{"id":1156,"date":"2012-07-06T13:22:04","date_gmt":"2012-07-06T13:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2017-01-12T04:04:48","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T04:04:48","slug":"inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/","title":{"rendered":"<b>Inspired by Hoogerland and Greipel&#8230;<\/b>"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>&#8230; I&#8217;m going to ride a pushbike 60 miles to Blackpool on Sunday.<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Stick with me on this one.<\/p>\n<p>At this time of year, I watch the Tour de France like a lot of you. Usually just the highlights because I have a job to do, but in our house we never miss a day&#8217;s viewing. What inspires me more than anything else is how <em><strong>hard<\/strong> <\/em>these men are. No, Finabarr Saunders, I don&#8217;t mean like that: I mean that these guys are the fittest, most resilient, most inspiring athletes on the planet. In my opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Except the drug-takers. They&#8217;re idiots. But let&#8217;s forget them for a moment.<\/p>\n<p>Last year I watched this happen to Johnny Hoogerland:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ms5IvIahw0Q\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Then only yesterday, I watched Tyler Farrar fall of his bike at speed when the guy he was leaning on moved. Andre Greipel, battering along like the bull of a man that he is, seemed to bunny-hop Farrar&#8217;s head to avoid him, then also managed to miraculously avoid Peter Sagan who was fired across his path by the snowballing crash. \u00a0Greipel had both feet out of the pedals as he swerved through the growing carnage. Impressive, no?<\/p>\n<p>No. \u00a0What was most impressive was that Andre Greipel then clipped back into his bike, caught up his\u00a0team-mates, accelerated \u00a0to about 40mph up a hill and won that day&#8217;s stage. \u00a0This is after riding around 130 miles.<\/p>\n<p>Greipel is just one of 200 riders who plan to ride those 130 miles every day for 20 days, racing their hearts out\u00a0with only 2 days off for a rest.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s easy for us to think about our favourtie riders but I thought I&#8217;d mention a couple who, for the UK fans at least, aren&#8217;t so much in the spotlight of adoration. Every one of those 200 guys is amazing (<em>except the cheats<\/em>).<\/p>\n<h2>What Does This Mean To Me?<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;ve booked to ride 60 miles from Manchester to Blackpool on Sunday, to raise much-needed funds for Springhill Hospice, where my Mum spent her last few days just before Christmas in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Around 3 weeks ago, I sprained my ankle playing football on a Wednesday evening after work. \u00a0I wasn&#8217;t best pleased. \u00a0Then this Wednesday, playing football again, I over-stretched my hip and pulled it somewhat. \u00a0Walking down stairs is a fair bit hurty right now.<\/p>\n<p>But on Sunday I&#8217;m riding to Blackpool anyway. \u00a0I&#8217;m no athlete: I&#8217;ll take a couple of Ibuprofen and join a leisurely mass cycle with thousands of other people, into the forecast headwind and rain.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll do it because a number of friends and colleagues, plus some wonderful strangers, have given money to the Hospice where my Mum ended her days and where countless others before and after her have been &#8211; and will be &#8211; given the dignity and care they deserve during a most important time.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll just MTFU and get on with, because it&#8217;s the right thing to do. \u00a0I&#8217;m not Johnny Hoogerland, I&#8217;m not Andre Greipel, I&#8217;m just a slightly paunchy little man riding a pushbike to Blackpool and helping a Hospice to do fantastic things.<\/p>\n<h2>Can You Help?<\/h2>\n<p>There&#8217;s a little blue widget up on the right of this blog which links to <a title=\"Phill's JustGiving page for Springhill Hospice\" href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/M3pVPL\" target=\"_blank\">my JustGiving page<\/a>. \u00a0If you want to, you can offer a little support. \u00a0I&#8217;ve already pushed the limit upwards twice, which has been fantastic.<\/p>\n<p>If you can&#8217;t, that&#8217;s absolutely fine. \u00a0Just get out on your bike, ignore the little hassles and the weather if you can, and enjoy it &#8211; then do something nice for someone else too. \u00a0Then you will have made the world a better place.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share with your friends:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1156\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1156\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1156\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1156\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-skype\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-skype-1156\" class=\"share-skype sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=skype\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Skype\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20%3Cb%3EInspired%20by%20Hoogerland%20and%20Greipel...%3C%2Fb%3E&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.phillconnell.com%2Fblog%2Finspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel%2F&share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email a link to a friend\" data-email-share-error-title=\"Do you have email set up?\" data-email-share-error-text=\"If you&#039;re having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself.