I wondered how many of you out there had ever considered doing a long distance charity ride?
To me they seem to be quite a phenomenon, in that they draw people into cycling in an almost magical way. And this is people who have probably never given cycling a second thought.
I think it’s because they offer an awfully broad selection of benefits. In the first instance, I think most people are tempted by the challenge of such a lengthy and often arduous ride.
Also it’s something that one has to take seriously and invest hours of training in, but this is usually helped along by support from families or work colleagues. And once one has done some training, and noticed the improvement in fitness, a certain amount of confidence appears.
A lot of these events are ridden by groups from the same office or club, and, even if people start out as strangers, the camaraderie that these long distance rides foster is unbelievable. The final payoff is the huge amount of personal satisfaction that people find in completing what is at the start, often thought impossible.
The high that charity riders have on their return lasts for weeks. It’s great to see how much pleasure a few weeks cycling can bring, and most become committed cyclists or even serial long distance charity riders.
Do you fancy having a go? Well, not surprisingly the annual off-island fund raising ride for Hospice, the Bedell Group Ecuador Challenge 2009 was fully subscribed in days so perhaps you’d better start planning now for next year. You could of course, try one of the many local 40 or 50 mile charity rides that are coming up soon, they wouldn’t be a piece of cake but at least you could collapse in your own bed that night!
• Pictured above are some of those who took part in the Island cycle ride in aid of Cancer Relief last year.
Braking (hard) News
ITV covers the2009 Tour of Britain
Cycle racing aficionados will be pleased to hear that ITV 4 will be broadcasting coverage of the Tour of Britain again this year. The Tour, which runs from 12th to 19th September, will be seen every evening from 7pm to 8 pm, and the program will be repeated the following day.
Last year, over 300,000 people watched the Tour of Britain highlights each evening. In addition to this, ITV will also be showing highlights from a new series of professional city centre races. In total there will be 10 events, each held in a different town, and spaced at intervals of 2 to 5 days apart. The series starts on May 21st at Milton Keynes and finishes on 28th June at Southend.
Bike to School Week
Last week saw ‘Bike to School Week’ in the United Kingdom, and it appears that children are keen to be cycling. A survey taken among 9-11 year olds clearly shows that most kids would prefer to cycle to school. In fact, at present, only 1% actually get there by bike.
The survey showed that a third of children felt that they would be better prepared for their day if they cycled. Another third were keen to get the freedom and independence that cycling to school would offer. Other reasons put forward included the health and environmental benefits, no traffic jams and that it would be more fun!
And finally
Bradford car dealers Clive Brook Volvo are now offering bicycles as well as courtesy cars. The dealership had noticed that many customers brought their own bikes with them, when they dropped their cars in for service. MD Clive Brown thought that bikes were far cheaper to resource and run, and there was no need to fill them up with petrol either.
