24 hour Cyclethon

I haven’t been on the bike for a while, in fact I was looking back and found that it was only 4 rides in the last 10 months, not good, not good at all, but there is a lot going on and some things take priority.  A friend of mine Daniel Kerr had organised a 24 hour Cyclethon in Weston s Mare, for the Sue Ryder Charity Daniel, and many of the riders are members of the Odd Balls Cycling Club. Odd Balls Cycling Club (Riders of all levels: We Start together and Finish together, and along the way stop for coffee and cake)

Daniel’s Dad was looked after by Sue Ryder and this was planned to raise funds in his name. I wanted to be part of the support and duly agreed to help. I had thought that if I could do some miles it would help with encouragement for Daniel and the team. Originally planed for March we had some unexpected inclement weather, namely Snow! so it was postponed until May Bank Holiday,(and what a good decision that was)  

Starting at The Tropicana on Weston super Mare Promenade, we all gathered at 11am for coffee, Chocolate Bars  and Cake! Always a good thing to do. We had photo’s taken and started the ride at noon. The weather was fabulous, blue skies, sunshine and a lot of people for the Bank Holiday weekend. The route was a 5 mile loop to uphill and return, a good route, no hills but challenging between the Golf Club to Uphill and return, main road traffic, but no incidents reported.

to ride throughout a 24 hour period required training, perseverance, stamina and good luck, hydrating constantly and making sure there was a good food and vitamin intake. The plan was for the core riders Daniel Kerr,  Jason Smith (Adventurer)  Sandra Day and Aaron Luker to do the whole 24 hours and cycle in excess of 200 miles….. Phil Churchill cycled in from Bridgwater and totalled over 130 miles. I only did the first stint but still covered over 54 miles, and not having done any serious riding over the previous 10 months I was indeed very happy with that.

The hardest period for the team was between 02:00-06:00, but they had support from Stones Cafe, Knightstone Island who stayed opened for the duration. Fog descended during the night but the sunrise was glorious, some riders returned for the last morning stint and the 24 hour Cyclethon was completed at 12 noon on the Sunday….. Distance covered 211 miles. A fantastic achievement and an emotional finish.

Congratulations all!!!

Read the story in The Weston Mercury 24 Hour Cyclethon-Weston Mercury
Riders: Sandra Day Aaron Luker Shirley Kear Arthur Bruce Jason Smith Andrew Phillpotts Philip Churchill Richard Hunt Keith Trask Richard Thorne Stuart Banks Julie Hunt Kelly Luker Nigel Kear

Not forgetting the many helpers who collected funds on the day

Romans 8:37  No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us