Kriss Akabusi's Blog

The support vehicle populated by Andy “Papa Adkins” Hollis @74promotions you won’t know him but he was the daddy, driver, and dedicated harmonizer; Sarah Hitchman who has the best hands in the business was our masseuse, comedienne, and surprisingly to me a real caretaker, one of those people who looks for and fills in the gaps in whatever needs doing from preparing the drinks to giving pep talks. She was ubiquitous, she is also obviously barking.  Last but not least in the chuckle bus “could say more but what goes on in the bus stays in the bus” was chief organiser, worrier, mischief maker, administrator, TACT’s own Liz Strangways @lizstrangways . These people made our business “500miles/5days” their concern and pulled out all the stops to make it happen.

Then of course there were the riders; Aidan “Porky” Lane is about 10 stone wet through and I’ve seen more meat on a butchers pencil so when asked by a journalist “why Porky?”, he started telling a story about golf & loving Pork pies… but then went on to remark it might have something to do with him humping pigs   However, I digress, the important thing was he went all the way my constant companion, as was Indy “Hill Burner” Gill.  Indy is a nut case.  Although slight, he is a ball of muscle and sinew, from day one he rode with the Hill Burner mentality by day 5 he was the undisputed “King of the Hill” taking all comers up to the top of the hill but made it look as if they were coming back down again. We had to chuckle when in our first powwow he informs us that he did two half marathons and a full marathon then decided to get himself fit so saw the TACT bike ride as an opportunity for a 4month crash course!  Tour de France watch out!!  So, we 3 musketeers with our chuckle bus rode Edinburgh-Gateshead-Masham-Sheffield some total of 260miles before our next injection of fresh blood.

In Sheffield we are joined by “Cooper Man” @coopes64 he is a bloke I met in the twitter verse mad as a march hare on line but a real gentle man in 3 D.  He looked a little like a ghost buster with his drinking pouch strapped to his back, but he’s got testicles, as he bought his bike for the ride having sponsored me some four months earlier and easily handled the 18 mph average we were turning during various 5 mile intervals. My ex international hurdles colleague @lesantoine joined in Sheffield too & was supposed to be doing one leg to Birmingham but we mugged him off so he stayed till London. Tall dark and Handsome… well dark anyway he has a bigger laugh than me and I soon found myself morphing into him his energy and humour was a great insert at this stage.  He teaches spinning now so stepped right up to the plate.  Bosh! Take that sucker, he was in.

I have to give a massive shout to Peter Hodgson who joined us here for a leg to Birmingham, a Footdown friend, he only joined to give us a hand in the fund raising stakes and when he saw the blurb about 10-12 mph thought he could do that having just prior to his 2week trip in France, done 240 miles in the West Country in aid of another good cause. Sorry, I think we may have misled Peter for after 35 miles of hammer & tongs (between 15-20 mph) he had to join our friends in the chuckle bus somewhere near Derby.  None-the-less I’m eternally grateful for his support, sense of fun and willingness to put his body on the line for others less fortunate. As Peter hopped off in Birmingham up popped “Rodders”.  Rodney Collins is 63 very accomplished cycling enthusiast, as a youngster he was the eastern counties junior champion, again very slight build but I knew from last year he can spin with the best of them. Giving away 30 plus years and 12 Kilo’s heavier he conceded his hilly billy mantel but added a much needed bit of professionalism to our last day.  We hammered it home reaching speeds of up to 25mph in significant parts of our journey, it was fun but when you have 120 miles to do that day it can be energy sapping too.  It really sapped it out of Porky so the pigs were safe when we reached London town. Last but not least Tony O’Neill (Sarah Hitchman partner) joined us on the most ugly contraption I have seen some cross between mountain/road bike and I thought no way could he make the 120 miles, but he did and O how he did. He is a strapping 6’2 inch 14 stone hunk (yes the sort that all the ladies swoon over) of a man who does marathons as well as swimming and cycling.  Added to the fact that he is a mighty West Ham United Fan, we got on famously.

So, with these 11 people we traversed the country and had plenty of laughs as well as lessons.  Take a look at our pictures and over the next few weeks I hope to share ten lessons learned from the saddle as I reflect on my time with this merry band of people.  I do hope you look in from time to time and see if anything resonates with your journey through life.

Adios Amigos