He was diagnosed with a rare cancer while in the hospital, being treated for a broken neck after a coach ran him over when he was riding. Now he needs our help!
“I’m 45 with two children, ages eleven and eight, and a wife who I love dearly,” he states with the sincerity and clarity of perspective that only a man in his position can, “I’m not ready to die and leave them just yet.”
Glenn Utteridge was cycling to work from his West Northamptonshire, UK, home on February 6, 2023, when a coach struck him from behind, hurling him into traffic. He awoke in the hospital with his family at his side and a brace protecting multiple fractures of his neck and spine. Scans revealed a rare form of Stage 4 terminal colon cancer.
Check out Glenn’s Strava here and ZwiftPower profile here!
Glenn discovered competitive cycling in 2010, and during lockdown, Zwift provided him the structure to maximize his potential as an amateur. In 2022, he spent over 800 hours in the saddle, logging over 18,000 real-world and Zwift miles. He was training for a spot in the Gran Fondo World Championships in Glasgow, banging out 4.5-hour century rides at a 22mph pace and 320 W, and cracked the top-130 on ZwiftPower with a 5.1wkg FTP, when tragedy struck him.
“The tumors in my liver are currently inoperable,” he reveals, “and I have a rare BRAF mutation, which is hard to treat via standard treatments with average survival rates typically measured in months.”
He is determined to do whatever it takes to see his children through more of their school years and share life with his wife—they’ve been married for two years. Glenn knows the chances aren’t good. He’s trying to improve the odds by leaving his family and traveling to Japan for treatment.
Adoptive cell immunotherapy combines a custom cancer vaccine that instructs the immune system to recognize and combat the advancing tumor with the development of artificial cells engineered to enter the body and precisely target and attack the cancer. The UK has only been experimenting with the treatment that has been available in Japan for twenty years.
Each round costs him between ~£20k to £30k.
He could barely walk a few feet or use his arms after the bus hit him. Major stomach surgery knocked him down even further. When he tried to pull himself back up and walk, a fainting episode caused him to smash his face on the ground. Doctors wired his jaw shut, and his body deteriorated more, deprived of solid food and eating through a syringe. He couldn’t talk.
“These were near-death experiences for me,” he reveals, “I wasn’t thinking about biking.”
He couldn’t handle the mere mention of cycling because it reminded him of what he had lost. When his wife cleared some of his old belongings, he told her to bin his cycling kit. Luckily, she refused.
Glenn found significant solace and support in online Facebook groups, specifically BREAKING BRAF. These groups are invaluable for individuals facing rare mutations with grim prognoses, providing Glenn and others with a sense of belonging. Despite the formidable challenges posed by their severe illness, they shared a joint determination to continue living life, albeit in a different manner.
Glenn’s Zwift companions from Team INC remained steadfast pillars of support. Their unwavering presence served as a source of encouragement for him, highlighting the profound importance of friendships and camaraderie during challenging times.
It inspired him to get back in the saddle and raise awareness of his journey of cycling with terminal cancer. Whenever his online and real-world cycling friends spot his rides on Strava or see him cycling in town, they congratulate him on his path to recovery.
“I’m not currently on a recovery path,” he explains. “I still have Stage 4 terminal cancer. I am though lucky enough to ride my bike again. I’ve remembered that I love riding my bike and would like to ride it a bit more before I die!
Glenn finds strength in sharing his experiences and the helpful perspective of cycling with late-stage cancer. He says:
- Learn to enjoy riding again. Don’t make it just about the numbers; they’ll never be as good as before.
- Take more precautions before starting to cycle your road bike. I started slowly indoors on a static bike first, then on an MTB. I am building the distance before going back to my road bike. I recognize that any injuries now could interrupt my cancer treatment and prove fatal.
- Don’t go too far from home. I stick to shorter local routes now, so if my energy levels drop or there are problems, I can quickly get home.
- Find a good local bike shop/bike mechanic. I find any kind of bike maintenance difficult now due to some loss of dexterity in my hands. So, a local bike shop has been invaluable and maximizes the time I can spend on the bike.
- Work with your condition. I feel the cold a lot more now and often wear 3 to 4 layers in pretty mild conditions. On the plus side, through being injured and with the cancer treatment, I have lost over 10kg weight and so can easily fit those extra layers on! I also continue to cycle in the early mornings. Not because that’s what I used to do before, but because that’s when my energy levels tend to be ok.
- It’s still possible to get better with regular training. I averaged ~140w and 16 to 17mph on my road bike when I restarted. After a couple of months of riding again, my FTP is 255w, and I average between 18 and 20mph, which feels a bit like the old days and makes me smile.
He’s back on Zwift and planning a fundraising Zwift training session on Sunday, November 26 at 7:30 am UK time. The ZwiftPower link is here.
You can sign up for the INC fundraising group ride on Zwift here.
You can find Glenn on Zwift as #glennthecancerwarrior Utteridge, and his tag is the same as his Instagram name, glennthecancerwarrior.
Please join him by adding him as a friend or checking out his planned events. Your support can make a significant difference in his journey.
To support Glenn and help him continue riding, you can visit his fundraising page at Glenn’s Fundraising Page.
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
