The Challenge
I’ve decided to take on a bucket list challenge and I’m planning to cycle between the 2 furthest points in the UK, riding from Lands End England to John O’Groats in Scotland. The route that I’ll be taking isn’t the shortest as I need to avoid motorways, therefore I’ll be covering 980 miles (1577 km), and because the distance alone isn’t taxing enough, I’ll be climbing 52,507ft (16,004m) vertically over the 9 days. To put that into perspective, Mount Everest is 29,031ft (8848m) tall.
Why would I decide to do something like this?
To be honest, I've been asking myself exactly the same question every day since I signed up to do this in January. Firstly, like a lot of people, I gained a 'bit' of weight during the multiple lockdowns that we've gone through over the past 2 years, seeing my weight climb to 126.2kg (278.2lbs or 19st,12lbs) at the start of January. A lot of this, I’m going to blame on my sedentary Covid lifestyle, however, I’m hopeful that through the training I’m going to do along with dieting (goodbye beer and convenience food), I can get this down to around the 100kg mark (220lbs or 15st,10lbs) which should make the hills more bearable.
The second, and more important reason for me doing this is to raise some much needed funds for Escape Intervention Services, who like a lot of smaller charities have come up against it over the past couple of years. Local charities like Escape Intervention Services are critical to the local community and the young people that they serve. If my suffering through hundreds of hours of training and completing this challenge can raise some much needed funding for the charity, then it is well worth it!
Please give generously and think of me as I'm dragging myself up the country under nothing but my own steam in September. I've included a map of the route that I'm taking. If you're in the area, why not head out to cheer me on or heckle me, it's all extra
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