My parents are currently six days into their 1000-mile tandem ride from Land's End to John O'Groats. They are raising money for the National Kidney Federation, to whom you can make a donation here.
My dad is writing daily blog entries, which I am putting online when he phones them through to me each evening.
I've spent a fair amount of this morning helping my dad strap the tandem to the Prius. My parents are off to Rhayader to do The ACF Mid-Wales "Mountain Road" Ride tomorrow.
They're now finally on their way so now I have a weekend of writing PHP to look forward to punctuated only by the cooking of roast dinners and walking the dog. :-)
![[Me cycling]](/~dez/blogfiles/bikeride.jpg)
I went on the Southend Critical Mass for the first time this evening. The photo is actually from the 16-odd mile bike ride I went on yesterday.
They're held on the second Friday of every month, starting at 6pm at the top of the High Street. I hadn't been able to go previously, because before I had my transplant I was always on dialysis at the time they were taking place.
No-one got arrested this time, but the police showed up at the start and asked what our route would be. No-one knew, that being part of the point of a Critical Mass. Having seen the number of people present, they decided it wasn't worth them following us round.
However, after riding up and down the seafront, we attracted the attention of another unit, who stopped us as we came off the sea front then followed us to the end of the ride without further inteference.
Having completed the critical mass, my dad then got on a train to take part in a bike ride from Hyde Park Corner to Brighton, starting at midnight. I knew he was mad already though.