Yesterday myself and my lovely friend Laura headed to the high street in Brentwood and set up our bikes on turbo trainers to cycle for 6 hours. We were doing this to raise awareness and fundraise for Macmillan. Macmillan are the chosen charity for the Newcastle to London ride we are taking part in next month. They are there to support you after a cancer diagnosis and help you take back some control in your life. From help with money worries and advice about work, to someone who’ll listen if you just want to talk, they’re there.
We thought this was maybe something different to do and lets face it when you see two crazy women sitting on stationery bikes in your local high street it probably sparks a little curiosity.
We spoke to lots of people as the day went on including a man who has been battling leukemia since the age of 5 and it was very touching as he was with his mum who has also had cancer and they thanked us as they said without people like us raising awareness and funds for the charity they would not have received some of the invaluable help they have over the years. Most people know someone who cancer has affected unfortunately.
We both have turbo trainers though the most I have done is 90 minutes and so there is quite a difference between that and 6 hours. I knew this was going to be tough. And painful. Riding on the road for 6 hours is very different but on a turbo there is no natural movement, no need to get out of your seat, no moving round corners or no getting out of your saddle so basically you get pretty sore and numb pretty quickly.
Now there is no nice way of saying it but I am sure you know what I mean when I say numb and sore – I mean our backsides and our lady parts. Sore. Very very sore.
We were taking hourly selfies as we went on and I will admit when we got halfway there was something so great and yet also so depressing knowing we had to do the same time all over again.
We giggled through most of the day but we were both fairly certain that was delirium setting in. There was laughing and lots of singing. There is a song with lyrics ‘I can’t feel my face when I’m with you’ and I started singing this to Laura though the word face was replaced with…………….another word ha ha.
The worst part (apart from feeling violated by our bike saddles) was the final ten minutes that seemed to be the longest ten minutes ever. This was shortly followed by a swift removal of ourselves from the bikes.
It was worth it though as we raised almost £300 to add to our sponsorship and got in 6 beneficial hours in the saddle covering over 100 miles. We still have a way to go and any donations are most welcome – http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=Scrambled_legs_go_cycling&faId=656649&isTeam=true
Can’t say I am particularly excited at the prospect of getting back on my saddle tonight for a recovery ride!
Thank you to everyone who donated yesterday or even took to the time to come and talk to us – we had lots of people who I think just thought we were made for taking on such a challenge and you know what we are but the best ones are!
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