Paul Dulieu
Having driven the support van for a John O'Groats to Lands End cycling caper in 2004, Paul was inspired at the finish line by the overwhelming euphoria of the occasion (and two bottles of warm sparkling wine!). He vowed there and then that on the next trip he would be riding a bike, and unfortunately, with this ride being organised, Paul has had to live up to his promise!
Being a "bit of a porker" most of his life and having smoked 20-a-day since “God knows when”, Paul appreciated very quickly that if he was going to succeed he would need to make a couple of changes to his life. On New Years day he stopped smoking, began dieting and started training. So far, apart from to see where the rest of the Essex contingent are, he hasn't looked back.
Paul works as a PR Executive for Tavistock Communications in London (a profession not renowned for producing athletes) and lives in Brentwood, Essex with his hugely supportive girlfriend Gerry.
Apart from riding on the trip, Paul will be keeping our supporters up to date during the ride with his daily “View From The Saddle”, which you will be able to read each day on this website (this is just as long as he can stay awake and the others can keep him sober!).
James William Graham
The cycling story so far........last seen on a push-bike in public on 15 May 2004 at Lands End, Cornwall, muttering the immortal words `I hate cycling` and `never again`. Jimmy has mellowed over the last 2 years and finds himself back in the saddle due to some happy memories of the last project. Jimmy has traded in his faithful old penny farthing for a brand new road bike but has already removed the knife edge saddle and replaced it with a leather `lazy boy` to carry his ample backside to the south of France! Not the most mechanical of people, Jimmy’s training has been beset by technical hitches (most of which could have been prevented had he known one end of a screwdriver from the other!).
Having cycled 909 miles at the very back of the Peloton from John O’Groats to Lands End, Jimmy is quite excited at the prospect of not being in last place this time (well not all the way anyway!).
Once again Jimmy will be abstaining from the evils of alcohol en-route from London to Monte Carlo, which in itself should be worth a few quid in sponsorship. However, on arrival at the principality Jimmy intends to show 'Johnny Foreigner' how to enjoy himself with the mother of all parties. The gauntlet is being thrown down to the other cyclists to keep up with him once they get to the sunny south of France!!
Jimmy is happily married to Paula and has 2 lovely children, Tamsin 16 and Rory 13, all of whom think he is a silly old fool for attempting this challenge.
Dan Cunningham
Dan has been working for KBC London for the last 7 years trading European Interest Rates. Dan's only real riding experience was about 15 years ago, when he worked in the newspaper industry, (he was a paperboy) and got moaned at by the majority of his neighbours for always delivering their papers late !
This supposed riding experience took about 25 minutes daily from the point of leaving his bed to getting back into it , so its fair to say he is not what you would call an accomplished cyclist. He does play a good standard of football, is very competitive, and goes to the gym regularly so his general level of fitness is pretty good. That said , he has never contemplated riding over 984 miles in 9 days and definitely does not realise how painful the equivalent of 37 marathons in 9 days will be!
He agreed to do this bike ride in what can only be described as a ''moment of drunken madness'' whilst skiing in Verbier with his “so called mate” Paul Jennings. This “so called mate” also told him that they would only be taking on the Alps for a small part of the ride. Dan has recently been informed that this small part called ''the Alps'' will in fact take 3 days to get through and is “a little bit up and down”.
Never one to welch on a bet ,or back down, Dan has taken delivery of his new bike and is deadly serious about nailing this momentous charity bike ride, and is very motivated by raising a shed load of cash for a great cause. Dan knows of 3 people that have recently lost their fight to cancer and this just serves as an even bigger motivation for him.
Gavin Fletcher
Previous cycle experience – Crashing his sister’s unicycle.
A man of many guises, Gavin has been previously compared to none other than Stephen Lee (average snooker player), Ernie Els, Adrian Chiles (MOTD2) and Angus Fraser respectively. The “honest toiler” has been known to chance his arm at many sports including football, cricket, squash and badminton; culminating in him being decidedly average at all.
