Dom: Now we're delighted to have a real life guest in the studio. Tim Devereux, welcome.

Tim: Hello everybody.

Dom: Now, you are a friend of the show because you have been cycling, raising money, haven't you for a Gaza and you've been doing it and you've completed it, but you've been coming on the show up until now. So how many miles a day have you been completing?

Tim: I've been doing an average of 12.4 miles a day every day since the 1st of January.

Dom: Fantastic.

Tim: I missed two days. One I was travelling and one my poor wife had to go to any. But yeah, so 277 days, 3,456 miles because I did a few extra because I was outside somewhere on the towpath. When I clocked that, 3,431 miles.

Dom: You're not getting off your bike and walking.

Tim: Oh no, there's no taxis on the towpath!

Dom: Now one more thing, you were just telling us, you know Professor Rogers, you did an M.A. in Peace Studies.

Tim: In 85/86 I did an M.A. in Peace Studies at Bradford University and Paul was one of the lecturers there then, before he was a Professor and he supervised my dissertation. We've kept in touch since; he's involved in, well, he's the President of an organisation, I've been involved in, Movement for the Abolition of War and I can't remember the name of < his latest book, - I should have looked that up probably - but his latest book that he put out last year, absolutely excellent, looking at the three main worries, climate change, poverty and nuclear war.

Dom: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the big stuff.

Tim: The big stuff, big things.

Dom: So tell me, I think I know the answer but I want to hear your story. What motivated you to do this cycle, how do you raise this money and how have you found it and have you come across people who have asked you that question and have been interested and you know, changed minds along the way?

Tim: I don't think I've changed many minds but I've met quite a lot of people. I've done bike rides before, I did one, the first like “old age” bike ride was in 2021 and I did the same miles per day for five days that I'd done in 2002 with my late brother who was a really keen, fantastic cyclist. We'd gone from, he was doing the Santiago Compostela, the Santiago pilgrimage, so he was going from Lew Puy to Santiago, I was teaching, it was half term summer and I just had a week.

Dom: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tim: The last week.

Dom: Wow, what an experience.

Tim: So I thought, oh, four or five years ago, well maybe I could still do that. Maybe I could do it in kilometres, no, no, I did the miles, so it was still Covidy so I just did one out and back every day but I used the car to get to where I'd been the day before for some of it, so I got quite a long way.

Dom: Yeah, wow, brilliant.

Tim: And every year since then I've done something, it was two, three hundred miles, four or five days. And last year I went from Leeds to Brighton on my bike, hotels and B&B, so comfortable, unlike the previous year and I thought, right, that was for Medicaid for Palestinians. I thought, right, I've got to do something different, you know, people are used to me going off for a few days

Dom: yeah, yeah.

Tim: So I thought, well, I was actually in a film showing Leeds Palestnian Film Festival. I thought, well, yeah, how far is Gaza from Pudsey? So I looked it up when I got home, three thousand four hundred thirty-one miles. And okay, so there's no possibility of me cycling there and as one of my friends pointed out, if I did I get arrested! But I could do ten miles a day, I thought, what, ten miles a day, that'd take me to December. So I started off doing that and I thought it'd be more fun to finish on my birthday which is the 5th of October. And on 4th of October, which is my 50th wedding anniversary, I realised that I'd messed up my sums.

Dom: Oh no,

Tim: And I was going to finish then, which I did. So last Saturday I finished, I'm a retired maths teacher, don't tell AQA

Dom: I love it.

Tim: that I messed up my sums because I still mark GCSE maths!

Dom: Have you managed to raise some money as well? Was that part of it?

Tim: Oh yeah, yeah.

Dom: Or was it about raising awareness for medical relief for the Palestinians.

Tim: It was about raising money. I wanted to raise money, and I'm very pleased because last year I got approaching £3,000 and this year it's approaching £7,000.

Dom: Wow!

Tim: £6,700 and something, at the moment.

Dom: Brilliant. And so people can still donate.

Tim: Oh yeah,

Dom: Is there a GoFundMe or something that we can point people to

Tim: Yeah, I have a JustGiving.

Dom: Yes, JustGiving.

Tim: And there are two ways to get to that. I'm not going to say the whole thing because it's far too long but if you Google or other search engine of your choice, if you Google JustGiving, Tim, 2025, MAP, you'll find me.

Dom: And the MAP stands for Medical Aid for Palestinians, just if anyone forgets the initials, then Medical Aid for Palestinians and they'll get to MAP.

Tim: That's right.

Dom: Yeah.

Tim: And the other way is I've kept West Leeds Dispatch informed of my pedalling. So if you go to the West Leeds Dispatch website and search for Pudsey Cyclist, you turn up me. And if you get to the most recent one.

Dom: There you go.

Tim: There's the link.

Dom: That's the way.

Tim: That's the link.

Dom: You've only just finished. You've just celebrated your birthday. You've just celebrated the 50th anniversary. What's next year got in store? Or are you not even going there yet? Have you? I mean, I get the impression you've probably already thought of something.

Tim: Well, I know that I'm not going to be doing anything next year. As you can imagine, going out every day takes a bit of a toll on the garden is much wilder even than usual, and jobs in the house. And my wife said, you're not going to be doing anything next year!

Dom: You're taking a fallow year next year. But even like Glastonbury you have to have the odd year off, don't you? Just to rejuvenate.

Tim: Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, I mean, I've made some rules for myself. I have a number of bikes, I h’ve got eight bikes. And I thought Well, I’ll use them all, but I'll never ride the same bike that I rode the day before. And I've more or less kept to that. The one reason is one of the bikes is an electric bike. And of course, that's so much easier.

