My Journey. Beating Cancer & 20stone to a 3100 mile non stop race [Part 2]

Written by Dave on 24 January 2020.

This journey started because my buddy Ollie wanted an experiment, I think. We decided to do Revolve 24-hour cycle challenge as a 4-man team I didn't even own a bicycle..

I started off my weight-loss journey on a little Hybrid which was slow, or I was just really very slow Pah. I could only manage 5 miles at first so when I reached 10m covered in sweat this felt awesome, but I did notice these guys zooming past me on racing bikes well it's what I knew them as anyways....

I needed a Road bike (oh yeah that's what people call them) I went shopping and picked a little Red Fuji named Ruby now. a very lightweight piece of Kit and it made a massive difference too, I could soon do 20 miles, I got the bike late July we were racing in just 6 weeks, it was then we noticed other teams and the mileage they were doing, I could possibly reach 500 miles and other riders posted online they had done 5,000+ oh boy, When we got to the closed circuit of brands hatch motor racing track we saw those hills and I really didn't like hills, OK so it was a challenge so what if we finished last the plan was to finish. 24 hours of pain I was a broken man, I wanted to throw that bike away, but looking at the results we done so much better than we thought, Happy days.

I took the most of the winter off training but come the spring I wanted to ride again, I was asked to write a story of how I was dropping weight so well with the feedback from the newspaper that I decided to start Dave's Changed my online blog and social media pages of how I overcame Cancer to overcoming weight-loss along with depression and anxiety too. I was inspired to inspire

There are so many people that seek help but everyone that offers help wants to sell them something for a monthly fee, so I thought I'd love to tell my story and maybe inspire someone to lose weight or be more confident after surgery,

Since that 1st event I've taken part in 3 other 24 hour races with a team, But I decided it was time to now step up and go solo, once I reached over 6 stone in weight loss instead of upgrading my car to a newer model I had a new bike built for me, Wyndy made bikes for team GB and also did really funky colour schemes at a price of course, it wasn't about the money it was about investing in myself.

I still need to lose weight and work a little on my mindfulness but having my group does inspire me to try different things and report on them,

My plan for Raam21 is to complete some of Europe's most prestige events in 2020 to up my game and be race-ready for raam because I will be fitter and stronger and be able to handle the miles along with constant rotation within the team, This will include March Spanish Mountains trip, London Revolution race 155mile,

Chase the Sun from sunrise to sunset approx. 235 miles across England, then on to Italy a week later to the Alps and the highest point Slevio Mountain where we plan on setting out at 2am and riding up this mountain 3 times hoping to finish around 10pm it's one of Europe's toughest days in the saddle,

France and the Le Mans 24 hour race yes they hold one for cyclists too It’s a very hot ride with 540 teams of 8 plus 100 solo riders of which I'll be one, this event sold out in a day, Mersey UK National TT Championship 24 hour endurance race around Liverpool area on open roads.  and I finish my season as always with The Revolve 24-hour solo race at the infamous Brands Hatch circuit of the hills. There will be many more if you want to check me out on Daveschanged on FB etc. All the races and events along with the stories I've sold the monies raised has gone to Cancer Research charities and I will continue to raise what I can when I can as any help for these charities is much needed.

To get the call up to race in Ramm21 as the only British rider on this team of hero's from the good ol USofA is a dream come true after I was part of a 4 man British team that finished 3rd overall of course I was only crew in 2019, I was very emotional at first then a plan of action had to come in hence my list of events,  I will truly up my game in both training a commitment to others the training is going to hurt I know this and I'm putting a plan together for winter training camps that'll help progress me from an event rider. To help others I've set up a non-profit bike spares and accessories company that will help get others into fitness. I always try to Pay It Forward by giving rather than selling on my Kit. everything I've done so far with Dave's Changed and Clip in Gear has helped give those in need a free to use service, which I am the only sponsor of, I am in talks with a couple of others who now also wish to help me grow this so hopefully we'll be able to help many more in the future.

I've never done anything solo or unsupported like I'll be doing in the next 18 months I personally don't know what will happen to my body or mindset, but I can’t wait to get going and see just how strong a group of 8 survivors are on this journey. Thanks for reading I promise you all I'll give it my fullest.

Love Dave