“Pedalling to Paris was filled with highlights”
UNIVERSITY LECTURER ANDREW SALMON TOOK PART IN A !""KM CYCLE RIDE FROM LONDON TO PARIS IN SUPPORT OF CURE LEUKAEMIA
“I work for Birmingham City University and they were looking for a way to support the charity Cure Leukaemia’s fundraising efforts. My colleagues knew that I did a lot of cycling because I talk about it all the time, so when someone suggested I did a 500km ride to Paris, I leapt at the chance.”
“I started training for it but, because of Covid, the start date got pushed back from June 2020 to September 2021, during which time one of my close cycling buddies was diagnosed with leukaemia. Sadly, he passed away in January 2021. In some ways, I feel as if I took him with me on the ride.”
“I work full time, so for training I’d do a long session of about 50 miles every Sunday and a 25-30-mile evening group session with my cycling club on Wednesdays. I also used my exercise bike a couple of evenings a week, just to keep the legs turning over.”
“I’d done one-day sportive rides of 70-80 miles before with my cycling club, but this was something very different. Riding consistently over three or four days, where you get up in the morning, you get on your bike and you just ride, was uncharted territory for me.”
“I ride a Trek, but because this was a special journey, I wanted to do it on an unusual bike. I bought a used Look 695 SR online. When I told the seller it was for a ride to Paris, he said it had been there before! It seemed serendipitous and it was good to know it'd be up to the job!”
“There were so many high points throughout the ride: the camaraderie, the friendships, the challenges and, of course, the welcome when we finally arrived. There weren’t any negatives. I’ll forever remember going up some really steep, seemingly endless climbs, with my legs and lungs burning, and then finally reaching the summits.”
“I also remember cycling through villages and hamlets where the children would wave us on, shouting ‘Allez, Allez!’. You wave back and never know what impact you might have. In years to come, one of those kids might take up cycling. It was a truly humbling and amazing experience.”
“Getting up and riding consistently over three or four days was uncharted territory for me”