

So the St Ives 10k was my third official race-type-run-thing, having done the Lincoln 10k in 2010 and 2011. I would never refer to myself as a runner, but I guess that gradually I’m coming to accept that it’s one of the things I do… so I’m kind of a runner. Sort of… ish.
I was running with my buddies Andy, Cliff & Pete (together we sing as a 4 part harmony comic cabaret group,  The Boxenburgs and are thinking about running the 2012 Lincoln 10k stopping every 2000m or so to serenade the crowds. What do you think?). Weather was kind (in a dark, gloomy, forbidding sort of way) and 2/3 of the race was across an airfield – we were told that if the sirens sounded we would HAVE to stop…. unfortunately they didn’t.
It was a ‘there and back’ style race so it was nice to be able to see the whole field stretching out in front and behind us (about 400 runners in total) but not so nice when the leaders started passing us on their way home, long before we were anywhere near the half way mark…
Anyway we managed to keep going (I swear the whole race was uphill) and I even dug deep for a last minute push to make sure I crossed the line under one hour.
A well-earned lunch and a sweet, sweet beer later and all that remained was one set of ultra stiff legs.

You will also note Simon is sporting the latest fashion... namely the 'Go With Crow' T shirt. There are a pair of his and hers available as a prize in the draw

...or if you can't wait, contact me!

Of course this now adds pressure onto GoWith Crow's other team member- 

Come on Gavin, let's get the sponsorship in- all for a great cause!

front & back of our Tshirt

Asics London 10k

What a race!

And I don't mean that in a particularly good way. Ok, let's examine the history to this one- I've run this 10k for the last 4 years. I run as part of the Scoliosis Campaign Fund team. I run this for my daughter, Scarlett, who has scoliosis and has, as many of you know, had two major operations to correct it. She's doing brilliantly and is a very active young lady. I can't wait for the day she will run this one with me! :)
Anyway, so I've done this a few times and it's always a bit crowded and you have to do a bit of weaving at the start to get into a pace and amongst similar strength runners...that's all fine. BUT this year the whole course was a really assault course. I was hoping to pull my time in under the hour- I'd done some good training times and was feeling strong for this one. Had a fabulous day with Helen in London the day before; met up with Aggi and Andy (congratulations btw) for dinner at Jamie's Italian and so all was well with the world. 0830 on race day, met up with the SCF Team and Nicola and Carrie-Ann- friends who were also running and headed off to the start line near Marble Arch. 0935 is when we were due to start but for some reason this was delayed by a good 20 mins, with us crossing the start line 40 mins later. Yes, it was that busy. And then for the dodgems. Now the roads down that London are pretty wide and still it was heaving- way more so than previous years. The pic below is at the 2k mark (thanks Helen and Dale for cheering me on) and it looks pretty relaxed on that. Don't you believe it! With runners of all strengths and sizes it was really hard work. I'm sure I read somewhere there were 26,000 runners and for once it felt like they were all slower and in front of me!

The other thing to dodge as well was the amount of water bottles scattered on the road- with 3 water stations (a bit OTT for a 10k) there were 1000's of bottles everywhere. Luckily there were no Gatorade bottles scattered this year. Usually at 5k you get some of this stuff and the floor gets that sticky, it's like running on velcro! I'm telling you, it takes quite a bit of concentration dodging all this stuff!

I felt good throughout the run and with Westminster and Big Ben in sight, I knew I was nearly home. As I chugged past Parliament Aggi and Andy were there to cheer and high 5 me- just what I needed- brilliant and at the last 500m and finally a stretch of road with room to manoeuvre, I sprinted for the finish line crossing at 1hour and 1 minute exactly. Pretty gutted at that time as I'm sure I could have come in 4 mins quicker. To be honest I think I might have run a 10.5k race with all the snaking between people!

Anyway, great day, great race, great friends and of for lunch and a good natter and debrief about the day's events at the Soho Pizzeria before catching the train home. It's become a tradition to come home first class (thank you Tesco for the clubcard tickets) with free wi-fi, tea and butties but more importantly, comfy chairs and room to spread with my aching ankles!

Carrie-Ann is trying to persuade me to do a marathon (in best cockney/essex accent "if you can do a 10k you can do an arf...if you can do an arf you can do a marafon!")- wise words indeed but I'm not convinced!

An addendum to all this fun...

I think at this point it is worth pointing out that the last few weeks (possibly months) have not been as fun as I thought and that I think I am using Go With Crow as a distraction. I don't want to get all depressing on you- and I won't, BUT all this activity and whatever you want to call it does not mean I'm, by any stretch of the imagination, "out of the shit."
'What is he banging on about?' I hear you cry! Well, I'm not right still. My left leg really bothers me- still no sensation on the outer surface of my thigh and it's been like that for a bloody long time AND my stomach still hurts where they sewed me up. It varies day by day and can go from a 4/10 to an 8/10. They told me it would improve over the year. Lying sods!
'Phil, stop whinging' - I'm whinging? Nah- this isn't whinging...no where near the whinge gear yet ;-)
But, while I'm here and have your attention, the physical stuff isn't the only thing. Flashbacks. Flashbacks like I don't know where to begin and, at the moment they are becoming stronger and more frequent. The only time they seem to stop is when I'm asleep. How odd! I'd have thought they'd be worse then. Glad they're not. I'm feeling quite mixed up at the moment because of these flashbacks. I want to work, I don't want to work- I'll do some stuff for Go With Crow to distract me from work so I think I'm working. When I am shooting, designing or whatever, I'm totally there and loving it. It's the thought of doing something fills me with dread. WTF is that all about? I find it hard to concentrate. Like I said, at the moment, I'm easily distracted and I'm in a vicious circle knowing I need to work but not necessarily wanting to. Is this like a post trauma thing? I can't afford time off!! I had 6 months off last year- not that I wanted to, so I can't take any more time out. I'm also aware of so called 'competition' around me. There are more photographers setting up businesses.... one guy is offering a 2hr portrait shoot with 20 photoshopped images on disc for £50... I'm amazed! That is desperate and surely it cannot be sustainable. It's a shame because it drags down us decent photographers. Going a bit off topic there but you get my point. Self employment aint all it's cracked up to be. Well, not at the moment it's not.
All I want to do is spend time with my family and my friends and cycle & run. Luckily for me I realise to do any of these things I (unfortunately) do have to get up off my ass and earn some money to do these things. It's not under sufferance, it's just.... these flashbacks are starting to drag me down. Oh crap I'm just repeating myself now. You get the picture. I'm not depressed, I'm just not happy with certain things. That's ok isn't it?

