Cambridge Cycling Challenge

The Cambridge Cycling Challenge has been running over the last three weeks. Aside from the fact that my little jaunt to Paris fell right in the middle allowing me to log plenty of miles, the whole aim of this challenge was to encourage new cyclists to give it a go. Never one to be competitive (!), I took on the job of coordinating Oakland's effort, resulting in 5 new cyclists either starting or returning to the sport. One guy in particular had his bike in the shed for over a year, came out for a 10 minute ride on a borrowed bike, went home, fixed his own bike and has been commuting to work since!

Cycling offers an opportunity to make a difference in so many ways. The obvious one is health benefits. The challenge resulted in the equivalent of 1200 lb of fat being burnt, and over 2000 logging journeys. In addition, cycling to work offers benefits in terms of increased productivity, reduced sick days and so on.

From an environmental point of view, The Guardian's Green Living Blog often features cycling stories (including these guys who have just cycled 3000 km down the Danube to raise awareness of biodiversity). During the Cambridge challenge, over 20 000 trips were logged, 17 000 of them for work purposes. this equates to over 34 000 kg of CO2 being saved - not a bad effort!

The challenge now is for the new riders to keep going and to continue to make a difference to themselves and the environment.

By the way, the challenge ran alongside a similar one in Oxford. As I write this (with only a few hours to go), Cambridge lead Oxford 123 - 111 in new riders! Get in!

After the Lord Mayor's Show

So, a week on from C2P already! Like many (all?) of the others, it's been a strange old week. After so many months of training, planning and anticipation and then 5 days full on cycling, coming back to reality was a strange transition. By Monday night I was climbing the walls and had to get out for a quick spin down the road. A couple of other rides to and from work helped me get back into the swing of things. I then joined up with the group from Walden Tri for their Sunday morning ride. I learnt that all cyclists are the same (well not quite the same - Team Jelly Baby is clearly special!). Nice and easy it was going to be. 15-17mph. This was the medium group. 3 miles in and we hit 24 mph cruising along the roads of Essex. What a great ride! Overall 18mph for 32 miles with several efforts off the front and a few hills thrown in. Riding to Paris it wasn't, but it was still great fun.

A week on, and having originally thought that after C2P I wouldn't bother with further challenges, I'm already in planning mode. Nothing any time soon, and nothing definite yet, but there are certainly a couple of dragons on the horizon...

Welcome

Hi! Welcome to my new blog. For new visitors, it's great to meet you. For those who have been hanging out with me for a while, welcome to my new premises!

So, what's Kill the Dragon all about? In essence, it's about making a difference. The ways in which that happens are still to be refined (and excuse the mess whilst I swap around the furniture!), but I'd like this to be a blog about hope and inspiration. It is possible to make a difference when you put your mind to it and this blog is here to report on the things people are doing, whether it is me personally or other stories I share.

In time, this page may be used to coordinate groups of people who are trying to achieve something but need a little help to get there. It may be about raising money in different ways or drawing attention to causes close to my heart.

There was once a little boy on a beach covered in starfish. As an older man watched, the little boy threw the starfish, one by one back into the sea.
"What are you doing?" enquired the man.
"Making a difference" replied the boy.
"But there are too many starfish here to get them all back into the sea. You will never make a difference"
The boy picked up another starfish and threw it back into the sea. "I have just made a difference".

For those that don't know, I have just cycled from Cambridge to Paris for Bliss. So, what's next? Well my goals are as follows:

Short term - To spend more time with the family whilst maintaining a good level of fitness
Medium term - The occasional challenge to keep the endorphins happy
Long term - I will cycle from Land's End to John O-Groats before I'm 40

There. I've said it. Now I've got to do it.