WHEN Bristol-based Jon Casey decided to undertake a sponsored cycle ride to raise money for his three favourite charities, his choice of where to begin it was not too difficult, as the person who volunteered to act as his support driver and back-up was his friend Jim Thomas, whom he has known since their time together at Exeter College and who now lives in Crediton.

With Jon being a serious cyclist, the charity ride was never going to be a gentle amble to somewhere just down the road, so he elected to head diagonally across the country to the east coast of England, which gave him a target of 350 miles.

And just to make it really challengingly worthwhile, he decided that he would aim to complete the journey in no more than 24 hours!

Jon, whose parents still live in Widecombe-in-the Moor where he was brought up (and first learned to ride a bike), shares the concerns that many now hold about the direction in which society has gone and the damage caused not only to the health and wellbeing of individuals, but also to the planet itself, not least through the impact on the environment of motor vehicles.

The three charities he chose to support through his fund-raising very much reflect these beliefs, being Mind - the mental health charity, Foodcycle - a national charity which brings people together for meals cooked with surplus food; and The Bristol Bike Project - an inclusive community bike project that repairs and rehomes unwanted bicycles.

He set himself the target of raising £5,000 for the charities.

Even for a serious leisure cyclist, cycling so far in such a short time was going to be a challenge that required systematic training that involved a lot of hard miles to reach the necessary level of fitness.

Only once he was confident that he would be ready was Jon able to fix the departure date as Saturday, July 24.

Thus it was on that dull, grey, damp morning, Crediton Town Square witnessed Jon, Jim and a small group of supporters gather before, at eight-o-clock precisely, Jon cycled off in an easterly direction towards Thorverton and beyond, always heading towards the sea at Lowestoft. With a tracker fitted to his bike, it was possible to follow Jon’s progress as he cycled steadily onwards, firstly throughout the day and then through the evening and night.

At predetermined points along the way, Jim would be waiting with the support vehicle to provide whatever Jon needed in the way of nourishment and back-up.

While there were literally lots of ups and downs along the way, a beast of a headwind across the whole of the UK created an exceptional level of challenge that led to a serious race at the end to meet his deadline, as the wind eventually eased in the last 20 miles.

And having a puncture an hour before the scheduled finish was even more unwelcome necessitating a quick change to a spare bike transported by Jim in the back-up vehicle. Notwithstanding that, but with literally only five minutes to spare, Jon duly completed his mission and made it to his finishing line beside the uninviting North Sea. 

The statistics are impressive - total mileage 353.83 miles, an elevation gain of 11,014 feet, an average speed of 17.4 mph , using 13,910 calories.  Not for the faint-hearted!

Gratifyingly, after Jon’s huge effort and the back-up by Jim, the initial fundraising target was met, but further contributions to help the work of the three charities would be very welcome at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/24hrride?utm_id=2&utm_term=9k95E72R7 .