London to Paris on a bicycle to raise over $4500 for the LAM Treatment Alliance

Bicyclist Chul Smith & team made outstanding efforts in support of LAM research with their bike fund raising trip from London to Paris. We would like to recognize their significant personal sacrifice and significant contribution to the LAM Foundation. Together they raised over $4,500 (£2,800) to benefit our search for a cure.

Chul shared the experience in an email to the LAM Treatment Alliance:

Thank you, thank you and thank you for all of your generosity and support!! You all contributed $4,500 (£2,800) to the LAM Treatment Alliance which is almost double my initial goal. You're incredible! Big ups to all of you! http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/chul-smith/chuldsmith

The ride went very well. My group of five became three as a couple of the riders had to cancel/postpone due to unfortunate circumstances. The three of us were a bit apprehensive about how we were going to do because let's just say our training regimen fell MILES short of the recommended training schedule we had been given. We had been been on three rides - 32, 35 and 42 miles. Those were supposed to be done in training week 7 (out of 16) alone! But once we got speaking to others, some had done even less training than us!

We (113 of us) left early Wednesday morning (645am!) out of Crystal Palace (SE London) and encountered the beginning of rush hour traffic, but nothing too major as we were heading out of town rather than into it. It was a brisk morning and the first couple of miles were all downhill, but as I said in my last email, going downhill now meant having to go uphill later - and did we ever! For the next 10 miles, we pedalled uphill and was capped off by a 25% gradient! Only a few were able to make it up that beast without having to walk it - I was not one of them. The rest of the day was relatively flat but then more hills as we approached Dover. We boarded the ferry and on the French side, convoyed as a group to our hotels in Calais as night fell.

The next day, my riding partner had pulled a muscle in her leg and was unable to continue as we approached the first water stop. Feeling defeated, disappointed, angry and frustrated, she took the rest of the day off as it wasn't worth making it worse as there were more hills to follow. It was up and down all afternoon across the French countryside. I was expecting to pass through quaint villages but instead was greeted with a whole lot of green. Farmland. And plenty of it! My allergies weren't liking it too much but I carried on. There was a mean headwind all day (every corner I took, it was in my face!) so as I approached other cyclists, I would take a breather by drafting (I learned that from my dad on a road trip to Florida when I was 8 - I saw a whole lot of the back of semis that trip). Anyway, I made pretty good time to Abbeville but wasn't killing it because after all, it wasn't a race - and I was on a mountain bike.

Day three started and Jacqueline was feeling pretty good and very determined to cycle. She spent a lot of time icing her leg the previous day and that seemed to have worked. It made my evening of asking the hotel bar to fill sanitary disposal bags with ice all worth it. We were to go about 65 miles that day - including a 20 mile uphill stretch. The hills in England were steep and short but the hills in France were not steep but very long. Sometimes we didn't even know we were on a hill until our speed dipped into the single digits. There was more farmland and the headwind hadn't died down at all. But once we got over the hill, the afternoon was very cruise-y. It was undulating (which ended up being a catch-phrase of the trip). My knee in which I tore my meniscus started acting up towards the end of the day but I managed to get into Beauvais just fine. We enjoyed some drinks upon arrival as we only had a day left and it was only half the distance we cycled on day one. It was going to be a piss-take (which means 'piece of cake' in British).

The last day started with a 10 mile uphill but from there on, it was all downhill (both figuratively and literally). The 'fast' group finally realized that they weren't going to get a medal for getting there first. Everyone took a leisurely approach to the day, stopping in cafes and brasseries for coffees and beers. It was a great vibe - very chilled out. We met up just a couple of miles away from the Eiffel Tower and all convoyed into Paris. By this time, my knee was killing me - but hell, we were in Paris! We made it! We approached the Arc de Triomphe and cycled through the roundabout - yeah, the five-lane crazy roundabout - and then headed to the tower. We were greeted by many families and friends of some of the riders with banners and champagne. It felt really great to have completed it for myself, with Jacqueline and Justin, having met many incredible people along the way, and for the money raised for LAM disease research and treatment. Overall, the group raised close to £200,000 for over 50 charities.

I thought about Lindsay often on the trip. She positively influenced and touched a lot of people - probably every person she met. One of my fondest memories is when she and Brian would come over for Alias night (that Sydney Bristow was a badass). She was an amazing daughter, sister, wife, niece, cousin and friend.

Here are the maps of my route if you're interested:
Day 1: http://j.mp/kVjgMD
Day 2: http://j.mp/lQUtld
Day 3: http://j.mp/ksGhO9
Day 4: http://j.mp/jFM9Yi

Please check out photos here (you don't need a facebook account to view them): http://on.fb.me/kZlDUQ

On behalf of the LAM Treatment Alliance (and me) thank you all again!

Much love,
chul

Bravo Chul and team for your outstanding efforts in support of the LAM Treatment Alliance!