\" data-email-share-nonce=\"45d44a1de8\" data-email-share-track-url=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=email\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230; I&#8217;m going to ride a pushbike 60 miles to Blackpool on Sunday. &nbsp; Stick with me on this one. At this time of year, I watch the Tour de France like a lot of you. Usually just the highlights because I have a job to do, but in our house we never miss a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share with your friends:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1156\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1156\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1156\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1156\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-skype\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-skype-1156\" class=\"share-skype sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=skype\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Skype\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20%3Cb%3EInspired%20by%20Hoogerland%20and%20Greipel...%3C%2Fb%3E&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.phillconnell.com%2Fblog%2Finspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel%2F&share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email a link to a friend\" data-email-share-error-title=\"Do you have email set up?\" data-email-share-error-text=\"If you&#039;re having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself.\" data-email-share-nonce=\"45d44a1de8\" data-email-share-track-url=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/?share=email\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/inspired-by-hoogerland-and-greipel\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\" ><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[52,3],"tags":[152,87,21,38,17,266],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1KBwn-iE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":881,"url":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/manchester_blackpool_track\/","url_meta":{"origin":1156,"position":0},"title":"Manchester to Blackpool : Track My Ride","date":"9 July 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Tomorrow, I'm riding from the Theatre Of Dreams to Blackpool, as one of thousands of cyclists taking part in the Bike Events Manchester to Blackpool bike ride. I'm riding in memory of my Mum and donating all sponsorship raised to Springhill Hospice in Rochdale, a fantastic place that provides respite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cycling Challenges&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":511,"url":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/begging-letter\/","url_meta":{"origin":1156,"position":1},"title":"Begging Letter","date":"17 June 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of you will already know that I\u2019m taking part in the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride in a little over 2 weeks. It\u2019s a 63 mile cycle from Old Trafford to the South Prom in Blackpool, which I\u2019m doing to raise funds for Springhill Hospice and The Christie.... Read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cycling Challenges&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":505,"url":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/personal-best-now-thats-a-first\/","url_meta":{"origin":1156,"position":2},"title":"Personal Best &#8211; Now That&#8217;s A First","date":"16 June 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I've never really measured myself until this June100 lark kicked off. Suddenly I'm doing enough rides to consider bettering myself and improving my riding, as well as just enjoying it.... Read More ...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cycling Challenges&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Last night's very pleasant Hollingworth Lake trip","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/HollLakeGoogleEarth15062010-e1276688935595.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":765,"url":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/things-achieved\/","url_meta":{"origin":1156,"position":3},"title":"Things Achieved","date":"26 November 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I've not been very happy with myself this month. Focusing on the rides, I'm going to be very lucky if I hit 50 miles in the November 100 challenge, which doesn't make me proud... Read More...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cycling Challenges&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":886,"url":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/reason-to-ride\/","url_meta":{"origin":1156,"position":4},"title":"Reason To Ride","date":"23 July 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Why Ride? One Reason Of Many. I haven't posted anything about the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride until now. It was a great day out and, thanks to the generosity of lots of wonderful people, I've raised \u00a3370 to date for Springhill Hospice. As the two weeks between then and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cycling Challenges&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_1184-e1311418885452.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":542,"url":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/kiss-me-quick-ride-me-slowly-july150-started\/","url_meta":{"origin":1156,"position":5},"title":"Kiss Me Quick, Ride Me Slowly &#8211; #July150 Started","date":"5 July 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"You've probably already read a few blogs about the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride on Sunday, so I'm just going to mention a few of my personal highlights and hope that you identify with them too. Bumping Into Friends Despite not quite meeting at the start as we'd planned, Jon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cycling Challenges&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAG0325-e1278348191611.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3709,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions\/3709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillconnell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}