As I stood at the back of the funeral reflecting on the life of the relative stranger, whose family wept in front of me, I started to wonder what others would say of me if I were in that wooden box.  Did I live life to the full? Achieve anything or contribute well to the lives of others around me?  I guess when all is said and done, if you were writing a list of things that you would hope to be remembered for, I think it’s fair to say that as well as wanting a reasonable audience to hear it, you would want a few key aspects of your life, as well as your personality, to be remembered.  If only for the people at the back who didn’t know.

So I have entered the famous Dragon Ride.  It take places in South Wales on the 11th June 2017 and is effectively 230km of tough hilly cycling.  To put that into context, it’s at least 10 hours of solid cycling averaging the typical speeds I might do on a Saturday morning over 3-4.

Rather poignantly, the week I decided to enter the ride I discovered that my father wasn’t very well and was suffering from quite a serious chest infection.  One of those chest infections that after several weeks actually gets you thinking about the C word even if nobody was saying it.  Lymphoma is the current diagnosis and it still remains a word you probably shouldn’t Google, but it does nonetheless throw in quite a few ‘ifs and buts’ that you are a little anxious before clicking the links on.  It’s early days and as I write the tests are still under-way, but it did provide more motivation to get the most out of the event.  The source of most of my information, and indeed a degree of comfort was MacMillan Cancer Support.  I’ve heard of them, know the logo and see other people running, cycling and banging inflated green tubes together for them at most events.  I didn’t know how they helped, but reading those web pages and knowing my mother was doing the same left me in no doubt which charity I should tick the box on as I paid my money to enter.

In about 8 months from now I hope to be telling you how I cycled the furthest distance I have ever undertaken, climbed more metres than the day I rode up Mont Ventoux and burned more calories than I consumed on Christmas Day 2009.  It’s not a huge thing; I’m not saving anyone’s life and it’s certainly not like climbing up Mount Everest is it? But it is something.  It’s my something and if that means Dadonabike Junior decides to set-out and achieve a bit more in his life, or smile as he is showing his grand-children the £20 Photo Sportive.COM JPG of me slumped over the bike as I cross the finish line then that is fine with me.

If you would like to sponsor me, however little, you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Paul-Crow2

Thank you for reading.