keith_underdown

I have decided that I will not make any more new posts to this blog. It will remain but I consider the phase of my life that it covered as over.

I now want to use my experience to take part in the debate about relationships between patients and the health industry. To that end I have created a new blog over on Blogspot: ePatient—the Empowered Patient.

Thanls for following me so far an I hope you will come and follow me on Blogspot.

I had a 6-monthly check-up last Thursday. To my surprise, I actually saw my oncologist, Dr Barber. I have only seen him at key points early on in the process. After a discussion about my general health, he offered me the opportunity to come off the hormones, assuming that the result of the PSA test done that day showed that the level is stable, around 0.1. I accepted the opportunity gratefully!

I was surprised by this because I have floated the idea that I might come off the hormones several times before when it was clear that my PSA level was dropping rapidly but had never been given any encouragement to think that it was possible. However, it would appear that once three years have passed then stable PSA level means the hormones can be dropped. I have just rung his secretary to check on the situation; my PSA level is still 0.1 and I have the go ahead to discontinue the implants.

I actually have an appointment at my GP's on Thursday for another implant but I will not submit the prescription and go along to tell them the change and to let them know that I need to have the PSA tests ready before my next hospital checkup in four months. The frequency of these checkups has gone back up so that they can keep a closer eye on my PSA level. They expect that i will go up a bit but should stabilise at a level well with the norm for my age. If it continues to go up then I will go back on the hormones.

As the testosterone-suppressant clears my system I expect that my libido will increase, my head hair could decrease but body hair increase (back to shaving every day) and I'm hopeful that I will lose some weight. We (and my wife) wait to see how these things improve.

September 3^rd I kept as the third anniversary of my diagnosis (new readers start here). I celebrated with a short ride up the Taff Trail, crossing the river into Morganstown and coming back through Radyr to Llandaff Cathedral and going down to the Bay via the west bank of the river. I had a pleasant lunch at Coffee Mania and came home. About 10 miles in all and the hill climb in Radyr went surprisingly well. I kept up a 62rpm cadence and wasn't quite in my granny gear.

I thought I'd try to sum up the last three years.

Firstly, and most surprisingly, it has been a positive and life affirming time. I knew that a positive attitude was important (that is why I kept this blog)and that attitude rubbed off into other areas of my life. Ok, my low-level depression has reasserted itself at times but I have made many new relationships via social media and deepened many of my real world relationships. I took the decision to retire early and I'm mostly enjoying that but I'm the first to admit that I'm a lousy house-husband. I have recently started as a volunteer at a local organisation offering accessible cycling opportunities (PedalPower) as part of a bargain with my wife that if I get out more I'll be more productive at home. I would certainly say to all those who have recently received a cancer diagnosis: "Don't despair, cancer survival rates are increasing and maintaining a positive attitude is important." For other blog posts on this topic see: The Word is Hope", LiveStrong.

Secondly, my experience of the NHS as an oncology patient. Again all good. Admittedly, by taking part in a clinical trial I have had more aggressive treatment and perhaps a closer relationship with the various people who have been involved in my treatment. I had an email today advertising a private health company in the UK. It started:

Leaving aside the fact that their targetting wasn't very good, I would say to anyone else who received this: "Ignore it". NHS cancer care is fine. Yss, cancer survival rates in the UK are worse than in many other countries but the NHS's standing has improved in recent years and much of the difference is perhaps attributable to the British stiff upper lip and "I don't want to be a nuisance" attitude. If you are at all worried about any symptoms, be it a dodgy looking mole, blood in your stools, an itchy weeping place on your nose—go and talk to your doctor about it! They will either put your mind at rest or start a process that can only benefit you an those you love. Don't die of embarrassment!

Thirdly, LiveStrong! Lance Armstrong is my hero! He is the absolute epitome of the athlete and sports person (not always the same thing) and a cancer survivor extraordinaire! His LiveStrong Foundation is doing a huge amount in the States and across the world to address the issues surrounding cancer; the stigma attached to its diagnosis in many cultures, the creation of a worldwide community of professionals in the field and much else.

I know I have not finished writing up the Lon Lâs Challenge. After finishing the ride I've had a holiday in Malta with my wife, she's been ordained priest, I have taken part in three performance of a 30minute community opera at the Wales Millennium Centre and then it has rained an awful lot. I have either been too busy or too depressed by the weather to either finish off the blog or to actually ride my bike seriously.

