REAL RIDER

Game of Thrones star Enzo Cilenti and his dad, Pietro, take to their tandem to raise awareness of Parkinson’s disease

Since my dad’s Parkinson’s diagnosis we’ve cycled together on rides to raise awareness of the condition. We’ve done three accents of Mont Ventoux, which was tough on our heavy old tandem, but the descent was an amazing thrill. We’ve ridden through the night around London, and also from Bristol, through Oxford to Cambridge in the BOXCAM event. Most recently it was the 2018 Deloitte Ride Across Britain, the Land’s End to John O’Groats sportive – our toughest challenge yet. It’s a test of patience, knowing how long you’ll be in the saddle for each day.

Training-wise I’m relieved to be unemployed at the moment. The weather was amazing through the summer and I’ve discovered ridewithgps.com, which has opened up whole new routes for me in counties around my home in north east London. I recently finished working on a Les

Miserables TV mini-series in Belgium. I took my bike and rode through the Ardennes and some of the Tour of Flanders route - it was more fun than the job itself! When I was shooting the Ben Wheatley film Free Fire in Brighton last year I took the bike and had it on a turbo in the trailer. I’d get an hour in wherever I could between takes. It’s the best thing about the job. I lived in Los Angeles for a while and although the acting work was sporadic but well paid, the cycling was amazing. I’d be clocking up 500-mile weeks riding through southern California. I moved back to London for regular work and, with the kids too, the bike went into the garage for a time. Otherwise it’s the tandem, which is more extreme riding, without wanting to sound too dramatic. We get up quite a lick and it’s exhilarating, until the road turns up and it gets really hard. It’s a real leveller. Though sometimes I’ll look at the bike computer and see how much less I’m doing compared with single rides, when I switch out of that mindset and focus on the challenge, it gives me an even greater sense of achievement when we cross the line.

The tandem is more extreme riding. We get up quite a lick and it’s exhilarating