Dudley News Coverage

The following was printed in the Dudley News

 

PCSO David Grove, Pc Keith Scott, PCSO Bev McCabe, Pc Paul Davies, PCSO John Link, Pc Tristram Oliver and PCSO Omar Sharif get set for the Land's End to John O'Groats ride. Buy Photo: 121146M

 

Dudley police take on 1,000 mile cycle challenge

12:30pm Wednesday 23rd March 2011

A GROUP of intrepid Dudley police officers are swapping cycling around the Castle and Priory ward for a 1,000 mile ride from Land's End to John O'Groats, all in the name of charity.

The seven members of the Castle and Priory neighbourhood policing team, who have nicknamed themselves 'The Castle Wheelers' are taking on the mammoth two week challenge from July 9 in aid of the children's ward at Russells Hall Hospital.

The team - made up of three Pc's and four PCSO's - will be tackling the route to raise money for foldaway beds for parents who want to stay with their children in hospital overnight.

Each bed costs around £700 each and the officers are hoping to purchase as many as they can for the ward.

Four members - Pc's Tristram Oliver, Paul Davis and Keith Scott, alongside PCSO David Grove will be completing the arduous cycle from start to finish, while PCSO's Omar Sharif, Bev McCabe and John Link will provide the back up in two support vehicles - with one donated by Dudley Motor Company, while another has been donated by Dudley Building Society..

Leading the challenge, Pc Oliver, said: "It was something we all thought about doing and thought we would do something for Russells Hall Hospital as it is local.

"Most of us have children and wouldn't like to think of them in hospital and us not being there with them."

PCSO Grove, said: "We wanted to raise money for something achievable and knew fundraising for a piece of equipment was out the question, as that costs around £50,000 so we set a target of around £1,500 which would be enough for two beds, but we are hoping to raise enough to buy more."

The team are training for the ride by cycling to and from work, as well as their regular rides while out on patrol in the neighbourhood, while also taking part in training rides on days off, reaching up to 65 miles to date.

The riders, who all said they were "apprehensive" about the challenge, have also managed to beg free accommodation from police and fire stations along the route, as well as sponsorship from borough businesses, so all money raised can go towards their fundraising efforts.

To sponsor the team visit justgiving.com/castle-wheelers

End2End Trailer

The Fearless Four went on a run to Bridgnorth this set of Rest Days. Quite a pace was set and although we only did 40ish miles we all felt (apart from Keith) like we had done quite a few more. 

Have a look at the trailer above to see what you can expect from the ride over the Summer.

Media coverage

We had our second interview with the local papers this week as the Dudley News came and took the Team's photograph and will put a small article in their next edition.

What a fine, fit group of people!

This is a copy of one of the photos taken by our Force Communications Officer as we are also going to publicised though this as well.

Missing from this picture is our newest member of the Team, PCSO Jo King who seems very reluctant at the moment to have her picture taken. I currently have several of her with her hand in front of her face. I will try again and will post her profile on the Team page shortly.

Our training rides continue with most of doing as much as we can. The 4 riders have also met up and cycled to Malvern which opened up our eyes as to how we will structure our day on the trip. We have decided that we will complete each day in 20 mile bursts with small 20 minute breaks in between. This is so we don't get too comfortable that we don't want to set off again.

This morning "Daddy Davies" walked into the office with a broken chain in his hands. No, not because he was angry and wanted to get back at Omar but because he snapped it on the way home. Even "The Daddy" is pulling his finger out and is putting in some serious training. With fuel being the price it is at the moment who can blame us! (Paul all you need to do is get the hang of your clipless pedals and you'll be flying!)

We are going to be completing another ride on Tuesday towards the Bridgenorth area, so if you see us, give us a wave. I'll let you know how we get on.

Video Diary

Those of us that don't mind appearing on video have started to film some video diaries and these will be posted on this blog.

John, Omar, Paul and myself filmed some this week and so you can watch it by clicking above. I hope you enjoy it as it took me forever to make.

Waiting

It now seems that we have broken the back of the planning stage for the ride in July and we are now waiting for the day we start to come around.

We have most of the overnight stays sorted for free. These are with lots of different places. Quite a few are at Fire Stations, some are in Church Halls and a couple are even in decent hotels. We have managed so far to get all these stays for free which is something that I never thought would be possible when we started the ball rolling back in September last year. I don't think any of us would have bothered if we knew just how much work it would take!

We have also managed to secure lots of support and sponsorship money from local businesses in the local area, and some not so local (thanks Dad). Without this money we wouldn't be able to even think about starting the ride due to the large costs of support vehicles, food and the big one, fuel. So I must say thanks to all the people who have taken the time and given money to us. We owe you a great debt.

I have even managed to design the Team shirt, after many reworks this is now with being OK'd by the manufacturer and hopefully it won't be long until we will be wearing these on our training runs. (Though I was told today that one member of the Team wouldn't wear it as it was in Blues colours. I guess you can't please everyone.)

The sheer enormity of actually pedaling 1000 miles is now starting to hit home with everyone, well everyone except Keith who could cycle to the moon and back in one day. We have to consistently cycle for 80 ish miles everyday for 12 days. It's going to be very hard and I for one am struggling to do enough training to feel confident. There just aren't enough fair weather hours in the day at the moment and even if there were then I still don't know if I could fit it all in.

"Keith, come back!"

The four riders still haven't ridden together yet, Daddy Davies still hasn't stopped falling off his bike yet! So with this in mind we are all getting together on Thursday for a quick 65 mile run to Malvern and back. (Speaking of backs, John did his in on the last Malvern ride)
There is competition between myself, Dave and Paul to not be the last back, so watch this space!!!

