Author Archive
Somehow, I did it!
21/06/2010 by Ben.
Amazingly I managed to make it to San Remo. Two weeks and two days after setting off from Bradford, 1234 miles in between I arrived yesterday (Sunday).I just wanted to say a big thanks for all your support and clearly the training runs have been working.Now, I have three days off before I return to sit on the beach and perv… I mean relax.CheersBen
Ben’s Big Trip…
28/05/2010 by Ben.
Evening fellow Thorpers.
I just wanted to post a quick note prior leaving on my trip. Just in case you were not aware, I am cycling from Bradford to San Remo (Italy) in order to raise money for the Bradford Burns Unit which was set up following the Valley Parade fire in 1985. Please have a look at this previous post for the details. I am leaving on Friday (4th June).
I wanted to say a big thank you to you all for both your generous donations (I’m still happily accepting donations here (it has been tempramental but it should work fine and certainly will be clear when it has taken the money)) and the support you have all given me over the last 6 months since joining the club. You have all greatly increased my cycling confidence and without the excellent Sunday club runs I would, without question, not be as fit and ready to go.
If anyone would like to follow my progress online, my Blog (www.bensbigtrip.wordpress.com) is the place to go. I will be updating it as much as possible when I am away. I will also be ‘Tweeting’ my progress via my Twitter account (www.twitter.com/BensBigTrip).
I won’t be out this Sunday as I will be ‘resting’ prior to setting off on Friday although I may pop down to the Library with ‘Fry Up’ for the banter before you all go.
Thanks again everyone. I look forward to the Sunday run at the start of July when hopefully I will be back and ‘tanned’!
McCall - I WILL be doing a TT this year, I promise. (It would be great if there are any that are 80 miles long and require a 12mph average after what I will be used to!)
Alistair - I will be texting you back for some ‘training runs’ (i.e. drafting practise for me!) when I return.
Doug - I will let you know how the ‘Camping’ goes.
Ben
Ben’s Big Trip…
12/04/2010 by Ben.
Evening fellow Thorpers.
As some of you may or may not know, along with Cycling I watch a lot of football (Bradford City (Insert joke here!)).
As you will all no doubt remember, in 1985, there was a fire at Valley Parade which killed 56 fans. I was only 3 at the time and didn’t go to the game however, strangely my Grandfather did get to the ground but after feeling unwell, bought a programme and went off home again before kick off.
Following the fire along with the 56 killed (mainly children or ‘older’ fans) there were over 200 people badly injured and transferred to hospitals in the district.
Following the fire, the people of Yorkshire and across the world raised £3.5 million, part of which was used to set up a dedicated burns unit at Bradford university. The unit continues to do incredibly valuable work both treating and researching burns injuries. In order to continue doing this, it needs money as it is partially run via public donations.
25 years on from the fire this May, the Telegraph and Argus and Bradford City are running a campaign to raise £100,000 to ensure the survival of the Burns unit which will otherwise be in real doubt.
Back in October last year I decided in order to raise some money I would think of a cycling challenge. Once extreme Unicycling had been ruled out I set upon the idea of Cycling from Valley Parade (Bradford City F.C.) to San Remo (in honour of Cavendish’s 1st major one day race win) over 3 weeks in June. I will be camping as I go.
Planning has been ongoing for quite a while and I have set up a blog to document my progress (don’t worry, there are no pictures of me in the nip (Steve, I emailed you those separately, as requested. You owe me £10 now as you didn’t pay me for the last lot)). There is lots more info in the blog about the plans so far (total distance is roughly 1200 miles and the route includes a stage of this years Tour!).
Please take a look and also take a look at my JustGiving page and if you can, sponsorship would really be much appreciated, any amount however small. Alternatively, any sponsorship can be collected on the club run and I can apply it to the total. It is a very good and local cause.
Thanks for your time.
Ben
Club Jerseys
26/03/2010 by Ben.
Do we have any in stock at the moment? I would be interested in getting one or two if possible? If someone could let me know how I go about getting some it would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Ben
The Man who Cycled the World…
24/02/2010 by Ben.
Just a quick heads up to anyone interested that Mark Beaumont is doing a talk in Halifax Victoria Theatre on Friday 19th March at 7.30pm.
Mark held the record for cycling 18,000 miles round the world and has just cycled the length of the Americas (interupted by climbing the two tallest mountains).
Should be a good evening. I might ask him for some routes for future club run’s!
Club Run 21/02/10
21/02/2010 by Ben.
This mornings club run was quite short. Everyone chickened out because of the snow! After missing last week with a cold I feel I can now pass off my ‘wimp of the week’ award seeing as I was the only one to turn up today! (All be it on a Mountain bike, and yes, I do have photographic proof!). Alex, I trust I get a point for today!
My fellow thorpers, I am disappointed in you all!
Ben (I am typing with my nose as my hands still have not de-frosted!)