Continued Journeys

I came to the Bay of Plenty, NZ from the UK with a real passion for sport and the outdoors. Through pushing my limits in the sports I love, I have had a run of injury. A fractured clavicle whilst mountain biking the Skyline in Rotorua and my latest, rupturing my ACL and fracturing my Tibia Plateau skiing in Queenstown on the Remarkables ski field.

The care and treatment I received from ACC has been second to none and I am very grateful. A system designed to care and to give support for those who injury themselves in the sports they love.

I want to give something back to NZ and to encourage others to do the same. Also, to participate in sports activities and to never let injury or disability prevent them.

Cycling has been a huge part of my part of my injury recovery exercise. My challenge is cycling 160km around Lake Taupo with a target time of sub six hours. I am hoping to inspire others to be aware of the benefits of what sport can do for injury and for people with disabilities.

UPDATE POST RACE

The day of the race came around. Setting off strong and confident - the cool, overcast morning helped set a comfortable pace that I could sustain for the race. Shortly after reaching just under the half way mark, around 70km I started feeling a pain in my left knee (my good one). I kept pushing through until making it to Turangi on the South side of the lake the pain became substantial. During this time I was questioning the form of my riding; was my seat or handle bars too high or low? But I knew leading upto this ride I had done hundreds of kms of training with no adjustment to my bikes geometry. 121.30km of a 160km ride my knee said no more. The pain was unbearable. After deliberating what to do next, whilst sat soaking in Lake Taupo to try and reduce swelling my friend Dave came to the rescue after completing in an amazing time of 4:30.00. I believe my 'good knee' has been over compensating for my 'bad knee' (the one that suffered a ruptured ACL). I suspect inflammation in my meniscus was causing the pain. After being discharged earlier that week before the race this Saturday - the result to not need surgery - my approach changed into full charge during the race. The decision was to pull the plug - I didn't want to continue for risk of causing more or permanent damage to my knee. Frustration up to this point has been high but still the will to go on and continue my journey has been overwhelmingly positive. I want to thank all the fundraisers for the donations so far, you all got me as far as I did. Thank you.