Born to Run

After my post that was less than generous to the seven who winged their way to Lands End from John o Groats, I must give praise to this man




Running 43 marathons in 51 days and covering 1160 miles is a most fantastic achievement. That is truly something to respect.

Well done Mr Izzard. If you can do that, then I can't even consider not doing 360 miles in 4 days in May. You are an inspiration.

Little Britain

Just a quickie today (as the actress said to the bishop)

As I'm typing this, I'm watching "The Million Pound Bike Ride" about Fearne Cotton, Miranda Hart, Russell Howard, Patrick Kielty, Davina McCall, Jimmy Carr and David Walliams cycling John o Groats to Lands End to raise funds for Sport Relief. Good on them for raising money for charity BUT if they don't stop bleating about how hard it is, I'm going to throw the laptop through the TV.

I mean, they are only riding about 26 miles a day each in a relay. They are not carrying their own luggage, they have got a luxury bus and outriders etc following them. Its not hard to ride 26 miles a day. I do at least 25 miles a day and then do a full days work (or am at work) on top of this. I also carry all my kit for work, change of clothing etc. On Monday, I did 30 miles before work, and 30 miles after work.


Starting off on my SOLO LEJoG

These bloody celebrities don't know what a hard day's cycling is. Gethin Butler did LEJoG solo in 48 hours, non stop. These lot took 82 hours riding in a relay of six riders.

Am I unfair on them? I think not. They raised a huge amount of money and deserve credit for that. However, its not hard to do 30 miles a day. Its not as hard as they make out. They also have someone pacing them as they ride. A luxury I only had for 3 days when my father joined me. His pace making included taking a detour from my planned route to find the toughest hill on the whole ride.


With my Father at Carnforth - A Brief Encounter


John o Groats- A Personal Challenge Achieved

Well I've managed another 2 days leisurely commuting, but carrying a considerable extra weight. My mother, brother and sister have been down in London the last two days, so I have met them in Central London for tea each night. This has necessitated me locking my bike up in the street, so I had to take 3 heavy duty locks to secure my bike. This is on top of my usual clothing, tools etc. It was good to see them. They have gone off to a show tonight (Sister Act). They never invited me- but that's probably because "It's only Peter"; isn't that right Jacqui?

I've now only got 44 days to go before my flight to the USA. Its scary how little time there is left.


BTW Greg, if you are reading this, you need to get some miles in if we are to do LEJoG this summer. Time is running out for you to get your training in.

finally to show, i'm not just a grumpy git, here is the link to the sport relief website but instead of donoting to those wimps, go to and donate to my sponsored bike ride.

New York

Well, time has flown again and I still have not made another post in less than a week.

Since I last posted, I have made some progress in planning my travel to the USA. I have my ESTA authorisation to travel now. A relatively painless online process. Clearly my name is not on the USA no fly list. Who said "Not yet"?

I have decided to fly out to the USA on Sunday 2nd May on the 2025 Virgin flight out of Heathrow to arrive in Newark at 2310 ESB time. This means that on the Sunday, I will be travelling to Heathrow directly from the QPR v Newcastle game when hopefully we will be lifting the league championship trophy. A busy day!

I've just booked my flights as I've been typing this. Selected my seats and ordered my on board meals. Just car parking to arrange now. I'm driving to Heathrow on Sunday morning- leaving luggage at left luggage and parking the car, then going to football. After game, I will come back, collect luggage, drop it off at check in and hit the bar again. Just got to sort out the car parking now!

Am still hoping that another trip before then may come off. It was dead in the water on Monday, but God moves in mysterious ways and it may be back on. Finger's crossed.

Right, cycling news- I've actually managed a couple of longer rides in last week. On Wednesday a few of us from work went for a drink and a curry in Brick lane. The others were suited and booted, with me in lycra. Yes, I cycled to pub and home from Brick Lane. I was determined not to miss out on cycling.

On Thursday, I cycled to / from work as usual and then after that, I cycled 2/3rd of way back to work to attend a cycling club committee meeting.So managed 40 miles on the day.

The weekend brought me travelling round - Home - Crawley on Friday night and back on Saturday morning for the cycling club and the Orient game on Saturday afternoon. Then back to Crawley until Monday morning.

Monday brought me cycling from Crawley to Westminster and back again, a total of 60 miles for the day. It was my longest ride since last summer. A long day, but I loved it. Can't wait to repeat it again. I eventually drove home from Crawley late on Monday night- tired, but very happy. I think I will be cycling to/ from Crawley again on a work day. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend.

I've had a few more donations in today towards my sponsorship target. Thanks to all those who have donated.

I've also ordered and paid for my cycling kit for the ride. All riders have to wear the Police Unity Tour kit

Work wise, the last 48 hours have been interesting as we published our report on CPS London and it has hit the major press and lots of local press as well as the BBC. The reports are written in "civil service speak" but despite this are still very critical of CPS London- and rightly so. The reports are available online at www.hmcpsi.co.uk if you are interested. I have to confess the reports are rather uninteresting reading. The executive summaries are just about readable.