Taking on the Loneliest Road
If you’d never ridden a road bike and had done very little exercise for almost two years because of a back injury, you probably wouldn’t fancy joining a charity cycling team setting out to ride 3,343 miles across the USA in just four months’ time.
But Dean Peake-Whitehurst, a senior technician at Business Micros, is doing just that as part of the We Mind and Kelly Matters mental health and suicide prevention charity’s ‘Loneliest Road’ fundraising ride.
The challenge will see two teams of ‘Kelly’s Heroes’ cyclists, drawn largely from the window and door industry, taking on one of two epic cycle rides in Europe and the US starting on World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September and finishing on World Mental Health Day on 10 October. The European team is first, riding 1,900 miles through Spain, France and Germany in 10 days. The baton will then be passed to the USA team, which is riding from Newark on the east coast to San Francisco on the west in just 17 days.
There’s an added layer to the challenge for Dean as well because fellow Business Micros technician, and more experienced road cyclist, Kevan Howarth is part of the European team and has a definite head start when it comes to training.
Dean said: “Hopefully the only competition between us will be around who can raise the most sponsorship because it’s an incredibly important cause and one which we’re both really keen to support.
“Like so many of us, I’ve had family experience of mental health issues and I know that this ride is for something bigger than just me.”
Kevan added: “I can never turn down a challenge anyway, but once I learned more about the story behind We Mind and Kelly Matters, and the amazing work the charity’s doing in raising awareness of mental health and supporting those who are struggling, I was determined to sign up.
Dean and Kevan’s Justgiving pages are at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dean-pw and https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kevanrhowarth
