Cyclists Fighting Cancer attempt World Record
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
On the 28th August 2016, Jonathan Parker will be attempting to break the World Record for the fastest bicycle ride from London to Paris in the hope of raising £10,000 for Cyclist Fighting Cancer (CfC).
By 33 Jonathan had lost his Mum and two Uncles to cancer. This year his Dad died of cancer too.
Cancer has hit Jonathan's family hard, and he wants to try and help other families affected by the disease.
The Challenge
The aim is to leave Greenwich early in the morning to cycle around 60 miles to Newhaven, then board the ferry to Dieppe. Once the ferry docks, Jonathan will have to cycle a distance of around 110 miles to the Eiffel Tower.
The total time for the record will be measured from start to finish and so will include checking in, boarding, a five hour ferry crossing and so on. Not to mention the toilet stops!
To achieve the target time, Jonathan will need to cycle approx. 170 miles in around 6.5 hours, at an average speed of 26mph.If you are wondering what this is like, try riding at 26mph for one mile. It's tough!
We understand that there is an unofficial record of 21 hours 30 minutes for completing this ride, and a similar route will be used to make the challenge comparable. Jonathan is aiming to complete the challenge within 15 hours.
To put the challenge in context; whilst most people will burn around 3,000 calories running a marathon, Jonathan will burn something in the region of 7,000 - the equivalent of around 80 bananas. Would you fancy running more than two marathons back to back at national level competition speed?
About the rider
Jonathan was involved in a serious accident a few years ago. He broke all his limbs and lost 8 pints of blood, and was told he might not walk again and would definitely never be able to participate in sports.
Jonathan is particularly passionate about CfC because, as well as the impact that cancer has had on his family, he has been through a rehabilitation process which includes learning to balance and to walk again, similar to the type of situation that the charity helps young cancer sufferers to address.
Still pinned together with metal, and suffering a lot of pain in training during cold or wet weather, Jonathan pushes his body to achieve his goals and has achieved some small success at national champion time trialling riding for Team Bottrill. However, this challenge will be his most significant yet!
Many families are hurt by cancer in the same way as Jonathan's every year. To support Jonathan please visit his JustGiving Site