Overall the bike ride was again a wonderful experience.Those who also did it last year were impressed by how much fitter I was. I only walked the longest hills and even then was still capable of pushing my bike. Last year at the worst times somebody else would push my bike, making it easier to trudge up the hill. The weather, except for the last day, was wonderful—not too hot, very little adverse wind and no rain. On the last day we wake to a howling gale and driving rain. Worse the wind was out of the south and that was the way we were heading for the first ten miles or so. The rain eventually stopped but then the wind swung round until it was against us going across Anglesey. I don't like Anglesey as cycling territory, It is unpleasantly undulating and the Trail meanders a lot. You can see the promontory of Holyhead away in the distance but it seems to get no closer. We arrived at the Ferry Terminal at almost 2000! I was ready to give up about 15 miles out but Seb,in particular, kept me going.

Technologically, things were a bit disappointing. 3G Mobile phone coverage through Central Wales is dreadful so live tracking just didn't happen. I've got the satellite data saved on my phone and I'll upload it later but even that coverage seemed patchy and there are big skips in the path.

Fund-raising was quite successful. I will be closing the account this week. The total is well in excess of £1000, not as much as last year ut still respectable. One or two people haven't coughed up yet so if any of you reading this haven't paid me yet I'd be grateful for a cheque.

We are now in Corris and although there is no broadband in the hostel I'm hopeful that if I go across the main road to the little bit of garden I might get lucky as there is a reasonable mobile signal. So I'm writing this offline in the hope of being able to cut and paste it into LJ in the morning. (It didn't work though, I'm catchig up on this back home!) There are too many gnats about to try it this evening. I was getting bitten to death just ringing home.

Today has gone really well, I have not yet cheated at all, not even to the extent of having somebody else push my bike while walking up hillmdash;there's not even been too much walking up hill! The weather today hasn't been so good. It started off sunny and warm but had clouded over by mid-day. However, it hasn't rained and the wind has mostly been helpful.

The morning session was a but tough with my legs not really wanting to push and there was a lot of really up and down work out of Rhaeadr as the single track lane runs up and over lots of truncated spurs that the river has cut down into. However, after a pit stop in Llangurig on te A470 they started to go better. This probably had something to do with the amazing banana cake given to us by our host in Rhaeadr.

The run through the Severn forest was pleasantly undulating. If I can hit an up-slope with plenty of speed then I can often get up it by attacking in a high gear but once I've run out of momentum and have to drop down the gears then I'm often doomed to get off and walk.

The advantage of doing the route from the south is particularly evident on this stage as we began the climb to the highest point on the whole route. It is much easier as we started from much higher. The layby at Dylife with the amazing view arrived much more quickly than I expected and the rest of the climb wasn't too steep. I indulged in a Zip-Vit energy gel from their free sample box and it seemed to do the trick. We rested at the top and partook of more banana cake and then strted the amazing 1700 foot descent to Machynlleh. It's rather scary at the top with some very steep and bendy sections. I rode the brakes quite hard down this section but later was able to let the bike run freely, which it does very well. My top speed was 92km/h or 55mph!

The stretch from Mac to Corris was longer and hillier than I remembered but again had a nice descent in Corris. We arrived at the hostel quite early giving time for a relaxed shower, several cups of tea , two pints of Black Hand Porter from the Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog and a game of Killer pool. I was not the first to go out.

The evening meal was again absolutely ace; chicken,ham and leek pie with roasted vegetables and two desserts. Not a choice beteween two desserts but summer fruit sponge pudding and a trifle that knocked last disaster into a cocked hat!

We've seen more kites and the birdsong has been absolutely amazing.

Day 4 will involve another climb to over 500 metres (1650 ft), first thing in the morning which will be tough as my legs don't seem to get really going for a few hours. The a beautiful run across the tops before we swoop down into Dolgellau. Then it's along the river to the Barmouth bridge and then some more ups down to Harlech and Penrhyndeudraeth and on to Porthmadog.

So Saturday was it. I finished my training and all that is left is to take it easy this week and it lots of carbohydrates. I had expected to do something long with lots of ascent but instead I did something easy just to get out. The weather was indifferent which didn't exactly motivate me. I eventually got away about 11:30, at least two hours later than usual. Cycled down the Bay and then across the Barrage which I hadn't done before. The tide was full which took away some of the drama bit watching the bridge going up was interesting.

I then went north up the Lon Las taking it easy. I decided to turn around at 1500 and got as far as Rhydfelin. I'd been more enterprising during the week and expanded my circuit out to Cowbridge, which meant dropping down to about 10m and then having to climb back up to about 200m. I had interesting moment as I got near home when I lost both wheels in succession turning left off a major road. I hit a metal inspection cover that was polished to a shine by the traffic. I stayed on but I'm not sure how!