Just adding another note about flashbacks here- I also get flashbacks with taste. I was doing a spin class the other day and a taste from ICU came back of some sticks they used to let me use to wet my mouth when I was ventilated. I could even 'taste' the big tubey pipe being pulled out the other day. So flashbacks, sensations, tastes and feelings all triggered by.... I have no idea!

And last week, I kind of really lost the plot. I got really mad for no reason, went to work and cried all the way there. Ground control?...Houston, we have a problem. OK, handbrake. Back to the Docs and back to my counsellor I think. Whilst at the GP's I asked again about my leg. Now, doctors go through a good 5 or 6 years university training, then all that experience in hospitals, so I really didn't need to see what happened next... she Googled my leg. Fact! Luckily I had the manners to keep some self-control and saved my outburst of expletives for in the car! Bleeding hell- she actually sat on her fat salaried arse and Googles my effing leg AND still didn't have any answer for me!

So, I've 'sat' on this post since the 29th. I wasn't sure if I should make this one public. This blog was never meant to be some sort of therapeutic rant. It's about the runs and rides and raising money and this is getting a wee bit too personal for my liking. However, some people- certainly people who have had sepsis and have been in ICU might read some of this crap and be able to relate to it. If it helps one person not feel alone then it was worth it. So, here goes...be kind to me...

July '11 FFS...it's never ending. HOW MUCH OF THIS DO I NOT KNOW... tonight I'm told I was asleep for over a week as I was so ill at one point. I was on nearly every machine going to keep me alive. How am I supposed to cope with this information? How can I keep my sanity. How can I cope with the fact my family had to cope...

Feb '14 this shows how information dribbles out. Yesterday I found out that I also had pneumonia. PNEUMONIA FFS I ask you... I think the only thing I didn't have was the runs! More and more to think about. Just when I'm at my limit. Just when I have it all in its compartments in my head, more comes to light. Had enough.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

So, if it's Sunday 26th June, it must be Bikeathon day. Well, yes it is but a whole raft of things happened. 'Team Tastic' kind of disintegrated!
First of all Neil (who cycled London to Brighton last week) pulled out due to work commitments and I couldn't get another 'Lincoln' rider to car-share. OK I thought, got to do this anyway, so no problem. THEN on Saturday Miriam and Darren- Team Tastic organisers pulled out as their car died on them so they couldn't get to Ham House, the starting point for us. This leaved quite a small compact team- none of whom I knew. So, what to do...drive to London and do a ride without my mates or think up something else? The logistics were to drive down at 4am for an 8am meet-up, do the ride and drive home. Because I, now, didn't know the team members that were left (it turns out at least another one or two pulled out on the day) it all seemed like a stupid idea. BUT I still had the dilemma of needing to do a ride as I still have to earn your money for ICU.
Another mate of mine is currently preparing for the Three Peaks Challenge and I knew he would be doing a training ride. "Fancy a ride to the seaside and back" "Yeah, OK, see you at 8" "Make it 8.30" "Oh, go on then!" And so the replacement ride for Sunday was born: Lincoln -or more accurately, Welton- to Sutton-On-Sea. 90 miles.
It was also a good opportunity to do some time-lapse filming with the GoPro, so that was strapped to the handlebars, set at 5 second intervals.
What a day! The sun was out. I'd got suncream on. Plenty of water, off we went. The roads, in both directions were surprisingly quiet and the road surfaces unsurprisingly crap. Skimming the surface with tar and gravel does not hide the fact that it felt like riding in Flanders on the cobbles! You really can tell the people who repair our roads do not cycle!

Anyway, we made it to Sutton by 1145- happy with that and a well deserved coffee and cake break, fill up the water bottles and head for home.

Now, it's at this point I remove my knee warmers. Let's face it, it was a VERY sweaty day, so they simply had to come off. Ok, back on the road. Within 5 miles of leaving the GoPro flies off my bike into the road. How it didn't get flattened I have no idea. I quickly retrieved it: The bleedin' bracket had snapped! I'd only used the bracket 3 times!! That's going back for sure!! It was now pretty much the hottest part of the day but the breeze when riding made the sun bearable, so we slogged on. I started to suffer about 18 miles from home. This was the longest ride I'd done. We finally got back to Welton about 3-ish. Happy with that and straight into a cold shower! Bliss!

Had a look at the filming- yep, for a time-lapse, it's fine- have a look! The rest of the day, very pleasant, nice dinner, usual family shenanigans and met up with a mate I'd not seen for 20 years for beer & chat (thanks Mark- let's not leave it quite so long next time)- got home, sat down to watch a bit of Glastonbury...and then I saw my legs. OMFG!!! And at this point they started to hurt! See for yourself. Honestly, they didn't look like that in the afternoon- it was like someone flicked the pain switch to max. Hopefully (and I'm sure I've said this before) it'll be lesson learned. They still bloody throb sat typing this. Apparently Andy has the same crispy legs too!