Overall I am one of the last type of persons to consider doing the NC500 cycle tour for cancer research. What I like to do is my research on the function of vitamin A in the brain, my teaching to enthuse the next generation of researchers and discoverers and, well, that’s it. Outside of that I really do very little else. Although I cycle, it is purely to get to work via a convenient and cheap route. It is also a good place to do some thinking, as illustrated here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-jiMpNCScM. Although I do some hill walking, it is only to walk the dog. If there is anything I like to do outside of science it is to enjoy a good book (science fiction of course) with a nice cup of coffee and a slice of carrot cake (with really thick cream cheese icing).
It kept nagging me though that I should do something about this idea of a cycle tour for cancer research so I went out for the occasional long cycle ride with Steve and company – which I found not too bad as long as it was not going up hills, or against the wind, or heaven forbid in the rain – none of which I presumed would be issues in sunny North West Scotland. Overall the vehicles I shared the road with in Aberdeenshire were surprisingly forgiving – no aggressive horn tooting at all. I would give the drivers all a friendly wave – I did not see a wave back though – it was a little hard to see what they were gesturing in the dark interior of their car in fact. Thus it began to seem more a reality and I joined the other cyclists with a “justgiving” funding page. As I am an asocial media person - Facebook etc make me shiver, I went the old fashioned route and just asked people – and the generosity has been astounding.
So, what pushed me over the edge to join the brave group of enthusiastic gung-ho thoroughbred cyclists fired up to collect funds for cancer research and with more energy than I ever will in a lifetime. Why am I tagging along? Well, sometimes you have to be willing to diverge from the normal. I am very comfortable in my habit. However, so many have had their habits broken through the appearance of cancer; living normal lives until this dread disease creeps up. It leads to pain and suffering, worry and strife, but is not the outright killer it once was thanks to medical research. So many cancers are now treatable thanks to scientific discoveries leading to therapeutics. It needs though to be totally eradicated and funds for continued cancer research are needed for that. Hence I will be out there braving hills, rain, wind, midges, deer and wild rabbits hoping to bring in as much money as possible.
To support the the team please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/campaig…/charity/…/nc500challenge
