I'm a double cancer survivor, cyclist and walker who does various challenges for different charities, mainly cancer-related.

In 2016 I climbed every single 'Birkett' in the Lake District - all 542 fells over 1,000' within the National Park, including all 214 Wainwrights. I've also done a three-week cycle tour of Tasmania in February 2015 and amongst other things, I've cycled from Land's End to John o'Groats (2003), Rotterdam to Lemvig (Denmark) (2005), walked the Pennine Way (2008) completed (my first) ascent of all 214 'Wainwrights' in the Lake District in only 55 days (2009), cycled 4,500 miles around the coast of Great Britain (2011), cycled all 42 of the accessible Western Isles of Scotland in under a month (2012), twice abseiled 230 ft from the top of The Big One in Blackpool, cycled the WWI Western Front from London to Compiegne via Ypres and Arras (2014), cycled 750 miles in the Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton (2014), done a bit of sky-diving and cycled Australia's Great Ocean Road - just before lockdown in 2020.

Altogether I've raised over £120,000 for my charities including The Christie, Cancer Research UK, the Rosemere Cancer Foundation, and ABF (The Soldiers' Charity) and I was mightily chuffed to receive the British Empire Medal in the 2014 New Year's Honours List.

I'm a Rotarian and give illustrated talks about my adventures in exchange for a donation to charity, so if you're looking for a speaker leave me a message. I am also Event Organiser for the Ribble Valley Ride Cycle Sportive, to be held this year on Sunday 5 September 2021 - more details at www.ribblevalleyride.org

You can also follow me on Twitter - @CancerBikeMan and on Facebook - just search for Bill Honeywell

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research, whilst The Rosemere does fantastic work for patients in Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Record Breakers!!

After Bill & Richard's Excellent Adventure (I think this name will stick!), the next big, fantastic challenge is - as one of a team of 20 cyclists - setting the record for a relay cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End, in August 2012.

This is quite a remarkable challenge for several reasons.  I believe that on at least one occasion, cycle clubs have cycled 'End-to-End' as a relay group, but no one has ever had this feat authenticated by the famous Guinness Book of Records.  Previous unofficial teams have comprised club enthusiasts, not a country-wide mix of 'ordinary' cyclists; no other team has comprised both sexes (as far as I know); and certainly no team has been put together through the medium of Twitter to consist of cyclists who have never met each other before.


















This is the big difference with the JoGLe 2012 Relay team.  Sharon Duggan is the driving force behind it all: she has been working her socks off for the last few months - putting the team together, planning the stages, sorting out sponsorship - so that now we have a team. a route, and massive backing from JCB with their favoured charity - the NSPCC.

The ride will take place on the weekend of 9/10/11 August this year, starting at John O'Groats. Each rider will have a stage of 42 miles - mine is Stage 9, from just north of Lockerbie, across the border to south of Carlisle. Some of the riders will be doing over 20mph, although with my ageing frame (my body, not the bike) I'll be happy with 17mph and hope some of the younger lads will make up for me!



















This weekend we had our first team meeting in the Midlands.  Seven of us met up for a ride on Saturday afternoon, and to my relief I wasn't left flailing in the wake of the other cyclists - John, Daz, Anthony, Jo, Simon and Andy.  In the evening we all met for Sharon to give us a great presentation and pep talk, which brought us up to date with progress so far. JCB are fully behind the scheme and will be supplying our cycling kit and other support.  Service cars are arranged. Guinness World Records have accepted the record challenge.  Everything is moving forward at a pace.

So pretty soon I shall go and reccy my stage - especially the section through Carlisle - so that there are no slip ups on the day.  Once I've finished, Val and I will drive to Land's End to be there for the grandstand finish.  It's all very exciting!

We would like to raise some funds for the NSPCC during this event - if you would like to sponsor my stage (or any of the other stages) please let me know. Between now and August this is going to receive a LOT of publicity, so it will be money well spent!

PS If you are on Twitter, make sure you follow @Jogle2012relay (and me, @CancerBikeMan)! - and put the web site - www.JogLe2012relay.com on your favourites for more updates!
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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous22 March 2012 at 12:25

    Only just read about this, sorry to hear that the event is off - Norton Radstock Round Table did it many years ago and my husband was one of the team, like you said, they never thought to record it officially.

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