It was at that point I decided that new tyre cases would be a good idea. The Bike Shed had two Bontrager Satellites Hardcase 700C's in so when it stopped raining I took it over and they fitted them and sorted out a few other mechanical issues.

The other good news is that I reached my sponsorship target today, thanks in part to a post I made on a social media site for ex-pat Welshmen in America, www.americymru.com. A member responded with a donation of £10. Some real life friends then brought it up to £1000 but social media has just taken the lead with a donation from the Philippines!

In Welsh "bro" means "vale" so "Bor Morgannwg" = "Vale of Glamorgan" but it also has a much more interesting psychological meaning: "The area I feel homesick for". I'm using itt in both senses here. My ride yesterday was designed to be as long and hilly as the tougher days on the Lon Las but also took me to places in the Vale that I have not seen for over 40 years.

Some statistics first: Length:67Km or 42miles. Total Ascent: 1950m or 6435ft (~twice the ht of Snowdon!), highest point 363m or 1200ft, Avg sp~11Km/h). So it's equivalent in length to the shortest day on the Lon Las and doesn't reach the heights of even the first day but the total ascent is impressive.

The route builds on the route I tried last week. This time I managed to find the low traffic route via suburban roads to Lisvane (Llysfaen) so that's improvement #1. Also I have got the GPS working more reliably. It then followed the same route over Caerffili mountain ad past Castell Coch but this time I crossed the Taf by the pipe bridge to Morganstown and embarked on a big loop out to the west of Cardiff. Radyr to Pentrebane to Peterston-super-Ely, Welsh St Donats, Llancarfan, St Lythans and Culverhouse Cross(argh!) back into Cardiff. Culverhouse Cross is a huge roundabout giving access to two major shopping areas, the M4 and the link road to the Bay so it is incredibly busy. Next time I may well modify the last section to come into Ely via some more hilly country lanes.

I haven't been to Llancarfan for over 40 years! It was a major centre of Celtic Christianity before Augustine ever came to these isles an St Patrick probably studied there before being carried off to Ireland on a slave ship. Now it's a well off village with swimming pools in the back gardens. I met a class of school children dressed in school issues waterproofs carrying nets and jamjard—a living demonstration of the Foundation Phase in action. This is Wales' primary education revolution placing great emphasis on play and using the outdoors as a classroom.

I've now got the tracking and editing of the routes fairly well sorted. I use www.gpsed.com to track my progress. If you look at the route as tracked you will see some long straight lines where GPS contact was lost for periods. In one case it was because I went through a subway under the railway but I can't easily explain the others. However, these can be sorted out by downloading the data as a .gpx file and uploading it www.bikely.com. This doesn't do realtime tracking but does allow the editing of the data and provides the elevation profile.

All in all a very satisfactory day that emulated a day on the sponsored ride. I shall do it again at least three more times in the next 10 days.

Well we had a good day today at the market and raised £100 or 10% of my target. Thanks to Matthew Dixon for helping Meg to run the stall while I pedalled on the iMagic trainer. The odd thing was we raised much more in direct sponsorship and donations than from the raffle and the competition. The competition was to estimate my total pedal revolutions while riding the 44Km Olympic Poseidon course in VR. Only two people entered but one of them was very close so she got the prize.

I would like to thank Sue the market manager for allowing me to have the stall and to the stall holders who donated prizes:

1. Voucher for Whole Chicken (£5/£6)—Dickendale Farm
2. Voucher for mixed Pack of Sausages/burgers—Cig Lodor
3. Voucher for a mix of Olives(~£5)—The Olive Bar
4. A box of organic vegetables—Ty Mawr Organic Veg
5. 3 Jars of Jam & Chutney—Avril’s Country Kitchen
6. Pack of Fairy Cakes—Lewis Fine Foods
7. Pack of Coffee Beans—TheCaffeineKid

Kit note 1

I've now got my Brooks Flyer Aged saddle. I did a three hour ride this morning and it's great. I do need to treat it with Brooks proprietory stuff called Proofide Leather Dressing. This will waterproof the underside of the saddle. I paid extra for the Aged version which has softer leather and should break in faster. In fact after a short test ride at the shop I had the saddle angled slightly downwards to remove pressure from parts that do not need pressure and it seems perfectly comfortable. I've just ordered he Proofide from Wiggle at about half the catalogue price. I don't think Brooks want to deal direct with their customers!

