'Simply stunning': your favourite cycle rides around the world
‘My favourite ride starts at Sedbergh in Cumbria and meanders down Dentdale, surely the most beautiful valley in all of England. Every foot is pure pleasure. After five miles you arrive at the exquisite cobbled-street village of Dent, with a beautiful church and a great place for refreshment, Stone Close tea room. Then cycle on up the increasingly wild dale to Denthead: the view back down the Dale from the road above the magnificent Denthead viaduct must be one of the best in the land.’
OMS Door to Door Challenge - departure date minus 5 weeks
Ian's fortnight
“Riding a bike is everything to a cyclist. The friendship and camaraderie you have with other cyclists…to a cyclist, it was the be-all and end-all of your life” Tommy Goodwin.
The third weekend in July saw a group of thirteen of us descend on New Alresford in the watercress area of Hampshire for a boys cycling weekend. This, apart from the covid year has turned into an annual event visiting a different town each year. It all started with my Stag weekend in Shrewsbury, eight years ago and we have since visited Cirencester, Marlborough, Salisbury, Ludlow and now Alresford
I say cycling weekend but you could also call it a pub crawl or wine fest and not all of us cycle! When we arrived six of us went out on the bikes for a ride of about twelve miles, after about three Andrew, Steve and I stopped at the first pub we came to. We’d had an awful journey up the A303 and were in desperate need!
On the Saturday we headed off to Bishops Waltham where we had a coffee and cake stop before heading up the Meon Valley to the Ye Olde George Inn at East Meon for lunch. We then returned to Alresford cycling through some lovely countryside passing several watercress beds on the way. That evening we visited the local Italian restaurant before a last glass or two of wine at the hotel. A big thank you to all who attended, and I hope to continue the tradition next year.
As a footnote, I was stood in the bar at The Swan Inn where we were staying when I heard, “That's Ian!”, only to turn round to be greeted by my nephew James and his partner Amy. I shouldn’t have been too surprised as they do live a stone’s throw away, and it was great to see them.
Jane's fortnight
For those who read my last blog, the answer to the question is: Yes, I have done my foot exercises every day since my conversation with Sarah.
I now feel like the start of the Door to Door Cycle Challenge is within reach, I can feel it, I can almost touch it. And with that comes the need to step up the final organisation. On that front, there are lots of bits and bobs that need to be done. And to be honest it was beginning to stress me, because I knew there were lots of little bits, but no list, no responsibility and worst of all no SPREADSHEET!
I kind of felt like this:
So last Wednesday, Ian and I reverted to our original Door To Door planning meeting. And I feel much better organised for doing that, and for having a fresh spreadsheet. All tasks are on a list, with whose responsibility it is and which week it will be completed in. So, this week I have:
Had the iPad screen fixed that I (read Tarka) broke when we were away. I will be using that a lot for uploading video on the challenge.
I have also checked to make sure I know all the details of my personal google account (rather that my old business one), so that I can upload to YouTube and other similar things without any hitch when we are one the road. Boring by necessary.
Typed out a list with the kilometres per hour converted to miles per hour. (Because you just can’t read the km’s on the dashboard of the motorhome). Also boring but safe and also probably necessary.
Next week I need to finalise the first aid kit and write an article for our Parish Magazine about the challenge. I also need to give some thought to creating some themes for blogs and posts when we are on the Door to Door Challenge, as well as finalise the start and finish arrangements for the challenge.
The other “biggy” of course is my physical preparation. Pilates and strength training continue to go well, and I am comfortable that I am on track (Thank you Sarah Grey). But since the last post, I have started what I think is the final thing that I can do to prepare myself…Oxygen Therapy. I know I mentioned it earlier, but the idea is that I get 20 sessions as close together as possible to get my body to the best level it can be. Then it gets maintained by weekly/fortnightly/monthly sessions depending on what works best for me. The initial part is a huge commitment of my time, because I am saying goodbye to 3 hours including the travel to Exeter on a near daily basis and sit in a chamber looking like a fighter pilot, but sounding like this, for an hour.
So, as of today I have had 12 of my 20 sessions. Am I feeling a difference? YES. It hit me yesterday that I felt WELL. And I realised that I could not remember the last time I had felt like that. Not for, literally years. Now, as my friend Carol advised, I will ensure that I don’t get carried away and undo all the good I have done. So, the focus for the last few weeks is PACE, PACE, PACE.
