It’s been quite a month for cycling and fundraising.
First up was Pedal for Scotland Glasgow to Edinburgh ride – 47 miles – we had 16 cyclists taking part in this ride and 4 taking part in the shorter ride – Tabby and Danielle aged 11 and their mums Donella and Michelle. They were in first and Ian and I were lucky enough to be at the finish line to see them come in!
We had a great team of volunteers ready to do shifts at the finish line and at the tent – We were very fortunate this year to be invited to share the Cycle Law tent in the tented area. This gave us shelter on a blustery day and was most welcome!
Many of our cyclists chose to leave Glasgow very early (which meant leaving Edinburgh at 5am for most of them!) and were met at Linlithgow by our Shonagh – she had sandwiches and other refreshments that had been provided by our wonderful Corporate partner, Flavour. This meant they didn’t have to queue at the official food stop and they could just keep going and they all wanted to do that. Every one of the cyclists praised her cheery banter and encouragement and all loved the sandwiches!
They were all home by 4pm – improving on previous years by 2 hours!
In addition to all that, the team honoured Paul by wearing odd socks – one of his quirky habits! They also raised a fabulous £9500 (still rising too!)
Enjoy some of the photos from the day. We had two teams within our team – the Pink Ladies and Jim’s team.
Then, just over a week ago, one of our staunchest supporters, Graham Lawson, set off on a pretty tough challenge. To cycle coast to coast over the Pyrenees. He and his cycling companions cycled roughly 700km and climbed something like 11500m between Biarritz and Argelès-sur-Mer, raising over £1000
One of the cyclists a friend of Paul’s wrote this describing the day (clearly quite a tough day!)
“My Pedal 4 Paul Experience
First word that comes to my head is TORTURE!!! Joking asides it was a great event all in.
I went to Lynne 3 days before the event and after number of messages back and forth I was absolutely petrified to do this cycle with such little practice.
Myself & Lara signed up for the cycle in April, giving us plenty time to get out to train for it, but of course we left it until 2 weeks before to eventually venture up to 26 miles. Prior to this last time I had went on my bike was when I was about 15 years old.
The event itself was so well organised even to the extend they truck men who were helping gave us bubble wrap to protect our bikes.
We eventually arrived in Glasgow, only 2 hours too early so we managed to ask event staff to start of early which was no bother at all.
Starting off was the emotional part hearing the bagpipes just reminded me of the reasons we were doing such a grueling cycle staring into the sky knowing that Kim & Paul would get us through the day.
I must say getting out of Glasgow green I found the most challenging part. Signposts were fantastic and never got lost at all and plenty opportunities to stop for water etc. Getting off the main roads were better for me personally I preferred the country roads to the busy parts, BUT the killer hills were the TORTURE part!!!
Before we knew it we were half way and there was water being handed out left right and centre. After there we hit Falkirk and i have to say this was my favourite part everyone in the village were outside and handing us lots of water which definitely gave me the boost to get going again, and the same when we got to linlithgow too everyone cheering us on.
Suddenly a plane came over my head at some point after linlithgow which meant only one thing WE MADE IT!!!! Hearing the bagpipes and cheers from the finish line i could feel myself welling up again and yes myself and lara got ourselves together took hands and were both as proud as punch getting through that finish line. Amazing achievement which i never thought i could do but seeing Lynne & Our family at the finish line made it all the better, I could possibly do it again I must say!
Well done to all our team and volunteers who were just tremendous.
LM
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