MONDAY JULY 30TH
STAGE NINETEEN
COGNAC TO ANGOULEME, 55.5 km
GEOFF gets back in the saddle for the time trial today but injured rider Phil
Bullas takes over diary duties on the penultimate day of Team Thomas' 2007 Tour
I WAS with the support crew again today, the knee injury that forced me out on
stage seven still has not cleared up so I was helping the rest of the lads out.
Obviously, this Tour has not been everything I would have wanted it to be,
from a personal point of view. I thoroughly enjoyed the first week, I found it
exciting and physically demanding, a real challenge. I loved the feeling of
having to dig deep every day. Part of my motivation for riding the Tour, apart
from helping the Geoff Thomas Foundation, of course, was to experience that
physical test of pushing your body to the limit every day.
I loved that sense during the first week of saying "Wow, I can't believe I
just did that!" Then going out the next day and doing it all over again. Each
day became a bigger and bigger achievement.
Unfortunately, my knee had been bothering me for about three days or so and
when it finally went I knew it wouldn't be a case of just needing a day or two
of rest. I hoped it would get better with every day but I made two attempted
comebacks and, both times, it soon started hurting. The second time I only
managed 5 or 10 km before it started whingeing. I could maybe have got through
one stage with pain killers but that wasn't why we are here.
So, the only way through the disappointment was to become a member of the
support staff and help the other lads get to Paris. That's not the same as doing
it myself, I don't feel the same sense of exhaustion and achievement that the
rest of the guys do as we approach Paris. But I have enjoyed turning my focus to
the riders and watching them get through it.
I watched Griz and his late-night finishes in the Pyrenees and I have been
delighted to see Dave get through his Tour. I was really worried about Dave at
one stage, he was so thin and wasn't eating or sleeping. But, like all the lads,
Dave has got stronger, dug deep and taken on the challenge.
I'm sad I've not done it all myself but I can't do anything about that. I
never thought about going home. I've just accepted the fact and enjoyed watching
the other guys reach their goal. I've sacrificed a lot over the past six months
to be here and, even though I've not been able to ride myself, there has been a
buzz about the whole Tour and I wanted to see it through to the end.
At first, I was a bit envious of the lads but every night is so emotional
when they finish that I feel proud of them and feel proud to be part of the team
and the team bonding experience every day. I know myself what the guys are going
through and I have seen them climb the mountain stages so I feel even prouder of
them.
I wish I knew if there was something I could have done to avoid the injury
but maybe my knee is just not strong enough to get through something like this.
Now, I'll give it a go tomorrow in the hope I can ride with the rest of the guys
into Paris.
Today, there wasn't much for us to be concerned about. It was a short, flat
stage and the boys - who were joined by Geoff who is back in the saddle and his
old friend from London, Gio - went well as a team.
In fact, for the past couple of days, the lads have ridden as a group a lot
more and when they're riding along as a self-contained unit, they look fantastic
as they sweep up and down the long, straight, rolling roads that we have seen in
this part of France since we left the Pyrenees.
The weather was a bit grey when we set off, and drizzling, but the threatened
downpour never came.
We stayed in an old French chateau last night which was stunning
architecturally but smelled a bit musty and there were one or two claims of flea
sightings during the night! So, in the light of all that, an early start today
was a good idea, especially as we have a five-hour drive this afternoon to our
base in Paris from where we will ride the last stage tomorrow.
In 2004, I was diagnosed with diffused large B cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma. My
treatment consisted of 18 weeks of R-CHOP chemotherapy and 4 weeks of
radiotherapy. Even though they tell you not to, I looked at the prognosis for my
age group and the stage I was at, and I had an 80 per cent chance of survival.
The odds were stacked in my favour and that's the positive way I looked at it.
Everybody is unique, everybody's body is unique and people respond to
treatment differently but a lot of fighting cancer has to do with your spirit.
You've got to believe you'll get through it. I had heard lots of stories of
people surviving cancer so I just saw it as another challenge in life to be
overcome. It's three years in October since I finished my treatment and,
although you are never given the all-clear as such, I've been told I'm in total
remission and that's good enough for me.
Along with Griz, I'm a trustee of Cyclists Fighting Cancer, which is how I
came to be out here. And I have to say that what Geoff is trying to do with the
Geoff Thomas Foundation is fantastic.
He has identified a method of pooling resources between clinical staff,
research labs, the mechanics that support the various professors. From the
personal experience of being in hospital, you want the best treatment, the best
drugs, the best of everything you can, as soon as possible. The sooner
everything is pulled together the better because, as a patient, you want
everything now.
Hopefully, Geoff and the Foundation can come to the fore so there can be many
more advances in treatments for cancer patients.