Respect
I can’t complete this blog without mentioning the truly inspirational Laviai Nielsen, who won a bronze medal as part of the British Quartet in the mixed 4x400 meters. Apparently, she was diagnosed with MS just two days before she flew to the last Olympics in Tokyo. Although physically we are totally different, I can imagine what might have been going on for her mentally and emotionally and I completely understand why she refused to accept her diagnosis as she competed at Tokyo. But on returning from Tokyo, she was forced to adapt her lifestyle and tailor her training to avoid future MS-related flare-ups. And she has mastered her lifestyle adaptations so well that she has gone on to win a bronze medal. Total respect to her and to her sister, also an Olympian with MS.
But here is the lesson for me. Obviously, I am not going to go out and start running – it’s just not my thing. But whatever physical adversity I face, I think living a good live depends on finding and implementing the right lifestyle adaptations for me.
And right now, I think I am doing well on that score - getting balance – being as well as I can but also having some fun times too.
Announcement
And the final note about fun, is that we are delighted to say that our final fundraiser is definitely going ahead as planned. For a time we were a bit unsure. So, for anyone who lives close to us, we will be holding a ‘Pop-Inn’ on the 6th September with The Big Chipper in attendance. If you’re local and need more details, just DM me.
As always, Ian and I are truly humbled by the amount of support we have received both in terms of encouragement and the money we have raised for Overcoming MS. If you would like to see Ian’s training route or help people with MS to lead a fulfilling life, our links to Strava and Just Giving are here.
Help Jane Airey-Regardsoe raise money to support Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis
OMS Door to Door Challenge Departure Day minus 10 weeks
Jane's week
The last couple of weeks we have been in France, which has given us the opportunity to go on a Motorhome road trip.
So first up, do you remember how I insisted that we got wing mirror protectors for the Motorhome. Well, so glad we did. First day out, and guess who clipped the motorhome wingmirrors on the kiosk at the péage tollbooth. Yes ME. Of course, you are trying to hug the van in as close to the ticket machine as possible but not only is it on the passenger side, you tend to be looking at the distance between ticket slot and the van window and not the wingmirror and the wall of the kiosk. Oops. Anyway, that’s to our protectors, no damage done.
So, we planned an overnight stay at an aire at Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val. This is very close to our Challenge route, and so we were able to check out some of the aire’s we plan to stay at. We also put the Satnav to good use, finding a way to quickly look up the aire’s and campsites we will be staying at.
However, we have realised that the Satnav cannot be completely trusted. Firstly, it kept trying to re-route us away from a beautiful riverside route that we wanted to drive along. In the end we decided to ignore the Satnav and just drive it, rather than take the long detour that it was suggesting. I was driving and went into complete panic when the Satnav told me the tunnel up ahead had a height restriction of 2.4 meters. We are 2.8 meters high. Strangely the tunnel looked very high, so we decided to go for it. However, we could not see the end of the tunnel, so I believe that I made panic noises for the whole length of the tunnel. I expected there to be some low hanging structure ready to take the solar panel off. Luckily, the road signs were wrong, and all was fine and I am glad that I discovered this with Ian in the motorhome with me rather than on my own.
The other thing that we cannot completely trust on the Satnav is this clever little programme that plans your arrival at your aire. Case in point was our arrival at the aire at Saint-Antonin. We cruised along a narrow little lane into the aire. One section of the aire is set up as a Boule area and there were several locals playing the game. As I arrived, they all stopped playing Boule to look at us (me). I thought, maybe we were of interest because of the UK number plate. Maybe (although very un-PC) they were waiting to see how I was going to park the motorhome. (I reversed it beautifully for the record). Then, when we went for a walk into the town 15 minutes later, we realised the Satnav had completely ignored the main aire entrance and had taken a rather unorthodox route into the aire. Not wonder they stopped playing to stare at us. (Tourists!!!)
The following day we visited our friends Anne and Tim who live in France. Anne and I met last November at an Overcoming MS retreat that was run in Somerset. She had made the long journey from France to Somerset to attend. So, it was so special to meet up with her again and to meet her husband Tim. We had a fabulous visit with them, and as Tim and Anne have a motorhome as well as their house in France, we talked in detail about the route and the pros and cons of motor homing in France. They helped us to pick one of the aire’s that we still had to decide on and we are really hoping that they will be able to meet up with us on part of the Challenge. That would be so exciting.
We are now back at our house in Auzat and have found out (via a Facebook group) that our first stop on the challenge (a pub on the outskirts of Poole) is no longer accepting Motorhomes in their car park. Luckily, we picked up on that, and we have been able to think of an alternative. No doubt that won’t be the only revision needed before we get to start the challenge.
