Never mind starting small, Harry Reid took on the biggest cycling event of his life on Sunday – coming through almost unscathed at his first attempt to complete the RideLondon-Essex 100-mile event.
Harry, a 28-year-old London-based solicitor from Northern Ireland, was riding to raise money for the ME Association. He completed this London Olympics legacy event in five hours 40 minutes and 29 seconds.
“It was pretty tough going in places. I mean every few miles you’d see someone by the roadside trying to reinflate their tyres after a puncture”, said Harry, whose partner Julia has suffered from ME for some years.
“At one stage, I was looking down at my phone fixed to my handlebars to read a message from my partner and I hit a pothole. It gave me quite a jolt. My fault – I should have been concentrating on the road!”
The closed-roads event saw 21,500 cyclists set off from London’s Victoria Embankment, pedal past the top sightseeing sites of central London, out to some pretty Essex villages and then back to Tower Bridge over the Thames.
For a man who says his cycles are normally oriented around pastry shop stops, the RideLondon-Essex has given him bragging rights to an ultimate sporting challenge.
Not that this modest man particularly wants to use them! “I just crashed out and spent the day afterwards hibernating. Thank goodness it was Bank Holiday Monday and I didn’t have to get back on my bike immediately to go to work!”
We’ve been inspired by your superb cycle, Harry! Thank you so much for your support.
If readers would also like to show your appreciation, please visit Harry’s fundraising page at https://2024fordridelondon.enthuse.com/pf/harry-reid-12dbf
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Consultant, The ME Association
tony.britton@meassociation.org.uk Mob: 07393 805566
