Staff raise over £1300 for BRAMS charity
17 August 2015
A big well done to BS7 Gym staff Nathan Walsh and Jack Smith for raising a final figure of £1303.19 for their gruelling 187 mile BMX bike ride from Bristol to Perranporth in June.
Nathan (pictured left) and Jack Smith (pictured right) were raising money for BrAMS, Southmead Hospital‘s multiple sclerosis centre.
The pair decided to undertake the charity bike ride after working with sufferers of multiple sclerosis at the BS7 Gym based at the Bristol County Ground, where they both work.
Nathan has given us an insight into the whole trip from beginning to end:
“I came up with this crazy idea of riding a BMX from Bristol to Devon last year after teaching a BrAMS class for MS patients. What better way to draw attention to MS than by taking part in an extreme bike ride (I have no head for heights, so a parachute jump was out of the question)!
A charity bike ride on a BMX seemed a pretty good way to start this challenge as most other charity bike rides are undertaken on super light and fast road bikes. A lot of people said it was a crazy idea and thought it would be way too hard to cover the mileage and hills each day. But what did they know!
Day one
We set off in the worst conditions ever; heavy rain and 20mph gusts of wind to deal with head on. The day got worse with two flat tyres to deal with on a busy main road in the pouring rain. The B&B in Bishop Hull was a welcoming sight to see when we eventually arrived.
Day two
We had to make a detour to obtain 2 new inner tubes (just in case we encountered another puncture!). The morning was gorgeous with beautiful sunshine and only a few hills to contend with. However, after lunch, the hills became more challenging the closer we came to the Devon Border. Even the training we did leading up to the event didn’t include the steep hills Devon has. One particular incline took nearly 50 minutes to concur with the non-stop peddling taking its toll on our legs – this meant we made our second stop an hour and a half later than planned.
Day three
We set off with bright hopes to hit those Cornish hills and clock up some miles. We started well but soon after lunch the hills became longer and steeper, resulting in cramp setting into my legs, but we still made the B&B by tea time! The B&B owner had bets on that we wouldn’t arrive until 9.00pm at the earliest.
Day four (and the final day)
Our bodies felt broken from the previous 3 days of many miles and hill climbs. Despite the weather, which had changed back to strong winds and rain, we had a target to be in Perranporth by 5.00pm where some friends and staff members from BS7 Gym had agreed to meet us. Before that, we still had a lot of miles and more hills to tackle to meet our deadline. We arrived with only a few minutes to spare, due to us taking less breaks and knuckling down. Day 4 was by far the hardest challenge.
We both had an amazing time completing the bike ride. Even more amazing was exceeding our fund raising target of £500
Thanks to everyone who helped us on this trip and to all those people who have sponsored us!"
