Blog: The long hard road with the West London 2 West Limerick lads

Note: This is an edited version of a blog that originally appeared on westlondon2westlimerick.wordpress.com. 

December 10th: It’s 3.50am and the familiar sound of the iPhone alarm is ringing in the background. It doesn’t wake me as sleep is rare at the moment, but it more shakes me and makes me realise I’m coming back to London today. Instantly I’m regretting my decision to return. Not because of cold, not because of time, more because of situation. I have the feeling of a child who has fallen out of love with school. All of a sudden it’s a task and you’d prefer to stay at home with Mam! But I’m no longer a child, and I no longer can roll over and pretend I’m sick. I hear my brother in the room next to me and he is dealing with the same mental dilemma, but we shrug our shoulders and go. It’s been a busy few days. Lots of goals have been achieved. First of all we have gone over the €5000 mark for our online donations. It’s amazing and thank you to everyone. The response has been great. Even at home so many people talk about it and are genuinely interested in what we are doing. Also we have lots of cards out so we are not sure how much we will get in with that. But it is all amazing work. Keep the donations up if you can. The boys in London had a massive day on Saturday. Again they organised a good crew to hit the roads early Saturday morning. Ninety long hard miles to Newbury and back. It was serious cycling. Five lads out on the road grinding out the miles. It’s great to be able to do that and to feel good after it. It is a huge boost of confidence to the team. They are some amazing lads and the work they are doing is unreal. I was back in Ireland and we got in some serious mileage ourselves. On Sunday morning I met Pa Keane and Donno for a long spin. Pa was after a good bit of mileage the day before so he was topping up with us. We left and went through Newcastle West first and met up with the Desmond Wheelers, there were about seven lads there so we jumped in with them for a quick 50km. It was great to have the company for the first few miles as it shortens the road big time. One of the members of the team is about 68 years old – seriously, 68! So when I first saw him I was thinking to myself that this was a bit of a joke. But as we are cruising down the road at about 20 mph, I hear a shout, “tell the young lad shove over, I’ll take it for a while”… yep, a 68-year-old man cruising up beside me. He did the 50km not a bother to him. At another stage he takes us down a dead end and we are telling him that we can’t go this way, again he says “not to worry lads, there’s a hole in the ditch”, sure enough there was… it was pretty entertaining stuff. After the 50km myself and Donno struck on for another 110km, so overall it was a long hard day. But as always, it was hay in the barn. Time is running out for us and our training is where it needs to be. So for now we are just looking forward to getting on the road. Getting it done and getting home. But for now it’s a waiting game, a few more days on the bike, a few prayers that the weather is okay, and a safe passage is in front of us and we will be okay… so keep us is your thoughts!!! Other than that all is good. The main woman is battling hard. I’ve used the saying “a long hard road” lots of times. It means a lot of different things: you’ve got a long hard road to recovery, a long hard road of training, a long hard road in life. But whatever I presumed a hard road was, it is nothing compared to what some people have to face. Irish mothers are the hardest breed of people. They will tell you all is okay and will never let their guard down. Their first instinct is to protect their own. Even in their darkest days they put on a brave face. But I see another generation of Irish women emerging in my family. My two sisters are amazing people. Nothing is too much of an ask. They are best friends to my Mum, always have been. When we used to run cross country a long time ago, she rubbed our feet when our toes were numb with the cold. Now they rub her feet and back, keep her strong, and never let her be negative. It’s amazing to see, the women are the strong ones again, keeping the show on this long hard road. Donation Link: http://www.mycharity.ie/event/thomas_quaids_event/ To follow all the updates from Thomas Quaid and the West London 2 West Limerick gang, visit westlondon2westlimerick.wordpress.com.