Why do the mHealth Grand Tour, I mean, I’ve never been a sporting cyclist (yes, I’ve commuted by bike for years but not a 100 miles a day) nor am I a huge Tour de France fan, neither do I have diabetes… and developing a rather numb posterior, day after day, seriously?
Well, let’s weigh this up…
- I have a passion for all things connected and new technology. As such, embedding sensors and connecting both me and my bike up to as many bits of kit as possible hold huge appeal. Roll out the inner child!
- Diabetes has always been around my family; cousins and my mother have it so taking part in a study to understand the role new technology and mHealth can play in the management of such conditions and allowing all ages to lead more active, fulfilling lives is of great interest to me and certainly a cause worth promoting!
- Raising funds for diabetes charities will ultimately help the on-going effort to support people living with diabetes and also further the research in this area – this has got to be a good thing!
- And what an opportunity, who wouldn’t suffer a numb posterior for this! To cycle through wonderful countryside, meet amazing people, and undertake the challenge of a lifetime…sign me up (well, clearly, I mean keep me signed up)!
So, fast forward a few months and my daily commute really is 100+ miles a day (well, a couple of days a week, Cambridge to London and back) and I’ve certainly developed that numb posterior!
The challenge is daunting but the training is great fun, whether it’s the Sunday morning “Club Run” or the hunger I feel as I cycle north through clouds of Caribbean food smells knowing I have 40 more miles before I get my dinner! And nothing quite beats watching deer in the fields at 5:30 AM or departing Ware, knowing that the past 20 miles of built up housing are now gone and it’s countryside the whole way home.
With less than 8 weeks to go fear has struck; will I get up all those mountains, will I even make it to those mountains, will I wuss out of embedding sensors under my skin, will I have enough Jelly Babies to get me to Barcelona (do they sell Jelly Babies in France)?
– Peter Montgomery, Director of Partnerships, GSMA
The mHealth Grand Tour, a 13-day cycling challenge designed as a proving ground for mobile health devices and services, will be in aid of diabetes charities and research. The ride will be in four stages, kicking off on 5th September 2013 in Brussels and arriving in time for a charity gala in Barcelona on 18th September. – See more at: http://www.mhealthtour.com/
This post originally appeared on the mhealth4diabetes blog.
