'I completed a bike ride from Land’s End to John o’Groats in seven days.'

I completed a bike ride from Land’s End to John o’Groats in seven days (fastest time recorded this year) in late May - a total of 946 miles.

The bike ride was in aid of The County Air Ambulance Charity - a charity which has been running for 17 years. The charity is established as the West Midlands first helicopter emergency medical service.

Each helicopter carries two paramedics and can speedily transfer one or two patients to the most appropriate hospital according to their needs.

It is this ability to fly directly to a specialist medical centre which enables the service to save lives which might otherwise be lost.

 I felt very low all the way through the ride, but put it down to very harsh weather and intensity of task.

On the train back my legs began to swell up and I started drinking lots of soft drinks.

After about one week back home, I showed classic symptoms and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

My doctor said I had developed it when I completed the bike ride and the Lucozade and chocolate I gorged on during the ride probably stopped me from having hypos.

Lots of parts of the ride are in unpopulated and stark landscapes, so I consider myself very lucky to have got through OK. After a short break, I resumed regular gym visits and completed a sprint Triathlon in September.

It is a massive shock and change to my diet, but I realise it could have been so much worse!

Tony Peters