Ian’s week
Quote of the week.
“You can say that climbers suffer the same as the other riders, but they suffer in a different way. You feel the pain, but you’re glad to be there.” Richard Virenque.
I stepped up the training with some longer & tougher rides in the last few days including a ride out to the Pont Diable, the Devils Bridge, and then back to Auzat via Tarascon. This ride has a couple of short sharp climbs, steeper than any of the other rides but only a few hundred yards long.
This week I also completed the biggest climb so far up to Goulier Neige which is a very small ski station with just two drag lifts & a hand full of runs. I once skied there whilst my friends children were having a lesson. I was the only adult skiing any of the runs. The climb of over 2600 feet in just seven miles is higher than any individual climb I will encounter during the challenge.
The weather has turned quite hot here getting up to 28 degrees so I’ve not been out as much as I would have liked, just a few shorter rides to keep me on the bike. I did go to Tarascon and back and averaged nearly fifteen miles an hour which I’m very happy with. The last time my average was over fifteen was about fifteen years ago!
Thank you for reading our blog. We hope you are enjoying it. There is not much longer to go and our preparations are becoming more intense. If you have already sponsored us, thank you so much - your support means a massive amount to us. If you know anyone else who either has MS or may be inspired by what we are doing, please share this blog or our Justgiving link below.
Thank you
Jane & Ian
Help Jane Airey-Regardsoe raise money to support Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis
OMS Door to Door Challenge departure date minus 17 weeks
Quote of the week.
“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realise fishing is boring and stupid” Desmond Tutu.
Ian's week
Contrasts.
This last week saw contrast in where I cycled. On the previous Sunday my friend Andrew dropped me off at Black Cat near Bampton so I could cycle home, a fairly short route of 10.5 miles but with a couple of decent climbs. On the Thursday Jane & I along with the dogs headed off to the Gower Peninsular in Wales for our annual camping weekend with friends. This was after carrying out emergency repairs to Pete & Carol’s trailer tent so that they could join us.
Friday saw me go on a 15 mile ride, passed the Britannia Inn at Llanmadoc to Llanrhidian.
I then turned right towards Reynoldston, along the road through the centre of Gower with its challenging climb to the point where you can see both coasts.
The views are fantastic and remind me a bit of Exmoor, especially with the additional hazard of cattle & sheep wandering across the road without looking. Someone needs to teach them the Green Cross Code!. I then passed the King Arthur hotel before joining the Port Eynon road for a short while before heading back to the campsite through Burry Green.
Later that day we all set off to the beach at Llangenneth. I cycled both ways. A short cycle, but with a climb in each direction.
On the Saturday I rode a similar route but extended it to over 20 miles by going out to Three Crosses and joining the B4271 back across Gower to Reynolston.
Cycling on the Gower was fantastic, I loved it, it was challenging, great training & as Desmond Tutu states, better than fishing.
Jane’s week
So very pleased to be able to bring you the promised interview. I just needed a quiet few minutes to think through how I was going to up load it. Thank you once again to our interviewer Claire. Enjoy.
Purchase of the week for Celeste was ‘Ear Defenders’ for Celeste (wingmirror protectors).
I now feel less likely to face a rather expensive repair if someone catches our wingmirror. Having no rear view mirror (although there is a reversing camera) I also don’t want to loose some of the drivers view. So with the new equipment we had a great drive down to Gower. Our new super duper Sat Nav/Dash Cam beeps all the time: video saves, collision warning (when someone pulls in front too close not because I’m dangerous), 70mph, speed camera ahead, sharp bend ahead (on a motorway!). Good news is I reckon I have cracked driving Celeste, I just need to get used to the length when pulling back in after overtaking. Ian will be pleased when he can stop having to shout ‘CLEAR’ so I know when I can complete the manoeuvre.
But the big challenge for me was to set up Celeste once we arrived at the Campsite all on my own. So Ian had the luxury of just standing and watching which I pulled things out of the ‘garage’, cranked up the awning and then hit the windbreak poles into the ground. We have three windbreaks, which are needed to give our dogs a safe space. I managed one of three before I had really had enough. I was really pleased with my effort. I just need to build up my strength and I am already on a strength improvement programme (thank you Sarah Grey - Pilates South West and Martyn Phillips – Phoenix Endeavour).
We took the dogs to the beach, and it would have been the perfect opportunity to use those dog drying bags we bought. But we left them at home, so here is a photo of the dogs anyway enjoying one of their walks.
And finally, I can't complete this blog without a photo of the Northern Lights. What an experience. My number one bucket list is now ticked.
