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Half Bike Heroes Isle of Wight Cycling Challenge
This mad bunch of gents will be cycling round the IOW over May Bank Holiday as part of their ongoing fundraising mission for The Brain Tumour Charity. The Randonnee is a massive event on the Island so please be sure to look out for them and show them massive support as they embark on 3 laps in 24hrs!
Mark will be supporting them for one lap… if he can keep up!
Please read their story below … Good luck Half Bike Heroes!
Having lost our close friend Chris Hoyle in 2012 to brain cancer, we (James and Paul) wanted to do something to raise awareness of, and funds for, The Brain Tumour Charity.
Realising that whatever we did needed to stand out from the many other worthy fundraising activities that take place, we knew we had to do something attention-grabbing.
This is how Half Bike Heroes came to be, the plan being to ride silly distances on small-wheeled folding bikes or, as most people know them, Bromptons.
The first challenge we took on was in 2013 – the 170-mile Way of the Roses coast2coast bike ride from Morecambe on the Lancashire coast to Bridlington on the Yorkshire coast.
Two years later we knew that we needed to do something bigger for the next fundraising event. We came up with the idea of lapping the Isle of Man TT circuit and, just to make things more interesting, we decided that we would do this for 24 hours. For this challenge we recruited Martin Hughes and Richard Dawson and, as a team, we completed 6 laps (230 miles). What we didn’t know at the time was that we were the first cyclists to ride around the TT course for 24 hours:
It’s now three years on (we needed a break) and we are preparing for the next challenge. Maintaining the 24-hour and island theme, this time we are going to lap the Isle of Wight. We will do this as part of the island’s cycling festival ‘The Randonnee’ but, rather than one lap, we are aiming to complete three (230 miles) in 24 hours. The laps will of course be completed on our small-wheeled folding bikes.
Chris was 43 when he died; he was from a loving supportive family, was married with two boys, and had many friends. In doing what we do, we are hoping to keep Chris’s memory alive and help others who find themselves in a similar situation. As with our previous challenges, the money we raise will go to The Brain Tumour Charity, the UK’s leading brain tumour charitable organisation.