After graduating from University, and working on the Money Market, Gavin decided to fulfil his ambition to travel the world. On his expedition he encountered experiences that included:
- A brief stand off with a mountain lion
- An incident with an irate armed Vietnamese bartender
- An episode resulting in him singing “Wonderwall” by Oasis to an extended Cambodian family.
Gavin now works for HSBC in Canary Wharf, and at the age of 27, is the youngest member of the squad. However, don’t let this detract from the fact that Gavin will be anywhere else other than the rear of the Peloton with Jimmy Graham.
Richard Hines
So there he was, nearly 45, comfortable in the fact that having done no exercise for 13 years, since a number of knee operations, he would never have to break a sweat again (unless running for the train after oversleeping on a Friday morning counted). He did own a bike once, back in the 70's. It was a Raleigh something or other. However, after an evening in a pub having been told by everyone he had "no chance...was too old....drink too much" he decided to take part.
Like most people, Richard has lost a number of people to cancer, most recently his mother-in-law. This sad loss hit Richard and his family very hard, but helped Richard decided, when he sobered up, that it was about time to give something back and try to raise a decent amount for a decent cause. He hopes his second hand ebay bargain, a 3-speed Sturmey Archer, will do him proud over the Alps!
Phil Judge
Considered to be the experienced cyclist in the group Phil has taken up the mantle this year by removing the stabilisers from his Postman Pat single speed and has upgraded the bell to a new carbon fibre model. His career as a designer and his interest in cycling have come together this year with Phil involved in high end cycling product design, unfortunately setting up his new company has put him a little behind the other guys on the training front but he promises to put in a little effort before the off on 23rd June.
With his knowledge in the world of cycling being recognised by his team mates, Phil has been put in charge of the teams leg shaving program. He looks forward to the ride with his only concern not the big hills but having someone on the team called 'G' although he assures us that he will remain focused.
Like a lot of the guys Phil has a personal reason for supporting Cancer Research UK, with his father getting the all clear last year following his own battle with the big 'C' - He is sure that it will be just the inspiration to get him over the painful bits.
Having taken both his sons football teams to second place in their respected football leagues this year he looks foward to going one better himself to pip Paul over the routes steeper climbs. The challenge has been set.
Married to the long-suffering Ali he has two sons, Tom and Harry, who are fortunate to take after their mother.
Paul Robert Jennings (aka Mutley/Mutt)
Previous cycling experience: being part of the trio that completed John O'Groats to Lands End in 9 days in 2004.
Having not been put off by the experience of cycling from one end of the country to the other, he is very excited about the new challenge and cannot wait to get started. This is even more so the case as "the tranny" from the last adventure is fulfilling his promise of getting his lardy backside in the saddle and joining in with the riding!
He would like to wish the new lads all the best of luck on the trip, as well as Phil and Jimmy from the previous journey. This isn't so much for the ride but for the booze up at the end!!
Mutt is very happily married to the very supportive Amanda and has 3 great boys Sam 13, Joel 11 and Louis 9. Over the years, Mutt has raised many thousands of pounds for charity, having previously run the London marathon twice (slowly) and the John O'Groats to Lands End bike ride.
Mutt would like to dedicate his efforts on this ride to a close family friend called Tony Colyer. Tony was unfortunately diagnosed with a brain tumour in October 2005 and is currently undergoing the treatment required to try and beat this horrible illness. Good luck Tony and Betty, you'll be a huge motivation when the hills start getting steep!
Support
The team will be supported by two willing volunteers who will drive the support van and pamper to every whim or request from our team of intrepid riders.
Moo
Some say his sweat can be used to clean precious metals and there's an airport in Russia named after him.
Others say that he was raised by wolves and if set alight, he'd burn for a thousand days.
All we know is, he's called Moo.
G
Some say he appears on Japanese banknotes and that he once punched a horse to the ground.
Others say that his skin has the texture of dolphins and he can catch fish with his tongue.
All we know is that he's called G.
Team Nutritionist
Tom Maloney
"I am delighted to have been selected as the official supplier of sports nutrition to these incredible guys, their passion and desire to contribute to others inspired me and when they asked for my help I was only to happy to oblige. Good luck guys and thank you for giving your time to support others"