So we feel that our preparations for the 950 miles cycle challenge are going well. I what we are doing has inspired you, we would be so very grateful for any donations towards Overcoming MS. Our justgiving page link and training route are here.
Help Jane Airey-Regardsoe raise money to support Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis
Door to Door Challenge Departure Date minus 22 weeks
Ian’s week
Gravel
It’s been a busy week but not much cycling.
I managed to get out and cycle the Uplowman loop in dry but windy conditions. Each training cycle ride is show on the just giving page
Help Jane Airey-Regardsoe raise money to support Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis
Bike No 3 is very dirty and needs a clean plus the gears need a bit of adjustment, I’ll have to look at my bike maintenance books or maybe just have a play with them.
I could do with a bike stand which makes life easier really but will manage without.
This week coming I hope to get out for two or three rides but will have to look for an alternative route. They are resurfacing some of the lanes round here with gravel. It will be great in a month’s time, when all the loose bits have gone but never fun to ride on when first laid.
Maybe a route round Culmstock & Uffculme which means crossing the ‘Great Divide’, the A38!
We thought this might be a good week to introduce our two other crew members, Tarka (on the left) and Belle.
Belle is our six year-old Welsh Spaniel and Tarka is our 12 year-old Cocker, although we have only had him for 18 months.
They will be accompanying us on the whole challenge. They are pretty good at travelling but I am wondering how squashed we will be in the campervan – particularly as Tarka likes to creep on to the bed, followed shortly by Belle.
So, this week started in Burnham on Sea. Fabulous to be parked up, for free, in a road that was right next to the beach. And first thing we had an amazing walk along the sand which resulted in very sandy dogs. Still getting used to Celeste, but there are two things to add to the packing list:
The cordless handheld hoover (note to self - I need to check about charging en-route too)
A dog drying bag - courtesy of Pawdaw of London
Obviously not our dogs in the photo (watch this space). It would be great to just zip them up in one of these for 30 mins and hey presto! dry dogs and all sand contained in the bag ready to be shaken out later. Our two are going to look so cute in them.
Jane’s week
Food
We had lunch with friends who went to great length to make sure that all the food we ate complied with the OMS programme. The OMS programme comprises of a number of pillars; Diet, Vitamin D, Physical Activity, Stress Management and Meditation, Medication (when recommended), Family Health and the final pillar is Change Your Life For Life.
The diet pillar does not fit any of the popular names you hear, such as keto, pescetarian or even vegan. It was created from on research focused on people with MS. It’s a bit like a modified Mediterranean diet, and some of you will have heard me say, for simplicity, “I am vegan + fish”. It is more complicated than that. It is plant based with fish and low saturated fat, but there are certain cooking methods that we avoid.
We refer to the NOVA groups for food processing scale, which has four categories:
Group 1 - Unprocessed or minimally processed foods
Group 2 - Processed culinary ingredients
Group 3 - Processed foods
Group 4 - Ultra-processed food and drink products
We avoid group 4 – Ultra-processed food and drink products, with occasional exceptions. At home, Ian follows this eating programme with me, which makes it so much easier. And so day to day, we can comply 100% with this programme. This means that when we are eating with friends, or travelling, there is some room for the occasional exception. A really good example of this is when we are travelling. If we need to pick up lunch on the go, even a vegan ready-made sandwich or wrap would be out of bounds. Luckily none of the foods cause an allergic reaction or ‘cause’ my MS. But there is evidence to show that following all the pillars of the programme reduces deterioration in mobility by 50%. So while no one can be 100% all of the time, that is a massive incentive to follow it as much as possible.
If anyone is interested in knowing more about the eating programme, here’s a link to the website:
Living well with MS is possible through lifestyle changes. Learn about the Overcoming MS Program and changes you can make.
The HOLISM study has generated over 15 research papers published in top peer-reviewed medical journals, such as Frontiers in Neurology, PLOS ONE<, BMC Neurology and BMC Psychiatry. If anyone is interested in the research the link is here:
Learn more about the evidence and research behind the Overcoming MS Program.
Following this OMS programme has made me explore different food options and a few weeks ago I went on a Vegan Cheese Making course, run by the owner of Kinda Co. I can now made vegan Ricotta, soft cream cheese, Mozzarella, fondu and cheddar.
