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Cyclists tackle the hills as they make their way through the East Midlands
May 25, 2010
For Foster Care Fortnight 2010, FCA's Chris and Morris are cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise awareness of fostering throughout all regions and also raise money for Bulgarian NGO For our Children. As they pass through Derby, the guys took a moment to visit the FCA Derby local office. See what they got up to…
Day 10
“We headed up to the Derby office in anticipation for a grand event, receiving a warm welcome and the sound of the kettle to follow! We chatted away about the Challenge so far and what we expected for the journey ahead, taking our FCA branded t-shirts to raise awareness of fostering in Derby, Leeds and beyond,” comments Morris.
“On paper, the route post Derby looked like a fairly short journey in comparisons to some of our other days but the route rose 4400ft – the most climbing of any of our days. We made our way up the busy but familiar A38 and Morris experienced his first mechanical issue: a slither of metal in the rear tyre.
“I grabbed his bike, held it tightly and removed the offending sting from the rear tyre. No puncture but a fairly wrecked tyre. We made good progress towards Sheffield, taking in some of the fantastic rolling countryside that makes the quieter country roads so good for cycling. As we rolled into Sheffield, the Peak District rising on our side, this was a warning of the hills to come.
“Sheffield saw our pace slow considerably with its hills and endless traffic lights. The locals seemed to have a renewed interest in what we were doing, with cars and vans tooting horns and stopping at lights to talk to us about our journey. The route that we had planned also caused us to lose our pace considerably. There was no direct route to Leeds only a mixture of minor roads that required tricky negotiation.
”We took our final stop feeling happy that we only had 20 miles left to complete, how premature we were. The last 20 were possibly the hardest 20 so far with Chris’ tyre giving up the ghost. Fortunately for us, Katheryn and the support car came round the corner just as we were pondering how we could make a temporary fix. Hill after hill and countless directional difficulties continued to hamper our pace. Finally we rolled into our hotel, tired, dirty (we both managed to cover ourselves in grime) and hungry too.”
The Day's Stats:
75 miles
13 mph average
4400 ft of climbing
1 puncture
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More fostering news stories
Foster Care Fortnight 2010 Cycle Challenge page
Learn more about fostering in the Midlands
Learn more about fostering in Derby
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