Here is the report of the progress of the Bike to the Future written during the event itself
Friday 26th November 2004
Well we're off.
Bike to the Future was given the official send off this afternoon by Bolton Wanderers. 5 members of the team (Les, Dave, Smit, Rosa and Immi) attended BWFC's final training session before thier premiership encounter with Portsmouth tomorrow, and were cheered off by Bolton manager 'Big Sam' Allardyce and some of the first team squad - Radi Jaidi, Jussi Jaaskalainen and Nicky Hunt (see photo). Big Sam wished Les and the team all the luck in the world, and was impressed by the challenge which was being undertaken
Immi and Rosa were then delighted to meet all of their favourite players, including Bolton captain Jay Jay Okocha (see photo). Special thanks must go to BWFC press officer, Danny Reuben who did such a good job in arranging this official start.
By 8pm, all the members of the team had finally assembled for the first time. With everything in place, it was an early night all round as the team contemplated a 7am start and an 85 mile day.
Saturday 27th November 2004
1.15pm - report of mobile phone conversation with Sue Davison
Well they are on their way and on schedule. Les' wife Sue is having fun driving the big support van with Immi and Rosa who aren't the best navigators! Somehow they missed the riders at the first stop. However they met up with them at the Shakespeare in Nantwich. Some friends and a work colleague met the riders at the pub. They left there at about 12.15. They look great in their matching yellow jackets and have brilliant weather for the ride as it is relatively warm and dry. Couldn't ask for better at this time of year (ridiculous time for a bike ride if you ask me but that's dedication for you! Cancer and Whipple's doesn't come to order and the 1st anniversary is November). Sue is determined to get to the next stop in time and be ready with the hot drinks etc. All 10 riders are still together.
5.30pm - report of mobile phone conversation with Sue Davison
Sue managed to get to the next stop at Howle and provided the team with hot chocolate, tomato soup and sandwiches served on a red carpet. The local residents made a donation. After a slightly scary time on a stretch of dual-carriageway they got to the Youth Hostel in one piece and have been enjoying showers and are looking forward to a beer. For a fit team of forty somethings they seem to be carrying a lot of ailments but none that are stopping their progress.
10pm - Report from Les
At 7am, Alan Barratt of KONE raised the flag, and Les' mum sounded the claxon to officially start the Bike to the Future ride. 10 riders with 240 miles in front of them left the start line in front of the Reebok Stadium and did one lap of the pitch before heading off 'into the unknown'
The fact that after 3 months of training, 4 visits to A&E, and about 8000 miles of training between the team, the fact that everyone managed to get to the start line in one piece was in itself a feat.
The first leg to Stockton Heath was completed in an adrenalin frenzy, with all of the team riding together to complete the 19 mile stage in 1hr 20 mins (assisted by a large majority being downhill).
Everybody was fresh legged as they rolled into Morrisons car park 
, only to find that there were no support vehicles there to help - both had lost their way and were somewhere on the M6!
Boosted by some shared energy bars, the team made for Nantwich where a wholesome lunch was awaiting them courtesy of Mark White, landlord of The Shakespeare pub in Nantwich. Mark, a fanatical Bolton Wanderers fan had read about the ride in the Bolton Evening News and had tracked Les down to offer his services. Both the riders and the support team were finally reunited.
On the way there, Les suffered the first crisis of the ride by starting to run out of energy due to lack of food and water "the last 5 miles were very difficult as there was nothing left in the tank" said Les. PVR too suffered, but this time a mechanical problem, which was kindly resolved by a trip to Nantwich bikes.
The afternoon saw the team taking on the undulating roads of Shropshire, with some quite long steep inclines. Smit & Jordanna who had rekkied the route and who reported back that this part of the road was flat, justified their previous rationale by saying "the hills didn't look as steep in the car". Despite this, the team made great progress with PVR & Andy leading the team into the 3rd stop of the day in Howle. This time the support team were fully up to speed and provided sandwiches, cake, soup and drinks, all served up on a piece of Belgian carpet.
After this stop, most of the riders were in unchartered territory as few had ever been more than 60 miles in training. A long drag up the incredibly busy A442 dual carriageway into Telford tested the resolve of the team as they entered the final 10 miles, however, relief in the form of the decent into Coalport and the Youth Hostel awaited. The team arrived at 1600, 30 minutes ahead of schedule, to a welcome cup of tea and cake. Average riding speed was 13.4 mph, into a slight headwind, weather generally fine.
A few pints, and a hearty meal in the Brewery Inn in Coalport, was too much for most of the team, and most were tucked up in bed contemplating another 85 miles tomorrow.
