Tandem

Hello all , well, either I’m getting old or my latest challenge was knackering. Or as my wife would suggest we’ve had an extra year with brain cancer,

So last week Joe the eldest and I went out for a tonne on the tandem https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/liam-bergin7

We were raising money for brain tumour research… I am old for my community and brain tumours kill more under 40s than any other form of cancer. But as brains are complicated we don’t get much funding and each day of research costs 3k. Between us all we have nearly raised 2 days of research so far.

So why was it so hard? Well for the past decade I’ve had the tandem, always wondering why Jen was less than happy on the back seat. With Joe at 2m tall he had to take the front. So this time round, I was on the back, it really is bloody scary. Especially on canal tow paths. We’d chosen to go off road all the way and I was paying for it

Half way on the way down we got a mechanical that took 3 hours to sort as the bike pump broke and poor Joe had to run miles to a bike shop

Hilariously I’d fixed everything by the time Joe got back,oh how he laughed

I’d already made my mind up that if we got to Stafford the tandem was coming back on the train. But Joe who was about to leave for Canada for the summer was determined we would finish it together.

It’s a good reminder to cancer patients, that we can’t do this on our own. We need our families and friends, sometimes to say ‘calm down’, but also to say ‘No way dad, we can do this’

After the excitement and my short temperedness the day back was so much smoother, but appeared to be all up hill. So rather than frustration it was tiredness that nearly finished me off, but with joes good company we took our time and rested when we needed too and somehow made it back. It’s been a great metaphor for my brain tumour journey….listen to your friends and family, find the balance, your own pace and when it’s right to take it more slowly.

Goodbye to Joe and see you in 3 months. A massive thanks to Jen who put me in bed and fed me pizza in it (don’t tell the children)

Finally thanks for all that have supported me again through your lovely words and sponsorship

Last thing, anyone want to buy a tandem?