Digging deep

Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reports on the latest news to emerge from the GM Fundraising cycling team.

This morning, the GM Fundraising Facebook page read “Day nine, From Russia With Hope: Hamburg, Germany to Arnhem, Holland. 246 miles and 3,973 feet of climbing. It will be difficult to build up a rhythm today with lots of stop/start urban riding.”

Day six was 280 miles with 7,837 feet of climbing, and day seven was 290 miles and 5,670 feet of climbing.

It is a rough ride, and flicking through some of the comments on social media shows the agony the riders (and, I assume, the support team) are going through to raise the valuable funds for Hope House.

Here are some of the recent messages:
“From Russia with Hope Day 8. Team Clara, 73 miles. My worst day on the bike (hopefully).” Richard Gyde.

“Day 9, Team Clara today. 82 miles from Hamburg to our changeover point. I think I can honestly say that none of us thought it would be this tough. We literally only ride, eat or travel on the bus and it is now affecting a lot of the team. Still, we only have 4 days left and we are all determined to get through.” Gary Morton.

“Day 8 complete and not a great one for me, hit the wall at 42 miles and had to bow out and get rehydrated ? Very important to keep the fluids going in on these long distance rides but with the great help from Team Amelia and the awesome support from Alan Rees and Brendon Turner I will bounce back.” Alan Sadler.

“We can see the finish line now, but still have 4 days of riding to complete before we reach Hope House. Today, I’m in Team Charlie, riding to Arnheim with Graeme Bailey Dean Hodges Richard Nowell Roy Frost and Glyn Moorhouse, supported by Paul Godwin and Mike Derham. We’re hoping to beat the fundraising record for the last ride, so please donate if you haven’t already. Every penny makes a world of difference to terminally ill kids and their families.” Gerald Allen.

“Too tired to update last two nights. We have finished Sweden and crossed through in to Denmark now (by for the best cycling roads we have been on!). Today we leave Denmark and enter in to Germany. Another country done! I think it’s about 70 miles today and we end up in Hamburg. I got a couple of lovely donations yesterday, thank you so much. But as always, we need more. Please dig deep, as we are for the kids.” Andrew Glover.

“14 hours since we left this morn arrived at Odense – Denmark. Quick walk, food then bed and up at 4-45 to head to Hamburg. I’m a bit grumpy right now but still punching.” Then: “Today riding for Charlie, a quite astonishing young man who is happy happy happy while fighting a life limiting condition. We can all take inspiration from Charlie and his ? and we’ll be seeing him on Saturday. Remember ALL your donations go directly to Charlie and kids like him.” Adrian Barraclough.

Good luck guys, you have the whole industry behind you.

www.justgiving.com