Setting off from Lincoln Cathedral, a small group of friends and The Lincolnshire Echo turned out to see us off. (Echo article here)
Many thanks also to Chris Vaughan for shooting some of the most important images of this ride. I've known Chris since he was a teenager. In fact he did some work placement with me when he was first starting out as a snapper and he's a good friend and not too shabby with a camera!
Our first stop was less than a mile away: Lincoln's ICU. We met up with ICU's lead clinician for ICU Alan Liddle and two ward sisters: Adele and Sally.
Now, Alan and Sally had both looked after me during my 'stay' in ICU. Adele, I'm sorry to say I did not recognise BUT it turns out she too had looked after me! According to my wife, Adele had prepped me ready to go to Nottingham QMC however it turned out I was still too poorly to be moved. Adele, if you read this, really sorry I did not recognise you :(
Seeing these guys was really emotional for me and a fab way to begin this ride down to London.
Once we finally set off properly we headed down to Peterborough for our first stop and food. Kieran, our support vehicle driver, met up with us and we refilled bottles and prepared to go again with a further 50 miles down to our overnight stop in Cambridge. On the way I'd also managed to find a few comedy sign posts... here's the most tasteful! If you really want to see the others, you'll have to search Twitter! #cycle4sepsis
 |
| Cambridge finally! |
 |
| The A team with our brill support driver |
 |
| Kieran was really getting into his Tweets..Can't tell he's a copper from this Tweet can you! |
 |
| Listers Hospital |
So with a brief stop off in Elstree and a dodgy coffee (you'd think it would be a big old place as the film studios are here but there is nothing!...no cafes only a corner shop! Think maybe Pinewood is a bigger place but it was the wrong way for us by this point) we began our final legg for the day to Uxbridge.
A fairly easy roll into Uxbridge and meet up with the other riders at the Travel Lodge and a bit of a gathering in the local pub
After a very 'snug' night (all 3 of us shared a room!) we grabbed some breakfast and began our final 20 miles into Westminster. Now, London commands a different style of cycling and you do have to have eyes in the back of your head. Having said that, I really enjoy dodging through the traffic, so had a great time. Jorg was a bit more cautious as he'd not cycled in the chaos of London before but we saw the sights- I took him passed a few landmarks.. The Ritz, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square etc before finally zooming up and down Westminster Bridge.... There was noone there!
We were the first to arrive....but we didn't know what to do!... Okay, let's go around the corner to the public entrance of Westminster and have a look to se if anyone's there.... We saw the Sepsis Trust gazebo so we headed to that...and to big cheers and cameras...fantastic! When we got there Ron Daniels was there to greet us "Hi Phil- well done guys!! Where's everyone else?"..."erm this is it, we've not seen anyone else yet"
The applause stops. The camera is switched off
"Oh"
"erm, could you go round again and find the others and all ride in together for the TV"
*sigh* "Yes, no problem" :)
So off we go again...After fighting through the lights back onto Westminster Bridge, we finally see a couple of Sepsis jerseys and within 10 mins a good crowd of us had assembled...TAKE TWO!
In we go and we 'arrive'
And so with a few pictures, a bit of food and drink we pop our bikes onto our support vehicle and get ready to set off. I certainly think we made some real good friends on this few days. We didn't meet many survivors but it didn't matter. We were all there for the same reason.
What did I get out of this event? An extremely emotional beginning at Lincoln ICU and a fantastic cycle with near perfect weather (we even had a tail wind) and comradeship not only from Jorg and Kieran, but also from the other teams.
 | |
| Thanks to Lincoln Lexus and Allen Signs |
Thanks also to James at Lexus Lincoln for the support vehicle (and to Kate McFarlane for putting me in touch with James!) and to David at Allen Signs for the livery. The car was brilliant and the graphics just set if off perfectly.
Thanks also to Ron Daniels. I've been in touch with Ron since the beginning of 2011 when there was just 24 of us moaning about sepsis to him. Cheers for being there Ronald!
Also to Terance for being the goto man for the event. Brilliant to meet up with you. Keep in touch buddy!
And finally, to all the friends who have supported and donated to my JustGiving Page. As you can see below, we raised a FAB amount...really- thank you for your support. This IS a charity WE both believe in and as you know, is very close to us.
A final note
As some of you know I had a critical illness insurance policy that would not cover me back in 2010 with sepsis not being classed as a critical illness. In November I'm meeting up with Ron and a chap called Max to discuss how we can change this around. Knowing you're not the only one is a help but I think we will have our work cut out to make a difference on this issue. I'll keep you posted!
