A Revolve24 participant

We've been catching up with one of our participants - Dave Tubs - read his story:

Dave Tubs, 45, from Berkshire was an 18-stone unhealthy lorry driver who gorged on burgers, pizzas and family sized pies on the road. He, like many other truckers, found cyclists a nuisance on the road.

In January 2016 at a company conference he met and heard a talk by Simon Harmer (@shorterSi) and became inspired by his story of working as a medic in Afghanistan working, getting both legs blown off, coming home and never giving up.

Dave decided it was time to sort out his fitness and wellbeing. A diet was not going to work; he needed to have a dramatic lifestyle change.

His boss Olly encouraged him and his staff team to get fit enough to ride Revolve24, the 24-hour cycling challenge at Brands Hatch, as a team of four. He never believed he could do it, but signed up anyway due to friendly peer pressure. He bought a bike, rode for the first time since being a schoolboy, and got hooked.

He started training, running and riding with his boss (who he calls inspirational) at the weekends. Dave completely changed his diet, swapping unhealthy processed foods with wholesome ones. Dave started taking his bike and gym gear with him on the road. He says it was an “incredible turnaround”. Instead of spending the night drinking beer and eating fatty food at his hotel, or in his cab, he went out for a run or bike ride, experiencing the beautiful UK countryside his trucker friends miss. He says “it felt great riding around Yorkshire etc, instead of sitting in a bar on my own.” He lost 6 stone in 6 months.

His team completed the challenge. He continued until the end despite damaging his hamstring and Achilles tendon half-way through. He has now totally changed his attitude to cyclists and knows both how to be a safe lorry driver, as well as a safety astute cyclist. He knows the blind spots to avoid.

He now tries to help change other truckers’ attitude to cyclists, as well as spreading the word amongst cyclists on how to stay safe. He rides differently to other cyclists as he knows the dangers.

He now rides several times a week and enjoys yoga. He’ll be taking on the Revolve24 challenge again this year and Conquip are a partner of the event. Conquip will also be at the event with its latest and safest cab, training cyclists how to avoid blind spots and collisions.

Part of Dave's role at Conquip, a large engineering company, is Health and Wellbeing, encouraging others to live more healthily.

He sees that, as well as physical health issues, truckers often have poor mental health due to the loneliness, isolation and cramped conditions truckers live with. While others result to road rage, he practices mindfulness.

Conquip prides itself on being a gold standard, pioneering company by training all of its drivers to the best level in terms of safety, awareness of cyclists and staff health.

This year we are looking forward to seeing Dave again at Revolve24 in September riding with team mates in one of the Conquip 4 man teams, Conquip Blue, and we wish him and the team all the best!