Finally, a word of thanks to Les' mum and sister for opening up their houses as b&b's last night to cater for the needs of the riders.
11pm - Match of the Day
Caught a brief flash of purple ribbon worn by Bolton Wanderers' manager Sam Allardyce on Match of the Day
Sunday 28th November 2004
10.45am report from Sue Davison by mobile phone
They are well on their way but have had to change the route and are slightly behind schedule. Unfortunately George has had to pull out. He has had a chest infection and is now travelling in the support van with Sue and family. Whilst Sue was on the phone the riders caught up with them and so they were all able to shout out to urge them on to go faster! Sue was up at 5.30am to cook breakfast in the Youth Hostel. It is much colder today but at least it is dry (spoke too soon!). 4 of them tackled a very steep hill that was off the route which had been a lot easier when they went down it last night! Obviously disappointed to hear that Bolton lost yesterday. Should still get to Oxford Youth Hostel before dark ie about 4.30pm
1.15pm report from Sue Davison by mobile phone
Riders are back on schedule again and likely to be at Oxford Youth Hostel between 4.30 and 4.45pm. The riders were just tackling a steep hill between Evesham and Chipping Norton. George has been collected by his wife.
11pm report from Les Niewiara
On Friday BBC weather, the Met Office and Yahoo all said that the weather from Coalport to Oxford would be absolutely perfect today. Pictorially a big sun, not even a sun peeking out from behind a cloud. How could they have got it so completely wrong! The weather was absolutely awful - it rained, and rained and rained a little more. But even this was not enough to put off the "Bike to the Future" team as they broke the back of the ride with a massive 92 miles. But it was not without its incidents.
Within the first 10 miles it became clear that George's chest was causing him difficulty, and when the first hill of the day emerged from the morning gloom, he made the difficult decision to have to pull out. Jordanna and Helen in one of the support vehicles sprung into action, picking up George and his bike. This left Les to cycle alone to catch the pack who had long gone. Just before meeting with the rest of the group Les had the first puncture of the ride. Fixing it was a real team effort with the combined efforts of Bradford University alumni (5 + 1) working together to get Les back on the road.
Just before lunch, the remaining 9 team members blasted a 10 mile section with PVR and Andy (the speedmeisters) leading the way. Perhaps it was a little foolhardy as not long after, the team encountered the mother of all hills (Fish Hill) coming out of Evesham. The hill went on, and on and on. Francis who had had to change bike to something with higher gearing, really struggled, but bravely went on to complete the whole ride. 2 more 10% hills completed the hardest leg of the ride so far.
The final leg was flat and fast, with the speedmeisters being joined by Simon. They blasted their way to Oxford arriving at 3.30pm. Les and Smit came in just before the dark at 4pm, and the rest of the team arrived at 4.45pm. They were cheered in by a number of people who had come to lend their support: Sue Ballard, of Pancreatic Cancer UK, Malcolm Nebitt, from the Oxfordshire Cancer Services Advisory Group, and Pete's sister and her family. Malcolm took some photos for the spring edition of CancerVoices for MacMillan.
The final group were held up somewhat by the first (and hopefully last) accident of the ride. Pete had to take evasive action from an aggressive lorry, and ended up landing on his back, and head hitting a wall. It was a disaster, as the wall will need to be rebuilt, and Pete ripped his trousers and jacket. Again Jordanna was on hand to administer the necessary first aid. Fortunately, cuts, scrapes and bruises were the extent of Pete's injuries and the knot in his back was expertly fixed by Francis 'the chiropractor'.
Considering the distance, the team did a fantastic job, including Sue in the support vehicle who had to find dry places to stop and ensure that all the riders were fed and watered. The bad weather plus incidents meant they didn't stop to take photos.
The reward for the team was an Indian meal in a local Indian Restaurant, much deserved for such a sterling effort. A few photos were taken then:
And a few more when they returned to the Youth Hostel and Les couldn't be dragged away from the laptop!
Monday 29th November 2004
A large crowd gathered to see the team arrive at Hammersmith Hospital Cancer Centre. There were representatives of sponsers Kone PLC and Austin Marketing and of course Simon from H&M was part of the team. There were family and friends of Sue and Les (including Les' sister and brother-in-law) as well as Sue Ballard, John Lancaster and Julia Hennessy from Pancreatic Cancer UK and of course the medical team from the Hammersmith - including Les' surgeon Mr Long Jiao, oncologist Dr Wasan, Upper GI specialist nurse Cathy Dyer, Jacqui who runs Dr Wasan's clinic and the nurses from the surgical wards and the chemotherapy day centre.