Dom: Yeah, yeah.

Tim: Whizzing up the hills.

Dom: Yeah

Tim: I've ridden three other bikes, three borrowed bikes, two of which belonged to my brother. And when he died, his family had found that in the garage, there were, I'm not sure whether it was 36 wheels or 36 pairs of wheels.

Dom: Oh my God.

Tim: :He was a really keen cyclist.

Dom: Yeah, yeah.

Tim: He did things like the l’Etape de Tour where amateur riders do one stage of the Tour de France.

Dom: Yes, I’ve heard of that. Wow! Proper!

Tim: Yes, proper. And he did the, I mentioned the Compostela - he did that twice, when he was over 60.

Dom: Yeah. Yeah.Yeah.

Tim: But anyway, he left me his wheels. So it's nice riding his wheels.

Dom: Yeah. Absolutely.

Kierstan: So can I just ask how you manage with your bum? Because I cycle, but after a couple of miles, I'm struggling.

Tim: I’ve, One of my bikes has got a really nice saddle on. But the others have just got ordinary saddles on.

Kierstan: You must have a very hard bottom.

Tim: Well, I’ve been doing it for a long time.

Kierstan: Yes.

Dom: Is it something that you just sort of get, you know, just adapt to over time?

Tim: Yeah. I've made sure that my saddles are reasonably comfortable.

Kierstan: Do you wear padded pants?

Tim: Oh, yes.

Dom: Oh, yes. Oh yes.

Tim: On the ebike I just wear what I’m wearing at the moment, jeans

Dom: Yeah. So these are the questions that people at home are asking themselves. I mean, it's brilliant that you do twelve miles a day but what about your backside?

Tim: Yeah.

Dom: Yeah.

Tim: The only thing I've found with my hands got sort of tingly after a while, so...

Dom: Yeah. Yeah. Electric bikes, right. So I tried out an electric bike. I was lucky to go to America this year in the summer. And it was kind of like half work, half fun, and I met a mate of mine from university. And we landed a wine tour up in the wine district. And we got electric bikes. And we just skooted around. They were brilliant fun. But you are exercising.

Tim: Of course.

Dom: You're cheating on one level. But you're not in a car, are you?

Tim: No.

Dom: So I remember reading some research that showed that people who ride electric bikes are far fitter than people who don’t.

Tim: Yeah. Because two years ago, I flogged my car. Not for any huge, moral things.But because I couldn't afford to get through its MOT. Lovely car.

Dom: Yeah.

Tim: 3 litre V6 Mercedes Estate. Somebody had given it to me. But I'm okay without a car. My wife could do with one. But I cycle, I've got an electric bike. I've got a bike trailer. So if I want, if I want to do shopping.

Dom: Yeah yeah. You can skoot it around and stick on the trailer.

Tim: And it’s no problem. I’m 77 now...

Dom: Radio listener, I need to tell you, paint a radio picture, right? He's looking good for 77. Like so if his secret, is getting a sore bum and wearing padded pants, I'm all in. If I look like you and I'm 77, I'm in, I’ll tell you that for nothing.

Tim: Yeah. So um - I lost my track!

Dom: You're 77. You go to the shops

Kierstan: Teresa needs a car!.

Tim: Yeah, Teresa does need a car. That might be something that happens in this for coming year.

Kieran: Yes. Now that it's your 50th anniversary, I think.

Tim: Yeah, I think I might have to. But it's, I live in Pudsey. I live at the bottom.

Dom: Yes.

Tim: So if I want to go up to Pudsey, it's up.

Dom: You've got to go uphill. I used to run up that hill. I used to live on Hough Side.

Tim: Oh, yeah.

Dom: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tim: I live on HoughTop.

Dom: Oh, Hough Top. There we go. So, it's a hill as well, isn't it?

Tim: The e-bike, it just makes it magic.

Dom: Yeah.

Tim: One tricky thing, I mean, because things happen when you're pedaling for three thousand miles, you might know, CoalHill Lane, quite steep. It's a hill on the way from my house to the canal.

Dom: Okay, yeah.

Tim: And I like the canal because it's nice and flat.

Dom: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tim: But it's quite bumpy when you go down one side. And I don't have clip pedals on the e-bike and one other bike. And on each of those, on one occasion, I've lost my, my feet have come off the pedals because of the bumps.

Dom: Oh, yeah.

Tim: And that was the scariest.

Dom: Yeah.

Tim: I thought I was going to crash.

Dom: No, you don't want to be doing that.

Tim: I managed to save it.

Dom: Good. You managed to live the top. Well, listen, Tim Devereaux, thank you so much for coming in. It's been a, and congratulations.

Tim: Thank you.

Dom: So, people will be home. If you're home and you're inspired by what Tim's done, then get on to the internet andget him over that 7,000 magic number. Everyone just put whatever you can afford. And well, congratulations and thank you.

Tim: Thank you very much.

Dom: Thank you for raising awareness of this really important issue. Thank you for doing your bit and enjoy next year. Right? Enjoy the garden next year.

Tim: I will!

Dom: Enjoy Teresa driving around in a new car. We look forward to that. But for the time being, thank you so much for coming in.

Tim: Thanks very much.

Dom: We're going to play another song.

Kierstan: Yeah, we are, we’re going to have “Our lips are sealed”, which, yeah. - an interesting song. It's by Funboy Three, and Jane Wiedlin.

Dom: Perfect. Good timing. Enjoy. 11:56