2 BICYCLES • 4 DAYS • 350 MILES
In 1959 at 21 years of age, Roy Neil West set the national record for the fastest cycling ride from Land's End to London, completing the journey in 15 hours and 26 minutes. It was a record he would hold for 16 years. Roy passed away from complications associated with Alzheimer's on March 19, 2016.
Roy was our Father and on September 17th we will honor his memory by riding the opposite route from London to Land's End to raise money for Alzheimer's research. We will document our experience on this website.
As a physicist, our father built a reputation and a career on critical thinking, creativity and logic. What a cruel irony that his life would be taken by a disease that attacks all these abilities. Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disease and the most common form of dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term that describes a group of symptoms. Worldwide, 50 million people are living with Alzheimer's and other dementias, but we can make a difference. We need your help in the form of donations. All donations gathered through our GoFundMe will be passed along to the Alzheimer's Society in the UK to help fund research to find a cure. Please consider helping out.
WHY SLOW POSITRON?
Cycling was just a small part of our father's interests. Roy had a PhD in Experimental Physics and spent the majority of his career studying positron annihilation and it's effects on metals. When I was about 10 years old, Dad had an upcoming conference on slow positrons for which he asked me to design a logo. I created a snail with a positron symbol (e+) on its shell. This design was used in the production of marketing for the event as well as t-shirts.
When Michael and I decided to do this ride in honor of Dad, Michael recalled this snail design and suggested that we brand our team as "Slow Positron," a play on our fathers field of expertise along with our own personal cycling prowess.