Ride to Malvern

Dave, Keith and I, thought we would stretch our legs with a little ride to Malvern. 'Only 60 miles round trip', proclaims Keith. Only indeed....!

We set off From Dave's abode shortly after 9am heading towards Stourbridge. Dave in the lead, with Keith bringing up the rear. We breezed past Stourbridge and were soon on top of the M5. Our route would take us through Bromsgrove and Droitwich, chasing the A38 through Worcester, to Dave's caravan just short of Malvern. It was incredibly tempting to turn right onto the M5 making a more direct route, however, I'm sure the motorway police would be none too impressed (especially that Scottish copper in that lorry from the telly!)



Dave's House



The first few miles were a bit of a grind, shaking off the 'rust' and getting my muscles up to temperature. But after that, automatic pilot clicked on and, and it was down to the odd short steep incline to remind us that we were still on bikes! I say us, I don't think Keith even knew he was on a bike! The guy is a machine! He was like a magnet, no more than two feet behind us at any time! He hadn't broken out in a sweat, I don't even think he was out of breath! Now for those of you who don't know Keith, this guy is in his early 50s, so to be bombing up and down the many hills of Worcestershire at the pace he was going at, was truly astonishing!

Keith never would give up the cycling!

A little over two hours saw us at our destination. The only time we really stopped, was for what seemed like the 100s of traffic lights we kept getting caught at! Dave's caravan is currently in storage (and is for sale if anyone is interested, 5 berth, 6 years old with outside toilet!!) so there was no hot lunch waiting for us. Dave had smuggled some tea bags and little milk cartons amongst his person, and a hot cuppa was soon being enjoyed. This is where the most difficult part of the journey hit us; trying to work out how the self timer on Keith's camera worked. The three of us must have been scratching our heads for 10 minutes trying to work the blooming thing out. We finally got there in the end after a few snaps of the ground and a passing pigeon we had success. Hopefully a couple of photos of us lined up in the drizzle by the caravan will soon be posted!

After an hours rest or so, the dreaded return journey began, and within seconds we were hit with another steep incline. I immediately began thinking that there was no way of me making it back home, my legs were already stinging. Fortunately the summit was soon reached and I had a nice long down hill giving me chance to recover. from there I was back in my stride, and in no time at all we had skipped past Worcester and nearly through Droitwich. It was then that Dave and Keith started to pull away a little. The cycle fitness and the many miles in the saddle that they have over me was beggining to show. I began to get caught at traffic lights that the other two sailed through. But they never left me. Both of them regularly looking over their shoulders checking on my progress.


"I can see your bald patch Old Boy".

On the outbound journey we had a lovely mile and a half of nicely surfaced tarmac. However, it was not until I reached the same stretch coming back that I realised that this flat road actually hid a sneaky incline with the opposite carriageway been ridiculously bumpy. This road never seemed to end and even Dave, a seasoned cyclist found it tough. I was cooked. Dave and Keith waited for me yet again. This time by a sign indicating Stourbridge being 10 miles away, which meant 12 miles to the sanctuary of Dave's house and my car. From nowhere, Keith produced an Apple Nutrigrain, and after resting up for a few minutes, I felt like a new man- well, until the next hill came along anyway! We bimbled on towards Stourbridge, with Keith once again taking the lead. I was doing around 14mph at this point and Keith was still having to wait for us. I still can't comprehend the energy, never mind the patience, he must have. For a 28 year old being carried all that way by two blokes hanging just the either side of their 50s, was a humbling experience. We zipped around the grand prix circuit known as Stourbridge ring road and 10 minutes later I was lying down on Dave's driveway. In all, we covered just over 62 miles. That is still 15 miles short of the daily average on the big event. I am so glad I will be driving the support vehicle. I do not envy any of the riders who are taking on the End2End challenge. But for those of you who are, take this as a warning; you need to train, train and train some more. Don't underestimate the enormity of this event, it will test you to your limit and beyond! Except, of course for Keith, who will most likely stumble out of bed on the first day and reach the John O Groat's finish line before breakfast!!

Posted by John

The tale of John and his winter ride

Why do we pay road tax? South Staffordshire and Wolverhampton Councils, hang your head in shame! I've only cycled 21 miles this afternoon, and Wolverhampton has some of the bumpiest roads I have ever been on, while South Staffordshire has more holes in their roads than Albion's defence! 

"Hello, is that Accident Direct?"

Anyway, rant over! It was nice to get out minus all the thermals-first time this year- the sun was shining, and occasionally, it was quite warm! I had my I pod blasting Chase & Status' new album, for company, and that kept me going as for me, solo riding is mentally more difficult. It was my first proper outing with them fancy new pedals and cleats, and I was ok until I go to some traffic lights, forgot all about them and nearly went! I managed to stay upright but there was some significant wobbling going on! 


The ride was going well, until about four miles before home when that wind that has been hanging around for the last week or so reared its ugly head. Out of nowhere, I was blasted with an almighty head wind that nearly stopped me in my tracks! I ploughed on through it for about a mile, trying to make myself as small a possible. Being 6 foot 4 and carrying a bit of timber, it wasn't the easiest of tasks! However, I soon came rattling into Perton, and gained some shelter. From there, I had a couple of nice down hills with one nasty uphill/mountain before I arrived home and once more came close to taking a tumble due to those bloomin pedals!


Posted by John