Hello! My Name is Tim and I am a member of the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative. I started with the coop in 2021 in our Aberdeen branch, but have recently moved to the Edinburgh Canonmills branch.
This year I have been given the opportunity to go to Sierra Leone to take part in Street-Child’s brand new bike challenge and try to raise some money and awareness for this incredible charity!
The Ride
The cycling challenge is a 100km loop starting and ending in Makeni. The route consists of mostly on road, with a bit of gravel tracks, pretty much my perfect ride! The cycle will be done on a hard tail mountain bike and in temperatures much higher than Scotland!
Street-Child charity
Street-Child are a charity working hard to help out some of the worlds most vulnerable communities. Their aim is to see all children safe, in school and learning - particularly in low resource environments. They work with local organisations to ensure every child has access to an education.
Street-Child in numbers
- 902,999 - Children reached. 412,955 were directly supported to access education
- 124,848 - Adults have been reached through programmes such as the family business scheme, education classes and teacher training.
- 682 - Schools have been supported either through construction or renovation to improve learning environments and 466 temporary learning spaces constructed in emergency contexts.
I am so inspired by the work that Street-Child do, so I wanted to raise money for them as part of my participation in the Sierra Leone Bike Challenge.
If anyone could donate towards the cause it would mean the world to the people that Street-Child support.
Click here to see my Just Giving Page
Momentary respite from zone 5 training
ABout me
I’ve been cycling as long as I can remember, starting with mountain biking adventures to the local mountain biking centres with my dad. As a youngster I wasn’t so interested in road cycling, but in my teenage years I got really into in it and haven’t looked back since, with only dipping into gravel in the last few years. Pretty much everything I do revolves around bikes!
I find cycling so enjoyable as you can cover so much distance (if you want to!) and the feel of flying along the road. The road cyclist in me loves finding the most difficult climbs and going up as fast as I possibly can, but for me nothing can ever beat the feeling of going back down the other side. The only thing that can make it better is being with all your mates!
In preparation for the ride I’ve been doing loads of outdoor rides and indoor turbo trainer training sessions some of which with jumpers and jackets on to try train for the heat!
On the topic of heat, I think that will be the biggest challenge for me personally, as I’m used to cycling in Scotland which is not famed for being hot. It’ll require me to be more disciplined with my drinking and eating for the ride to make sure I avoid the dreaded bonk!
I’m really excited to get to experience cycling in a completely different environment and place.
The Route
Stay tuned on our social media pages to see how I’m getting on and look out for another blog all about the adventure!
Thanks again for the support,
Tim