Who?

My mind was set on the task, I had discovered a unique challenge which ticked all the boxes as far as I was concerned, and having committed to myself that it would be undertaken solo, there was no need to go out on the ‘big sell’ to get a team together , and no need to compromise on my own ideas as to how it would be achieved. I did spread the word of my idea to those who might have been interested, and did get some positive responses, however that was predictably as far as it got. And I was in it alone.

The first to hear of my idea was Steph, my wife, who’s initial response was slightly dismissive, and this was understandable considering the number of ideas I have had since the Paris trip which have failed to get past the initial ‘concept’ stage. Her belief did start to change however as she started to appreciate the rather more ‘joint up’ thoughts behind the challenge, and even suggested she would be very jealous of such a challenge, and would certainly look to do a challenge of her own in the following year.

Steph has favoured running challenges in the past having completed the London Marathon in 2007. This challenge did result , however, in a rather unfortunate turn of events, when the strain of the marathon combined with an undiagnosed hole in the heart , caused a mild stroke 5 weeks later.

Whilst the diagnosis was difficult and long, once diagnosed the procedure for fixing the hole was uncomplicated, and left her with no long term issues following the stroke, and fighting fit for the future.

Richard Cross responded to my email a couple of days following my email to him, and was full of encouragement for the challenge, he gave me some simple advice on route, and assured me that although they had spent 21 days completing the challenge, it should be more than manageable in 14. He also informed me that he had completed the challenge with his wife.

So my initial thought around the time for the ride would need to change if I was going to somehow find an open window for Steph to get involved. The main obstacle being that with Steph only available during school holidays, she works as a teaching assistant, and with the children sharing the same holidays, we would need to lean very hard on our respective parents for childcare, second to this the grandparents would have their own commitments for the holidays, so the chances looked slight. But the main obstacle at this point would be to get Steph to see the world according to two wheels and not two legs.