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Leeds to Rotterdam, one pedal at a time

Welcome back to the Queens Roundtable Cycling Group JustGiving page — proof that a group of grown men can still be talked into cycling to the Netherlands and back if you frame it as "a bit of fun."

This year, our peloton of 14 riders will carry a combined age of 749 years across the Channel, through Holland, and (all being well) back home again. So that's fourteen men, several dodgy knees, hips, lots of Sudocream, a shared refusal to admit defeat to headwind, or each other.

Since we started this journey more than 25 years ago, our team has changed shape many times — riders have joined, some have retired their saddles, but the spirit hasn't moved an inch. What hasn't changed is why we do it: St Gemma's Hospice, a cause that means more to this group than any of us say out loud very often, except perhaps after the third overnight stop.

This year's line-up:

Gurvinder Sambhi, Andrew Taylor, John Barker, John Bolton, Luke Ellis, Martin Clavane, Mukesh Parekh, Paul Abbott, Peter Ellis, Raj Jittlar, Rav Teja, Ryan Ellis, Wayne Noteman, Melvyn Wyatt.

We should also mention: the fleet is no longer all-analogue. A growing faction of the group has quietly gone electric, while the self-appointed "real riders" continue to grind it out on road bikes and remind everyone about it at every opportunity. Expect some good-natured needling on the climbs — batteries versus knees, motors versus mileage in the legs, and at least one purist muttering about "cheating" while quietly falling twenty minutes behind. Whichever camp you're in, everyone still has to catch the same ferry.

Between them they'll cover over 300 miles, two countries, one ferry, and - if the last twenty five years are anything to go by- at least one argument about who packed the puncture repair kit, wrong Satnav turn.

Every pound raised goes to St Gemma's Hospice, who do more good in a day than most of us manage in a year of turbo-training excuses. Please dig deep — we promise to suffer appropriately in return.

Thank you for being part of this ride with us. Again.

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