When all were assembled, including the local press, the team of riders arrived in formation led by Les and did a circuit of the car park before crossing the Kone finishing banner.
After lots of photos all were treated to a marvellous buffet spread arranged by Cathy Dyer courtesy of Lilly Oncology who produce gemcitabine the standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. It was a fantastic end to an epic journey and everyone seemed in much better shape and spirits than the previous evening.
Les gave a speech to thank everyone involved and Sue Ballard thanked him on behalf of Pancreatic Cancer UK for all he had done and said that "his energy and enthusiasm is an inspiration to all who know him or come in contact with him".
report from Les Niewiara
Well finally the team did it!
At 3.02pm, the 10 riders and the 5 support team rode over the finish line at Hammersmith Hospital to a great reception from friends, family, hospital staff and many others. It capped a fantastic ride, and many memorable experiences along the way.
The day started brightly as for the second day running, the weather forecast was wrong, but this time for the better, and as the team left Oxford, a big yellow ball appeared in the sky, and was to remain with the riders for the whole of the final day. It meant that dark sunglasses were the order of the day, which maybe accounted for Andy's little tumble as he tried some fancy manoeuvre in a ditch. Fortunately, that did not slow Andy down, with him, Les and PVR speeding down the A413 in true racing style at an average of 40km/hr. Perhaps it was the thought of the finish which made everyone a little 'friskier' than the previous 2 days, or maybe it was the after effects of the Indian meal the night before - whichever it was there appeared to be an 'end of term' feel to the day. Even the hill out of Askett was taken nonchalantly in everyone's stride. The only other hiccup came when Smit has the 2nd puncture of the ride, and wished that he had had this before as it forced him onto one of the spare bikes which he found 'easier' to ride than his own!
This general air of confidence extended to 5 of the riders, Andy, PVR, Simon, Smit and Les taking on the challenge of Batchworth Hill out of Rickmansworth, a short but steep incline, even though a 'less hilly' alternative was on offer. The team made Harrow in record time, and fuelled up at Les and Sue's house where Lodzia (Les' sister) had prepared a wonderful lunch.
Suitable replete, the team (now once again complete, as George who had been on heavy medication since Sunday morning, had rejoined the rest of the team in Harrow), went on to their penultimate leg with a visit to Marlborough First & Middle school (Rosa & Immi's school). Les had previously given a talk to the year 7 classes about the ride, and following this, the school had invited the team to do a 'ride by' of the school yard on their way to Hammersmith. To say the reception was overwhelming is an understatement, as the school had organised all of the middle school classes (approx. 200 pupils) to cheer in the team. A question and answer session followed, with the pupils asking some fantastic questions:
Q: "did anyone fall off?" - A: yes, Pete (who did a twirl with his ripped jacket and dented helmet)
Q: "how are you all feeling?" - A: great,
Q: "would you do it again?" - a non-committal answer was given, as we need to talk about this
Q: "how long has it taken you?" - A: 15 hrs, 51 mins and 31 sec of riding up to that point - 230 miles in total (with 10 more to go)
Q: "were Rosa and Immi helpful in the support team? - A: yes, very helpful
A final lap of the playground to now a tumultuous send off, and the team were off on the final 10 miles to the hospital, with all of the team 'buzzing' with the lift that had given.
The final 10 miles was a gentle ride down through Wembley (and past the new stadium arch), and on into Hammersmith.
The team arrived at Hammersmith Hospital on time to a fantastic reception (which included amongst others Mr Long Jiao - Les' surgeon, Dr Wasan - Les' oncologist and nursing staff from both the surgical and cancer day centre wards) and lots of hugging and photos.
Once the formalities were out of the way, the team were able to let their hair down a little, and relax at the great reception which had been organised by the hospital.
At the reception, Les outlined the reasons for the ride, and hoped that through the efforts of the team that the profile of pancreatic cancer had been raised a little, and that if this led to even 1 early diagnosis, and resulted in 1 life being saved, then it had all been worth while. Les also extended his thanks to the many people involved in contributing to the success of the ride. Special thanks were given to the team of riders who had taken up the challenge to support Les in this venture as well as the support team without whose help the ride would have been substantially more difficult.
Finally, Les paid tribute to Sue (his partner). She had taken the strain through the whole of the 'journey' - from Les' diagnosis, surgery, chemo to the preparation, planning and organising of the ride. Throughout she had been "a rock".
And so that was it - we did it. Would we do it again? Well, let's take a few days to reflect...
