stuart turnbull

Just a summery! I heard of The Fireflies Tour on my studio visit to the Mill before finishing my degree and ever since then I had always been kept up to date about it. It was only last year that I decided I wanted to train up for it to see if I could get a saddle on the tour. I had done some charity work in Scotland for leukaemia research before, cycling from Glasgow to Edinburgh (50miles) and raising just over the £200. The Fireflies Tour is 10 times the challenge and I want to raise 10 times or more for Leuka. The Fireflies motto is 'For those who suffer, we Ride' 'The Fireflies' raise money for Leuka, a charity which funds Leukaemia research at the Hammersmith Hospital Research Institute. Over the last eleven years, The Fireflies have raised in excess of one million pounds to help fund one of the premier research institutes in the world and as such their efforts make a real difference in battling this deadly illness. That's me Back now! I managed to finish the Fireflies 2012 Tour! I Cycled 1168km with an extra 18km detour on one of the days- 736miles 20,554m climbed in rain showers, pouring rain and then sometimes in 38 degrees heat with water being poured on us to help cool ourselves down. Gallons and gallons of water was drunk. 2737miles cycled this year now I have raised £3,394.33 for Leuka- £3,884.16 with gift aid! The tour was hard! I had trained all year, lost 3stone (15kg) from January and gained 2001miles in my legs but soon realised you can't train for 2hour ascent Mountains and 15 to 20 minute fast descents with 500-1000m of cliff edge right next to you. The amount of concentration you need going downhill was so high. I was able to cope well on the flats gaining speeds to 30-35mph in the peleton, but the ascending was another story, the amount of effort put in to go up the mountains drained me every night but every night- wether you get in at 4 o'clock in the afternoon or 9 o'clock at night you prepare for the next day. An amazing experience, an amazing tour and challenge but I'm so glad I got over my target for the charity Leuka. My Charity Page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundrai ... rtTurnbull Thank You for the support, link above if you would like to sponsor me Got a whole load of footage as well so that might be put into a film of the tour Stuart Turnbull

oops forgot link here you go if you would like to sponsor me http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundrai ... rtTurnbull

Hope everyone is well and getting in the miles! For me, my training at the moment is recovering. I have managed to cycle 2001 miles this year for my training towards the alps. I fly over to Italy on Monday. And the Fireflies Tour starts on tuesday. Found out- 19 Cols with 20,000m plus of climbing Instead of 620miles it's now 720miles. Our Route will be around 90-120 miles a day and climbing roughly 3 Mountains a day. If anyone would like to sponsor me its for a great cause. I found out that 1 in 3 of us will be diagnosed with some type of Cancer in our lifetime. It is believed that Leukaemia is the model of all Cancers and a greater understanding of this disease will help in the fight against all other forms of Cancer. Had a photoshoot and film shoot on saturday- photos attached and video link is http://vimeo.com/43617467 It would be great to cycle with the johnstone wheelers again soon. I'll find out the blog and will post that too if you would like to follow me up mountains, the pain and the tears Cheers Stu

It will definitely be a challenge! Ah cool - this will be cycling 4 days then a rest day and another 4days Apparently by the 3rd your body gets used to it.haha I have had to tweak the saddle about a bit and I might invest in a new pair of shorts too with fresh padding ha Yeah I will be! Once you go up you must come down! Cheers again for the donation! Stu

Hey Richie, For this Tour the route is kept quite secret as in the past people got really nervous of what climbs were coming up. Every morning we'll get a route that is either roughly 90 or 120 miles. We will be starting from Verona this year so I think theres going to be more of the Italian Alps and then onto the French Alps. I just recently invested in a Trek Madone 3.5 which I can't afford(haha) but needed as it did have ultegra Compact Chainset and it also has a 11-28 cassette for those climbs. I was testing it out on my sportive at the weekend and was pretty fast up the hills, it just wants to keep moving forwards! I figured I'd get a my first ever carbon bike to help me out on my rides due to losing 2 and a half stone to 3 stone this year from cycling and gym work. I'm plateuing out at the moment but would love to get properly down to 3 stone loss or 3 and a half. It'll be interesting what weight I'll be after this tour. Cheers for the post and I'll post my companies Blog on here before I go as there's 3 of us from one company, we will be needing to update stats from each day, maybe a bit of footage and photos as well. Thank You very much Stu

