Kidnap of ‘Boris bike’ for a video

IT’S not your typical Sunday outing – but a group of men decided to “kidnap” a Boris bike, drive it to Cardiff and ride it 170 miles back to London.

To add a bit of extra spice to the challenge, they had to do it all within 24 hours to avoid the £300 late fee.

“We were looking for an adventure,” said Rupert Rixon, 21, managing director of Perspective Pictures video production company.

The team, who work on projects from weddings to web series, had already created a film about longboarding the length of Wales.

“We wanted to show that you don’t have to spend loads of money flying to New Zealand or America to have an adventure,” explained Rupert. “You can do it all right here on your doorstep.”

Rupert was joined by friends David Rock, Oliver Spain, Daniel Reed and Hattie Williams for the challenge.

Boris bikes are officially called Santander Cycles and are a self-service, bike-sharing scheme designed for short journeys.

The scheme was introduced by then Mayor of London Boris Johnson in 2010.

The team took the bike at midnight on a Sunday in March and then drove to the Cardiff Bay barrage, where they started their journey.

“It was really cold and windy,” said Rupert. “We wanted to start by the sea to show the diversity of the landscape.”

Rupert, David, Oliver and Daniel each rode about 40 miles each, while Hattie did most of the filming.

“David is into cycling, but I hadn’t been on a bike for about three years,” laughed Rupert.

“Those bikes are very heavy and only have three gears. The seat was really uncomfortable, too, and it took weeks for our backsides to recover!

“I guess we needed padded cycling shorts, but I did it in skinny jeans.”

He added: “It was also way more hilly than we were expecting.

“We were expecting a few hills, but they were much steeper and the gears didn’t help.”

They didn’t know the route and navigated by taping a satnav to the handlebars, which largely led them along cycle paths.

“We did get some looks,” laughed Rupert.

For more on the video, visit www.walesonline.co.uk funny