Derek Holland
Relentless Ride 2011
Fundraising for The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund
Story
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What is Relentless Ride?
Relentless Ride is the name we have given to our charity cycle ride from John O’Groats to Lands End (900 miles). The aim is to cycle end to end in 3 days or less and in the process raise a load of money.
Wow, tell me more!
Okay, cast your minds back to earlier in 2010 when some celebrities did this for SportsRelief. Well, we are doing a very similar thing, but without such a huge target. However, the 8 of us do plan to cover the distance quicker!
So how do you plan to complete this?
For safety reasons then we are going to have to cycle in pairs. Each pair will need to either cycle for an hour at a time, or 15 miles (whichever takes longest). The next pair then start, and so on so forth. This equates to roughly 3 hours rest each time. However, the reality will see this being shorter as routine and emergency bike maintenance is inevitable, plus replenishing energy levels by taking on food and drink, plus preparing drinks and energy bars for the next stage.
Taking the above into account adds an extra element to this challenge, as the team will be fighting against sleep as well as fatigue as the challenge goes further.
Who are you raising money for?
We are raising money for the RAF Benevolent Fund. As serving members of the RAF it seemed the obvious choice. Whilst their website can tell you a lot more about the good they do, briefly it is the RAF's leading welfare charity providing practical, financial and - in some cases - emotional support to all members of the RAF family, from childhood through to old age. They help with issues from childcare and relationship difficulties to injury and disability, and from financial hardship and debt to illness and bereavement.
Your challenge isn’t taking place until September 2011, why is this?
Well, non of us are competitive cyclists and therefore we need to train for the event. Work and family commitments need to be taken into consideration when training, especially as half of the team actually live away from home during the week.
Add the extra element of Operational Detachments to Afghanistan as well (for some) then we need all the time we can to give ourselves the best chance possible of completing this.
There are also many logistical aspects that are still being put in place. As this logistical support is pivotal to success then we needed to allow time for this to be put in place.
Where can I find out more?
We have our own webpage,( www.relentlessride.com ). From here you can subscribe to updates so that you are the first to know what is happening with our progress. Also it would be worth visiting the RAFBF website soon where we will have an article published.
Following on from that there will be RAFBF Facebook and Twitter feeds and so long as we don’t give our webmaster too much work then we hope to get a Facebook page going also.
What next?