How are the miles going up north? I have managed to get signed up to 3 sportives in 3 weekends in my training for consecutive days on the bike. 1st of 3 was Wiggle Jurassic Beast-101miles- in 6 Hours 39minutes 27seconds- railway crossing at the end cost me 5 minutes! managed 209miles last week and now up to 1611 miles this year! Some very good hill climbs in this sportive and got a bit sunburnt - must remember the suncream All this pain is for training for a massive challenge of the alps but mainly so I can finish the charity event for Leuka! If you'd like to sponsor me it would be great. Link is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundrai ... rtTurnbull

Just wondering if anyone has experienced the ALPS before. As theres only a few lumps and bumps down here that last about 10 minutes of climbing instead of 2 hours worth of mountain climbing! Hope everyone's gaining the miles and well! Cheers Stu

Hey Everyone! Has been a while! Was going to post a few weeks ago but thought I'd wait until I found out if I got into a charity team I have been training for. Just wanted to say that i've been missing the Johnstone Wheeler sunday runs 8/8:30 starts and being able to cycle around the Local area with a great bunch since i've been in London. But this year I have been focusing on my cycling and have been training to join a charity team since January. I have managed to get up at 5:40 in the morning (earlier time than during the week) and get ready for the 15 mile cycle down to Richmond park before I even start cycling with the group. Have been training on some of the hills that will be in the olympic road race this year and have been doing a few sportives! Covering from 90- 180 miles in a weekend. From January have managed to cycle over 1317miles and still counting. This is all for The FireFlies Tour 2012 for the Charity Leuka- Which Funds Leukaemia Research. The Ride is 1000 km (620 miles) From Verona in Italy over the Alps to Cannes in France taking in a lot of the Tour de France mountains. This is a massive challenge but will be so worth it. I will be pushing my limits to get over the mountains and hopefully raise enough money to put towards helping the fight against Leukaemia. The FireFlies Tour motto is 'For those who suffer, We ride' It would be a great help if you would be able to sponsor me- http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundrai ... rtTurnbull Thank you, Stu Stuart Turnbull

Hi Richie, You'll get to 80 miles in no time. Unfortunately I'm in London so I don't know if i'll be out on the sunday runs anytime soon. . But you never know. Might bring my bike up next time im visiting. Cheers Stu

Hey everyone, Just thought i'd say hello, not been on here for ages. Just wondering how everyone is doing. I've finally got back into my cycling and training up again. Did 50 miles the other week and completely failed at it. I basically used all my energy to fly up the first hill and then didn't recover from it for the rest of the ride. But i'm still training now. Just did a wiggle sportive on sunday. 80 miles a few good hills and quite hard head and cross winds to go through, took just under 5 hours. A big improvement from my 50 mile cycle. Cheers Stu

If anyone knows of someone who would like to buy a sculpture here is the article http://beta.thecourier.co.uk/News/Dunde ... -home.html Cheers Stuart

I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying the 1 minute 55 second epic lol. hopefully ill be down to get a cycle on the go before I go and then maybe get oints then lol. stu

Cheers, Ive been on my bike again. has been great. 96 miles in 3 days and counting taking it easy and gradually build up so i can get fit again. Just thought I would update you that I got a job down in London at a company called The Mill. a world leading visual effects company. Can't wait all, I need to do from now until then is cycle and graduate!!!

Forgot to say through my year of hard work it was all worth it. Got a First within my degree.

Cheers everyone for the comments. Went to London this week in search for a job. set up five studio visits and chanced another one. Two of companies are world leading in advertising and film work both were very impressed. 'setting the standard for student films' So hopefully this will mean a job in either of the two. Will keep you updated. Not sure about Pixar as you need quite a few years experience to be even considered but worth a try haha Think I am heading out on my bike tomorrow after I send my CV's off but i am still in Dundee. Hopefully will be down to maybe join the sunday run at some point. (probably wouldn't be able to keep up with the amount of time off the bike ive had this year!) Cheers Stuart