The Instinct Big Ride: We raised £2,860 for Cancer Research!

By Rich Read

With a goal of raising £500 for North West Cancer Research, The Instinct Big Ride to Llandudno and back, completely blew that amount out of the water! 

A huge well done to everybody who got involved, whether that was riding, or donating – we are so humbled by our Instinct Family and how we have really made a difference raising money for Cancer Research.

Here is a few words from Rich, who organised the Big Ride and took part himself…

“I really fancy trying out this bike ride” was the message from Chris Davies (one of our spin gurus) to Chris Norris and myself sometime in June this year.  The route looked fun, riding from Chester to Llandudno.  At 60 miles each way it was the perfect ride to provide a challenge but not be so hard people were put off.  Having thought about it, we decided this opportunity provided just the sort of charity challenge we were looking for.

The “Instinct Big Bike Ride” was born.  The date set was 24th September.

The response from our Instinct family was fantastic, so we planned and completed 3 training rides (each one a little longer and more challenging than the last) over the summer. The group of people that became our core “team” came from all levels of ability and interest, novices up to very regular cyclists, showing just how this type of challenge brings out the best in people.  We decided that we should choose North West Cancer Research as our charity for the ride and set about raising maybe £500 pounds.

The Instinct Big Ride Replica…

Because some people were unable to join the Big Ride, we set up a challenge in reception on September 23rd, challenging anyone who wanted to to spend time riding one of our Wattbikes to accumulate enough mileage to travel from Llandudno and back (125 miles).  Many people volunteered and spent time sweating it out to do their bit in support of our challenge.

The Big Day…

At 07:30AM on Saturday the 24th of September our band of riders were waved off by Chris from the gym.  We split into two groups based on our average speed, arranging to meet up halfway (at the wonderful Doris’ Bunker in Trelogan) and again in Llandudno.  We were incredibly fortunate with the weather and barring the odd puncture here and there, all 12 of our riders made it to Llandudno! 

Everyone did superbly, smashing their goals and showing so much resilience to get to the pier entry (our finish line).  Having taken selfies and talking through the ride for a bit, the group split with 5 brave riders (Gareth, Chris, Sam, Dan and Eugene) setting off on the return journey, eventually logging a fantastic 125 miles in around 9 hours of riding time!  The rest of us headed to the pub for a well earned pint, or the station to get home.  All of us had a gentle soreness in our legs to show for our efforts, which got a little worse on the Sunday afterwards.

So far, pretty much everyone who took part has said they would do so again, which is such a great thing.  I am so proud of all of you who rode:

Chris Davies

Liz Barratt

Eugene Cook

Dan Young

Gareth Lyon

Sam Humberstone

Jacob Treasure

Tony McNally

Mike Davies

Jonny

Sam

Rich (BMR)

You are all SUPER-HEROES!!

 

Thank you to everyone in the Instinct family who donated their hard earned for such a great cause, you have truly humbled all of us with your generosity!

How much did we raise? Well as of writing we have raised an amazing £2,860!!!!  Thank you to everyone in the Instinct family who donated their hard earned for such a great cause, you have truly humbled all of us with your generosity!