Ride London 30 miler champs

We had a fantastic time at this year’s Ride London event which took place on a beautiful, sunny day in the capital.

To find out what we got up to in the festival zones, please take a look at our blog here. In this latest blog, our Inclusive Cycling Adviser, Jamie Lawson brings to light some of the brilliant cycling partnerships that took on the 30 mile course on 9th June.

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This year’s Ride London 30-mile participants were Stella, Mark & Jamie alongside their incredible buddies Filip, Robin & Naomi. All 3 riders have neurological conditions that effect their balance and coordination. They took on the quite steep challenge on a very hot spring Sunday. We wanted to share their amazing stories with you to give you an idea of how impactful cycling can be. 

Mark & Robin

Meet Mark

Mark, What’s your Bikeworks Story?

I was a keen tricyclist throughout my childhood. Then my trike died of old age, I learnt to drive, moved away to uni, etc, so didn’t think much about cycling. Then in 2012 when the Olympics and Paralympics came to town, I saw that there was some tricycling down at Brands Hatch. I thought “I used to do that”. I bought some tickets and roared when the Brit David Stone retained his Gold Medal. I went home to do some Googling and found Bikeworks. Cycling has done wonders for both my physical health and emotional wellbeing. I even learnt to balance on 2 wheels. However, after a mile or two, my brain turns to mush and I end up falling off, so I prefer 3 wheels!

What made you take part in Ride London 2023?
Having done the Freecycle twice I moved up to the Ride 30 last year. We unfortunately were unable to complete the route so I wanted to give it another go this year.

How did the ride go?
Very good. I didn’t use the battery that much, and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Best part of the ride other than finishing?
Robin telling me that I hit 20mph+ going downhill!

How did it feel to cross the finish line?
Brilliant, I was please I completed the whole thing

Summarise the experience using a few words
Glowing muscles and glowing smiles!

Meet Robin

Robin, What’s your Bikeworks Story?
I joined Bikeworks almost exactly 9 years ago wanting to help get more disabled people cycling. I had qualified as a cycle instructor in 2010 and volunteered occasionally at Victoria Park All Ability Club.

What made you take part in Ride London 2023?
After last year’s first attempt, I was hoping to support a rider to go further and achieve the full 30 miles

Best part of the ride other than finishing?
Seeing thousands of cyclists on closed roads and seeing Mark cross the line. Also hearing that Stella & Jamie had finished too.

 How did it feel to cross the finish line?
Good. It was a pleasure to see and hear our success stories 

Summarise the experience using a few words
Sun, slopes, thousands, success, brakes.

 

Stella & Filip

 

Meet Stella

Stella, What’s your Bikeworks Story?

I met Clare Morris in April 2022 at a Dementia Fair. Clare was advertising her charity For Brian CIC alongside Bikeworks and their All Ability Clubs. At the time I was working for ‘Action on Disability.” Clare, and I sat next to each other and got chatting. I was interested in cycling, however due to my dyspraxia, I had no confidence in learning to cycle especially after my dad tried forever to teach me. My Dyspraxia means I have difficulties with coordination and balance. I promised Clare I would attend an All Ability session at Little Wormwood Scrubs in the following weeks. With great apprehension I went, and I loved it immediately. A year on and every day if I am off, I go to either the LWS or Enfield Club.

Shortly after attending a few sessions the brilliant instructors gave me the skills and the confidence to ride a 2 wheeler. I also love the Ride Side-by-Side Cycle and when there is an Enfield pilot available, I book it every Monday to take me home from work. If Clare and I didn’t sit together that day, none of this could ever happen.

What made you take part in Ride London 2023?
The issue about my disabilities is that people only see the speech disability, however they’re not aware of my other two disabilities: Left hemiplegia and Dyspraxia, which are equally ‘disabling’. With the knowledge, I probably will not cycle on main roads and motorways because of my spatial awareness difficulties, I decided to do Ride London because at least there would be no cars. My goals before Ride London were to get a bike hanger for my block of flats and to commute to work and back using canal route and small roads, now I’m not quite so sure.

How did the ride go?
I loved every minute of the ride, especially with the beautiful weather. I will definitely have to take part in similar rides as it’s great riding when the roads are blocked to cars.

Best part of the ride other than finishing?
My buddy, Filip, he  was so intuitive, he was brilliant at knowing how to guide me along the route and away from the other racers. If I didn’t have Filip as a buddy I probably would have given up at mile 18. We paused and had a rest in Sweep Stop. I was then able to visualise the ending, I had 12 more miles to go and told Filip we could go on to the finishing line.

Most Challenging part?
Riding in the tunnels – especially in the dark, as it didn’t help with my spatial awareness.

When others and racers overtook me. I have strong ‘flight or fight’ reactions and can sometimes be like a ‘fuse box’, going to Bikeworks All Ability seasons is helping me to control it.

How did it feel to cross the finish line?
I was so pleased and surprised I didn’t fall, I felt that I have achieved a life ambition: cycling and being free to transport myself from A to B. For 26 years, I have given up on appeasing people’s expectations of me. My life is hard enough not to worry about such silliness. This is the second greatest accomplishment of my life, first greatest accomplishment was to get 2 degrees, third is to raise a beautiful son into this unforgiving world (I am getting there, fingers crossed)

Summarise the experience using a few words

Brave, Determination, Triumphant, Self- Control, Mind-Control

 

Meet Filip

Filip, What’s your Bikeworks Story?

I was working for another community related social enterprise and had been following and supporting Bikeworks on social media for a few years. I really connected with the organisation and the reason is because I think the idea and the values the company holds are great.

Two years ago I started to work for Bikeworks, initially as a coordinator in the All Ability programme. Now I’m currently the Fleet Manager, maintaining and organising the mechanical unit of the team.

