JoGLE in Memory of Sdn Ldr Ant Downing

On the 22nd December 2011 Sdn Ldr Anthony Downing was seriously wounded when the vehicle he was travelling in was caught in an explosion south of Kabul. Ant was flown back to the UK where sadly he died of his wounds at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Ant was my brother, an exceptionally good man and an inspiration to so many, myself included. From an early age he tried to push himself to see what he was capable of. Whilst he was at school he competed in endurance events in running and cycling and as an adult went on to such feats as cycling across America in 25 days a number of Iron Man competitions and completed a Double Iron Man too.

At his funeral the idea of retracing his wheel tracks on a ride across the USA was talked over with many of Ant's friends. I said on a number of times I would like to give it a go. This ride however is not quite so ambitious; it is a training ride to see if I have it within me to cycle long distances. Ant completed the Lands End to John O' Groats trip on his own in 1999. The journey should be approximately 874 miles, hence the target for the fund-raising. My friend Chris Tremblett and I shall be doing the journey in September the other way around mainly due to logistical reasons.

We have been told on a number of occasions that going North to South is the awkward way to do it as we will be pedalling into the wind every day. However, Scotland is high up on the map and Cornwall is at the bottom so although it's a long way it will all be down hill. How hard can it be?


Very, I suspect...

Saturday 8 September 2012

T Minus 7 Days

This is a bit of an experiment so please bear with me. I'm writing this on my phone and am going to try and upload a picture taken today too. I'm not dragging a laptop with me the length of the country so hopefully I can update the blog this way. I might get it to work or else I shall need to accost a youth who knows how this technology farce works every time I want to write an update.

Anyway, today with Liam Richards we went on a training ride over the moors to Princetown and around. Sometimes I forget just how hilly it is around here. According to the GPS today we rode just over 51 miles and climbed 2329 feet. I was going to go for a ride tomorrow but I think I'll go for a surf instead. Did I mention there were lots and lots of hills? I'm really hoping the rest of Blighty is significantly flatter.

Did manage to get up to 48mph at one point though!

Here's a photo of me taken at the edge of the moor in one of the vests that Cerys from the RAFBF sent us. Thank you for those!

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