A 7kms Fun Ride for Epilepsy!

TAIWAN-T.E.A.-Taiwanese Epilepsy Association T.E.A.

Well....I always kind of feel like Im on a majical mystery tour but let me start with first things first.....

Where there’s a will there is a f----g way

No, I havent transformed epilepsy into tourrets but when I arrived at the Toulouse airport, a wee bit early because I felt I should…..I stood there for a few minutes like an absolute moron infront of the flight departure board.. It simply read KLM to Amsterdam at 17h30 :cancelled. I checked to see if there wasnt a charter above or below but just other AF or KLM flights on time and raring to go. I had to make a connection by 20h45 to Amsterdam in order to make my flight to Taipei…..I went to the counter and flagged down the first person I could find and told her my situation. She didnt know the code for Taipei so I told her it was TPE….She went through flights and options offering to fly me to paris in 3 hours then to hong kong 5 hours later from Paris and then I would be on my own in Hong Kong to sort out the route with Dragon Air to Taipei. Finally her boss came over and very very doubtfully said there is a late flight leaving now to Orly in Paris and if your’e lucky and there isn’t traffic you can catch a cab from there to the other airport….across town ofcourse and try and catch the flight from from CDG in Paris at 18h to Amsterdam leaving you enough time to make your 20h45 flight. It was past 16h but i felt I had no time to lose so off I went, last on board. They couldnt and wouldnt book my luggage so Id pick it up at Orly before chasing cabs. Got to Orly, the board read our luggage was out on carousel 2 but we found it on carousel 3 and then I found speed racer cab driver and off we went. I got to CDG and found the right desk and the right woman to help me.

So, the woman at the AirFrance desk tells me run, better yet sprint, and you’ll catch the flight to amsterdam, ill call them and tell them youre coming. I ask about my luggage ?? She says I cant help your luggage just go and deal with that once there ??? What world am I in ? I charge to F2 where she had repeated to me 4 times the gate was and they tell me Amsterdam is at F5. I arrive at F5 and they are just closing the door to the walkway. I tell them theyve been called by the Airfrance desk and Im the passenger theyre waiting for…The man infront of me shakes is head and says no, weve been paging you it’s too late. I tell him you couldnt have paged me I left her desk 4 minutes ago and Im here, just let me on your plane and get on with it. I was starting to get premenstrual upset which isnt good…at times. I told the man to plug his ears unless he wanted to hear me scream a high pitched scream like only women know how to scream and his assistant said to me, that will work. I couldnt believe it ! So….I am now on my way to Taipei, no f----g idea where my luggage is and will worry about it tomorrow.

SO….still no sign at all of my luggage, the french, ofcourse, claim we need to contact taipei which we do regularly and the man who filed my report in Taipei says France is not answering his texts…For all of the trouble people are going to Im mostly upset because in my suitcase are copies of my book for the TEA-Taiwanese Epilepsy Association and cards for the participants of sunday's bike ride who are now up to well over 2000. Resigned to not seeing my bags at all if before Monday we went on a cultural shopping trip today ! CARREFOUR-French shopping mall and the biggest one Ive ever seen. 4 stories of abslutely anything and everything you would and wouldnt want or need. For all of my stress Im richer in underwear, shorts, running shoes and deodorant. If nothing shows Monday Ill have to add a bit more to that list.
We took the high speed train from Taipei to Kaoshong which was nice. The center of Taiwan is quite mountaineous with the south being a mix of city, country, the ocean, and a bit less stress perhaps than Taipei. Saturday we met with local TV stations as well as some written media and road our bikes for some photos, gave interviews explaining the importance of this event in shedding the stigma (s) that surround epilepsy and above all letting people know the event was sunday and they were welcome to join us!

SUNDAY morning at 5h30 I woke up. Hadnt slept much, am completely off my sleep cycle and feel like Im part of the cast of Lost in Translation. I dont feel so bad though, I bought some running shoes yesterday and went for a good run which felt good so I wasnt as shattered as I thought Id be. 7am we made it to the venue and already hundreds of people were mingling, registering, and getting the beautiful jerseys donated by a sponsor with my logo on the right front side-'When there's a will there's a way' and a marion clignet signature on the sleeve. The colors are blue and turqoise, my favorite. My 8h00 we were already over 2000 and everyone was getting antsy. I was amazed that this many people came out to ride 7kms! In France Id only get up this early to ride atleast 100! At 9h00 we were off and it took the first group about 15 minutes riding a medium pace to finish. We rode the love river where the podium was set up and chairs were waiting. Some dancers came up on stage and we did a group stretch followed by a dragon dance presented by a wonderful group of boys. The local deputy governor gave a speech as did all of the organisers who worked so hard to make this event happen. I gave a motivational talk and then invited my fellow ambassadors on stage to introduce themselves. 21 ambassadors in Taiwan! Nurses, students, engineers....from all walks of life and a very tight family from what I can see. The day was amasing, everyone had a good time and I may have even convinced the organisers to add atleast 33 more kms! next page photo page of this tremendous event!

EVENT PHOTOS (click on the photo to see the gallery)
Loads of sponsors and over 2500 participants. Hope to see you in 2009 for a longer ride!