What made you take part in Ride London 2023?
The previous year I supported the Ride London Bikeworks All Ability event implementing my mechanical skills and it went really well. This year I felt privileged when I was asked to support a rider on their 30 mile ride. And I was supporting Stella who has become one of our strong riders.

How did the ride go?
It went really well, Stella was the first to finish from our team.

Best part of the ride other than finishing?
When Stella started to build up confidence, it was her first ride outside a park.

Most Challenging part?
At the very beginning, just as we started Stella hit the fence on the side of the track with her handlebar, but within a few minutes we had adapted and got into it.

How did it feel to cross the finish line?
It was great. Great to support Stella complete the ride.

Summarise the experience using a few words
Sunny, smiley, dedicated, adventure, success

Jamie and Naomi

Meet Jamie

Jamie, What’s your Bikeworks Story?
I was one of the first members of Bikeworks All Ability Club way back 2009 when they opened the original Victoria Park club. Jobs and life kept me away for a while but the same person who introduced me to Bikeworks got me back riding and in 2017 I was asked to be a part of the members advisory board, then in 2021 started a role within Bikeworks Inclusive Cycling team. When I was little, I had a Kitten trike, the first cycle I tried at Bikeworks was the ICCE Recumbent Trike which was a lot safer and a lot faster – Win, win.

What made you take part in Ride London 2023?
I still like a good challenge and will always have that buzz to prove people wrong and hopefully change attitudes along the way.

I also felt privileged to be given the opportunity to take part in an event like Ride London, events like these are becoming more inclusive thanks to organisations such as Bikeworks and Wheels For Wellbeing.  We underestimate how powerful visibility can be.

 How did the ride go?
Wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve signed up for. Most of the photos I’ve seen I have a smile on my face, I definitely wasn’t smiling that much in my head. Physically it was very demanding, but I enjoy testing myself, mentally it tested my concentration levels to the max. I could feel the heat taking effect as the muscles were cramping up quite a bit, which meant there were a lot of water breaks to try and keep hydrated, but they well eat into my finishing time. There were literally lots of ups and downs along the route but what an unforgettable day, that might seem quite dramatic but as a kid I would never have thought I’d get to be included in such an ‘able’ event.

 

Best part of the ride other than finishing?
There were so many highlights throughout the day. Hearing that we all had finish was a special moment. The support we got from the crowd and other riders was just amazing, even compared to last year the negative comments are becoming less and less. There also seemed a few more adapted cycles along the route which was great to see.

Throughout the ride we had some fun and games changing my gears, sometimes when I should’ve been in the lowest gear I wasn’t, at around mile 26 we come back through the Link tunnel and wow was the last stretch very steep, because of the gear issues I completed that section in a middle gear which isn’t bad going but the most satisfying part was seeing other riders having to get off and push their bikes up the incline, for a moment I felt quite powerful both physically and mentally.

Luckily some of the route is quite local to me so that meant my family got to come and cheer us on, I think their quite unique style of support helped me and Naomi massively.

Taking on this challenge was a bit of a risk as it wasn’t a dead cert as to if I could definitely complete it or not, and so I knew I needed someone who knew me reasonably well and was on my level, thankfully, not that I gave her much option, Naomi agreed to be my buddy. We made memories that will put a smile on my face forever. In most situations I can control how much help I need but during the ride I had to show some vulnerabilities, and I can’t thank Naomi enough for all her support. Our funny unique personalities shone through along the way and we had a laugh; we even had other riders ride along with us just for the decent music we were playing.

 

Most Challenging part?
The miles of incline we covered were just nuts, but we were riding on motorways and over flyovers, so it was to be expected. The height difference between me on the recumbent and the others was quite noticeable, at points when the lycra people are flying past you, I had to be quite brave and stand my ground.

I didn’t exactly appreciate the doughnuts in the tunnels who kept making random noises or the person behind me who kept blowing a whistle. There were a few annoying parts but let’s not dwell on those, I only swore in anger twice so that’s not bad. 

How did it feel to cross the finish line?
Crazy, amazing, the relief and joy I think we both felt was a bit overwhelming. We kept getting told you’re nearly there, then we took the last corner and could see the finish line. We both looked at each other and said, ‘we’ve done it’.  I don’t think people outside my family realised just how hard it would be for me. Yeah, I’m quite fit and quite nimble on the ICCE but that’s in the relatively flat parks, the lovely weather only made it harder, so crossing that line was just unbelievable.

Summarise the experience using a few words
Ooo I have way more than 5… Sweat marks, Determination, hard, an honour, Brave, Comical, Lifetime memory,  Hehe, I done it again

 Meet Naomi

Naomi, What’s your Bikeworks Story?

I first got involved with Bikeworks through volunteering at an All Ability session several years ago. I’d always loved working with people from all kinds of backgrounds and All Ability felt like a perfect fit. A few years later I decided on a career change, and took my cycling instructor course, now I work at All Ability every week and recently started a role coordinating a project in West London.

 What made you take part in Ride London 2023?
Jamie and I have got to know each other pretty well over the last couple of years – we’re good mates and she asked me to be her buddy rider. I was excited to take part with her.

How did the ride go?
It was quite tough but great at the same time. It’s an amazing privilege to ride with such an inspirational person taking on a huge challenge and absolutely smashing it.

Best part of the ride other than finishing?
The support from the other riders and the reaction from the crowd. Jamie’s family cheering us on from the overpass was a special highlight. And our party playlist!

Most Challenging part?
The hills!

How did it feel to cross the finish line?
I felt so proud going through the finish line with Jamie. What an achievement!

Summarise the experience using a few words
Sweaty, challenging, hilarious, fun, totally worth it!

 

A massive well done to all our amazing riders. Such an immense achievement.