A team of cyclists from Culina Group including Mike Roberts, Tony Kay, Paul Giddings, Carl Tolley, Daniel Muller, Paul Jacobs, Wojceich Jastrzebski and Paul Barnes recently took part in a charity cycle ride in support of MacMillan Cancer Support. The event started at Hoddesdon on Sunday 4th September where the team received a very warm welcome and a fine send off from the staff. The cyclists set off from Hoddesdon at midday arriving at Haverhill later in the day.
On day two the team left Haverhill and cycled a tough 80 miles to Desborough arriving at the hotel in total darkness at 9.pm after a really long day in the saddle.
Another tough day followed on day three with the cyclists leaving Desborough and cycling to Great Bear Fradley and then onto Wolverhampton racking up a grueling 85 miles in total!! The team at Wolverhampton stayed late to put up banners and provided the cyclists with a buffet to greet them after a long, hard day.
Day 4 was an early start with the cyclists setting off from Wolverhampton with stops at Stafford, Market Drayton and then Tattenhall. Although due to mechanical problems the cyclists unfortunately didn’t made it to Tattenhall and had to cycle into the night to get to their hotel. Matt Pinnock the Driver Trainer from Port Salford joined the cyclists for the day, having cycled the 78 miles that the group cycled, Matt then cycled a further 70 miles back to Manchester.
Day five was the most brutal day of the whole journey, with the team leaving Chester and cycling over the Peak district to Great Bear Sheffield. The trepidation that the team felt at the beginning of the day was well founded as the hill gradients increased. Day 5 consisted of 86 very tough miles and was the most difficult day of the whole event.
With aching muscles the team began their penultimate day with a comparably low 48 miles to complete on the day. Starting at Sheffield and cycling to Rotherham and then on to IPS Featherstone.
The team woke up on Saturday to take on their final day with an ‘easy’ 70 mile trip over the Pennines to Port Salford! It was tough with the guys arriving at Port Salford in the middle of the afternoon. Paul Barnes from IPS Featherstone joined the group on Friday and once the team arrived in Port Salford, got straight back on his bike to cycle back to Featherstone!
A special mention should go to Dave Windle the Driver trainer form Market Drayton who drove the support vehicle and repaired the bikes whilst always seeming to be on hand to support the team whenever the team needed motivating.
It should not be underestimated how tough a journey this was, extreme fatigue, injury, damage to bikes and hills were all a constant barrier to overcome, the team hope to raise a total of around £3,500 for Macmillan Cancer Support.
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