Kit Note 2

I bought a 17 function computer (with cadence) From Tesco at £10. The cadence sensor is wireless too. I haven't fitted it yet as the print in the instruction sheeet is so small I can't read it. I've scanned it and produced a PDF version so I can get a magnified view but it's still a bit fuzzy. I'll let you know how I get on.

Kit Note 3

The GPS set up worked bit better today. I cut the reporting interval down to 3 minutes and it still gives an accurate path. I still have a problem with having to ok network access but I have some advice fro GPSed support to get round it. Connection between phone and receiver was lost after stopping for a bit. I need to check why that is happening.

The ride

The problem with the Taff trail as far as Cefn Coed y Cymmer is that it has only two short climbs on it. Gaining 290 metrs in about 40Km is an average gradient of around 1 in 140, hardly anything. So from now on I am going to be doing hillier rides on the lanes around Cardiff.

Today I headed out to Lisvane (by a dreadful road route because I missed a turning down to Roath Park, I'll do better next time). Fom Lisvane to Rudry is undulating; nothing very steep but quite long inclines. I could grind them out in my granny gear with a pulse rate around 150bpm. The next section is better roads but carries on in the same vein, the views northwards are stunning.

The main ascent is over the shoulder of Caerffili mountain. Again not too steep but pretty long. I screwed up a gear change half way up and had to stop. I took on some nutrition at this point but the long stop semed to cause the GPS to go to sleep so there's a straight line on the trace to the snack stop but the road I was following is pretty obvious on the map. There's a useful snack stop at the highest point of the ride.

My intention had been to follow the lanes down into Tongwynlais but I turned right one too soon and came out on the ouskirts of Caerffili. I was able to join Route 4 which merges with Route 8 after about a mile from where I joined it. I decided to go the scenic way though the woods above Castelll Coch. This ascent went well and I had the confidence to actually ride down the narrow and steep track down into the castle car park. From then on it was plain sailing home.

First ride after a week off with some vague illness and first ride with GPS tracking. Performance of self and technology could have been better. I was pretty slow and the Nokia operating system kept prompting me to allow network access as it doesn't trust GPSed and the phone and receiver stopped talking to each other occasionally hence the straight lines.. I'm sure I will sort it.

The strange squiggle in Pontypridd is the result of stopping for tea and sauage roll in a caff and not pausing the track. The receiver couldn't get a good fix on me inside the building.

The track ends prematurely becuase I don't have enough memory to assemble the final file for transmission so I need to buy a bigger card. I'm going to have to start each full day with a fully charged phone and receiver as both were showing battery low before I got back.

I need a waerproof mount for the phone now so that I can actually read distance and speed as I go along although I am going to get a new Catseye computer so that I can have cadence as well.

I rode further north on the Taff Trail than ever before reaching Cefn-Coedy-Cymmer and enjoying a swift pint in the Drovers Arms, friendly but very basic.

Getting the phone (Nokia 6500Slide)and the GPS receiver(GlobalSat BT-338) talking has turned out to be quite easy:

1. Download the Java GPSed application from http://gpsed.com/mobile?java_symbian
2. Connect phone to Nokia PC Suite to laptop via Bluetooth
3. Copy downloaded file onto the phone using the Application Installer
4. Pair the receiver and the phone. Pair code "0000".
5. Allow them to connect automatically
6. Go outside
7. Allow the receiver to establish its position (Green LED flashes)
8. Start up the GPSed application
9. Register at www.gpsed.com(via laptop's browser)
10. Use Settings in GPSed to record username and password

I haven't got my laptop and receiver talking yet though, I need to establish which port to use. I had the same problem when attempting to set up a Nokia application to enable my phone to act as a remote control device for the laptop.

Interestingly, when I put the coordinates into Google Maps the latitiude was spot on but the longitude put us about 100m too far north in the next street.

I am about to go for a ride and wil atempt to track it once I get well away from the house. (I value my privacy)

I've not been feeling very well since just before Easter—"poor digestive transit" as the biotics adverts have it. Resorted to Sennacot for the first time in my life and am feeling better (Ugh, TMI, I hear you all cry!). The upshot is that I've not done any serious training this week but hopefully a short break won't lose me too much condition. I shall do a few hours early tomorrow as I have an all day rehearsal.

Fund-raising could be doing better too. I spent nearly six hours helping out in the tea rooms at the church in the centre of Cardiff today, hoping to get more sponsors and to raise funds by selling home-made chutney. In the event I made £7 from the chutney and gained one sponsor. However, he has taken a sponsor form and will get more sponsorship in his church tomorrow. I will post a new total on my fund-raising page soon.