One of my side effects of MS is neurological pain, pain that your usual paracetamol does not touch. So having gone to bed pain free, on Monday night, I woke on Tuesday at 4.30am in excruciating pain in my right thigh. Firstly, I just tried to zone out of it – but no joy. So, after two hours I decided to use a mindfulness meditation session. I chose a 20-minute body scan technique, which also incorporated an element of breathing exercises. Thankfully it helped, but sometimes it can be so difficult to pinpoint why I should just wake up in pain.
I have a little confession to make. On the same ferry we bought the Velo En France book mentioned in an earlier episode, I also bought this.
There are a few places listed in the book which are directly on our route. I thought it might be fun, the water should be warmish in September and the dogs will love it. And of course I will have these super-duper drying bags. Now, truth be told, I am not a strong swimmer so I do not know if my swimming will be up to this. Since January I have trying to find someone, somewhere who gives 1-1 lessons to adult swimmers. Four months later, I have finally found someone. So, this week, I have booked 1-1 lessons and a group crash course to improve swimming stroke all happening in May. The final part of that jigsaw will be building up my strength. But, more on that another week.
I am not putting my weekly table up this week, because for a variety of reasons there are 2 days when I have just had such a different routine and two days when I have really not been great, that the figures would be meaningless. However, my little table will be back next week.
But what I forgot to say in last weeks blog, was that in preparation for our Easter weekend away, I had to collect the leisure battery for Celeste. It is double the size of your normal car battery and we reckon it weighed 25 lbs. I picked it up from the ground, carried it and put it in the back of the car. (I then left it in the boot of the car for Ian to take our once he got home, deciding that I had done my strength training for the day). So I was very proud of myself for doing that. And that’s the funny thing about my MS. On some days I am completely amazing.
Actually, when you have MS the words 'only a cold' are a massive understatement. That's because a common cold is caused by a virus.
According to google there are more than 200 different viruses that cause the common cold, Rhinovirus being the most common.
But because a cold is a virus, not only does is bring out the sneezes, it also increases the symptoms that are associated with my MS. Everyones experience and symptoms of MS are completely different. (You're going to hear me say that many times over the next few weeks - Sorry). So this time, for me, not only has it increased my tiredness and sent me to bed on Thursday it was accompanied by a sore throat on Friday morning.
Unfortunately, it has also brought out my tinnitus. This is something I live with and I am lucky that it does not stop me sleeping or concentrating. But this time, well, you know when you have a blasted bluebottle that keeps dive bombing you? You know it right? It is so annoying isn't it, drives you mad.
Well that's what my tinnitus has been like this week. Every couple of minutes the volume of the constant buzzing in my ear, suddenly increases and sounds like I am being attacked by a blue bottle.
Another side-effect that become worse is my find motor skills. Having to change our Curry In A Hurry poster quickly, was definitely not done 'in a hurry'. The good news is that our curry slot has completely sold out, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the 7.30 pm and 8.30 pm slots will also sell out. Everyone is putting so much work into this.
Friday morning in particular did not go well for me. It started okay. I did my morning meditation, which is one of the pillars of the Overcoming MS program. Then Radio 2 played American Pie. I was word perfect. Pretty good I thought, considering that the last time I sung it was 11 years ago, along with my whole family during a holiday in France. I would just like to state at this point that we are not the Airey-Von-Trapp Family. In spite of the new sore throat, Friday was starting well I thought. Then I picked up an Earol spray and spayed it into my ear. As it gushed back out of my ear and down my neck, I realised that what I had actually sprayed right inside my ear was my Antiseptic Throat Spray.
So last week I was panicking about the sheer volume of things to plan and organise before we leave. but this week, I have spent some time giving some thought to my energy levels. I have created what I think a typical day looks like for me when we do the Door To Door and I will try to emulate that as much as possible. I'm a bit of a geek so I'm also going to mark myself, firstly a mark out of ten based on how much of the activity I get some and then a second mark out of 10 rating my energy levels at the end of the day.
Ian's week
The Stable:
Bike No 1: 2023 Cannondale Carbon Synapse.
Bike No 2: 2012 Cannondale Carbon Synapse
Bike No 3 2009: Kinesis GF Racelight
I had the Kensis built to my own requirements, an aluminium frame kitted out with Shimano Ultegra gears & brakes. It was designed as a tourer and is still very comfortable to ride, its the one I used when I cycled the 168 miles from London to Holcombe Rogus in a day with Dan, Roddi and Nigel a few years ago. It is also the bike I will be doing most of my early training on.
More about Bike no 2 next week.
This week I have been busy looking at my dietary requirements for the challenge and looking into where the best patisseries are for each day. You may or may not have noticed that wherever there is a cake shop there is usually a number of bikes parked out side!
