8th September:
WE DID IT!!!!
We lost around 17,000 calories each , but ate so much I think I've put on weight!! The final figures were 237miles in 14hours 12mins which is an average speed of 16.7mph
Day 1 - 90miles - The first day took us to Weston-super-mare. We were prepared for the hills so just got our heads down and went for it. The rain was on and off, with the clouds teasing us showing us a hint of blue then closing up and pouring down. Rigs phone surrendered to the rain.
Day 2 - 74miles - From Weston to Hereford, stopping off at Chepstow for a 2-course meal before tackling the Welsh hills!! This was the hardest and wettest day, raining for 90% of the time and throwing some hail at us for the last few miles.
It really hit us how wet it was when one of the road closures we came to was due to a mud slide. We were able to cycle past it and noticed half the road was missing, so slowly peering over the edge we saw a van sitting in the river.
Matts phone held out the for the two days but the shock of drying out when in the B&B was too much for it and also gave up.
Day 3 - 73miles - Last day, the only dry day, we were dry enough to actually sit on a comfy pub chair and eat our food!!! Wooohooo!!. Seeing the signs for Shrewsbury was good, but with still 60 miles away we still had a long way to go.
Kate went home after having lunch with us and to our surprise she sorted out a welcoming committee of friends and family.
Thank you for all your support, we still have a few sponsor forms to come in, so come back and check the page in a few weeks to see our final figure!!
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20th August:
Exctract written by Jaclyn Green from the local newspapers:
Two Shropshire IT workers will be swapping bytes for bikes next month when they embark upon a 250-mile charity cycle. Richi Jenkin, 30, from Market Drayton, and Matt Lea, 20, from Hodnet, both IT support technicians at Harper Adams University College, near Newport, plan to pedal from Market Drayton to Paignton in Devon, starting on September 5th.
Newlywed Richi, a former pupil of Market Drayton’s Grove School, said: “I have family down in Devon and I have wanted to do the bike ride since I was 12. Matt said "We are doing it in aid of the Lingen Davies Cancer Relief Fund." We chose a cancer charity because Matt’s mother passed away due to cancer when he was six in 1994.
Every penny of the money raised will go to the charity, as Matt and Richi are funding the trip themselves. They have already bought all the equipment they need, and will be supported all the way by Richi’s wife Katie, 26, an ITU nurse at Telford, who will be carrying there spares and equipment, ahead in the car.
The pair expect to complete the distance in three days, doing about 85 miles each day. They have already clocked up approximately 2,000 miles in training since March, and have been completing a minimum of 20 miles a day, up to 100 miles at weekends, for the last few weeks. But they still have a couple of worries, such tackling the Devon hills, getting saddle sores and the bad weather.
When asked what they were looking forward to, Matt, who attended Thomas Adams Wem School, said: “Finishing! We’ll get this first long-distance ride over with first, but we have already been thinking about what to do next. Perhaps Market Drayton to John O’Groats next year. . .”
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