I need to do a major email, Twitter and snail mail appeal in the next week but there's no need to wait: the donations page is at your command!

I will do some big rides Monday Tuesday & Wednesday. Thursday, I've booked the bike in for a service and to have the new saddle fitted at the Bike Shed.

I received my Bluetooth GPS receiver today. Setting it up seems to need a bit of black magic but I hope over the next few days to couple it to my mobile phone and give you all the ability to track my progress as I ride and give me speed measurement too. I'll blog on the technology when I have it working

I've been busy this week on other things, like the allotment but I have managed two runs of the Callisto Aries course (16Km), which I'd previously done a few times in February. The statisitcs are interesting:

Yesterday's and today's runs are significantly faster than the previous runs (around 10%) and the cadence is up on last year which was in the low 60's. What the cadence stats don't show is that I'm now pulling a higher gear (an average distance travelled per pedal revolution would indicate that). I was doing significant climbs on my bigggest chain wheel today and yesterday. Two other factors came into play: I had porridge for breakfast yesterday, with lots of honey. The honey gives a good boost and the porridge releases its energy slowly. Also I started in quite a low gear so I was able to oull away from the start and establish my cadence quite quickly

This shows that my fitness is definately improved but also that my efficiencyis improving too. This is subjective but it feels to me that the transfer of power through the cycke is much more even.

I had an interesting Facebook chat with Richard Davies yesterday about training and pulse rates. If I can work out how to see it again (I think it needs Richard to be online) I'll post it.

Today I have done about 50 miles (no computer) in 6hrs elapsed, which included a good hour of stops so around 10 mph average which is quite pleasing. I went from home to Merthyr up the Lon Las and back. I was using the heart rate monitor for the fiirst time. On the way out which is basically up hill al the way the monitor was bleeping as I was working harder than the zone I'd set it for. Not sure what that was though, I'm not used to the user interface yet. I was in the zone on the way back except for the few small inclines, some of them quite sharp but not very long. Average heart rate was 132 so that's 132*60*6= 47500 heartbeats and about 21000 pedal revs! All in all pretty pleasing.

There's been a major improvement to the Lon Las since last year. There used to be a horrible road stretch between Cilfynydd and Abercynon but now its possible to leave the rugby club to one's right and follow the river right into Abercynon—a huge improvement.

My time back must have been way under the 3 hours out as it seems to have camcelled out the 60 mins of food and photo stops.

I bought two Costa Rican Cheese patties at the market for my lunch. They turned out to be a cycling dwarf bread—nutritious but boring in the extreme. Half the second one got torn up and left for the wildlife to enjoy. The pastry is based on cornmeal and not at all exciting and the cheese is even more boring!. I was however using some Sports Nutrition stuff that I bought off the shelf in Tesco yesterday. It seems to have done the trick because I could still hit the last little slope about 400m from home quite hard. I'm tired, of course, but legs aren't wobbly. It's meant for recovery but seems to work keeping me going

Speaking of cheese; Caws Teifi (Teifi Cheese) is probably going to sponsor me. I've offered to make up a t-shirt with his artwork on it. Perhaps I should try some of the other traders too. He is to be found at the Keppoch Street Market every Saturday an its companion market on Sunday. Fantastic cheese, not at all boring.

Good progress on the fitness front: last Friday I did the Olympus Apollo course 7 mins faster than my prveious best coming in at a tad over 55min for 20.4Km. What's more, this is almost 20 minutes faster than my first attempt back at the start of February. This is a huge improvement. As I mentioned in a previous post I now have a Polaris heart monitor but I haven't used it yet.

Good progress on the fundraising front too. On Sunday I went to the rehearsal for the community opera project I'm involve with dressed in all my cycling gear and asked the assemled multitude (~70) to sponsor me. About a third responded and pledge over £120.

I went to the Bike Shed to buy new brake cable. I also complained gently about the wear on the saddle. . It's got worse since this happened. I used duct tape to reinforce it but the first inch or so has worn away and there is considerable wear from my sit bones (This clearly show that I pedal much harder with my right leg).

I simply said that I was unhappy with this amount of wear since last May and the mechanic immediately offered to replace it. I'd noticed that they had a bike with a Brooks saddle on it and they had another in stock, despite not being listed as a dealer by the company.

He offered to order whichever saddle I wanted and discount the price by the current proce of the original saddle (almost £40). This in fact saves me another €20 that delivery would have cost if I'd ordered direct from Brooks so I've saved about £55.I have a black Aged Flyer on order!

There's nothing to beat good service for retaining customer loyalty!

Decisions first. I've been coveting a Garmin Edge 305 with cadence and Heart rate monitor but couldn't bring myself to spend the asking price. It is also becoming apparent that my gel saddle bought last year is falling apart and I have received two recommendations for a Brooks saddle. Total possible expenditure ~£320. I have now found out that Garmin uses a proprietary HRM transmission protocol and the iMagic wouldn't interface with it. So I reduced my covetousness to cadence only.

However, while idly looking at the sports equipment shelves in Tesco on Friday afternoon I found a Polar HRM for just over £30. It doesn't have many bells and whistles but it'll do the basic job out on the road and will interface with the trainer. Also the digital watch display is so big and retro that I can read it without my glasses on. (I'm also coveting some goggles with prescription lenses that I saw someone wearing the other day).

So I have made a decision. I'm going to buy a simple computer to replace the one I lost and lose the ability to upload route information and I'm going to buy a Brooks saddle. Plenty of time to break it in.  Total expenditure:~£120.

The problem is going to send me to the Bike Shed when it opens. I tried tightening the bridles on my brakes yesterday and twice the front cable jumped off the pulley directing it down to the bridle. Unfortunately the tight bend that resulted has broken at least half the strands in the cable so the cable will need to be replaced.

Fortunately(?), I was intending to give myself an easy week this week as I have loads of admin and house work to catch up on. The weather forecast is not nearly so good this week, either. At the moment it is cold and grey with some wind so a 2 mile ride to the shop is all I'm up for.

I had the interestig experience of appearing on Jamie and Louise on Radio Wales yesterday. You can hear it here (start 1:37hr in) until next Tuesday. All very friendly and easy to chat to. We talked about the Lon Las Challenge and why I was doing it. Was able to get the "Live strong with cancer" message over too.

Both presenters thought I'd done well as did my wife and one friend who heard it as it went out. I listened last night and I was quite impressed too. One moment of panic as I started on something but thought "I've said that already but was it on air?". We continued to chat when they went to music halfway through. My mental wheels spun for a moment but I managed to change what I was saying so that I did not repeat anything and the hestitation didn't come across. In fact, I was really pleased because the "erm" count was quite low.

This all came about through Twitter. I've been tweeting for about 6 weeks now (@KeithUnderdown) and just before Red Nose Day Jamie and Louise (@jamieandlouise) started tweeting about the programme. I boiled my story down to 140 characters and sent it to them. I was contacted by one of their researchers on Monday and went on air at 10:37 yesterday morning.

I'm having a rest day today as I have lots of stuff to do and I'm pretty tired. I've done 50M or so in the real world and had a go at the Draco route on the trainer yesterday. Unfortunately I hadn't switched the power on at the wall for my laptop an it went down when I was about 100m from the finish. I'd already lost to my previous best though.

Set off this morning on a three-hour ride. My intention was to get to Pontypridd and back which I did comfortably. Stupidly I forgot a water bottle but one sweats so much less with a good cool air flow that it wasn't an issue. I am thirsty now but not excessively so.

The weather is beautiful today, as it has been for the last few days but other commitments have kept me off the bike. Yesterday I had a rehearsal all day for the WNO-Max community opera project I'm in. I cycle there and back so I do get some training in. Perhaps I should make it a sprint! I will turn up one day in my cycling gear, especially my Bobath shirt from last year; the choir is a 70 strong community that I can tap for sponsorship! Raising funds is much harder this year but I'm a quarter of the way there. I have had several people react to my card and story by saying, "Sure, I'll sponsor you" but nothing so far.

Saturday was a gardening day. I've found an excellent gardening site: see myfolia.com/gardener/KeithUnderdown to see what gives in my allotment and at home.

The high point of today was meeting Emma and Alex, last year's ride leaders. We had a quick chat but as they were out for a run they didn't want to stop for too long. Alex will be leading this year's ride too and Emma hopes to be able to get time off to do it. She helped rescue a young welsh-speaker from a cliff yesterday and was able to keep his attention by trying to count to ten as I taught her last year.

The low point of the day was the usual quota of stupid dog owners. They will not keep their dogs on a short lead and seem to think that dogs have right of way over human traffic and walkers have right of way over pedallers. Grrr!

I would have gone further but I have promised my Aunt that I will represent her at the funeral of 103 yr old lady I have never met but who was a friend of her late husband's parents!