What started off as a personal endurance challenge for me and Stewart changed slightly when so many of our friends and family asked if our world cycling tour was sponsored.
On 31st March we left home and set off on our 24,000 bike ride. This bike ride will take around 2 years to complete. The ride was sparking interest in charity, so we decided to cycle the world in loving memory of my best friend, Leanne Brownhill who we sadly lost in 2013, aged 26.
This event has raised over £500 for Cardiac Risk in the Young in memory of Leanne. In Leanne’s name, we (Leanne’s fiends and family) have raised around £15,000.
So far, Stewart and I have cycled through England, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia and we are now in Croatia. We’re not surprised to report that as we cycled through Italy we had a surge of donations- likely due to the association with their reduction in SADs.
My friend, Leanne tragically died in November 2013 of sudden cardiac death (SADS). Cardiac Risk in the Young (C-R-Y) were an incredible support to Leanne’s family and work hard to prevent young sudden cardiac deaths through awareness, screening and research, and supporting affected families.
Leanne’s condition was ARVC or arrhythmic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, one of the rarest forms of cardiomyopathy, it’s often not diagnosed until death as it’s very difficult to diagnose as it mimics cardiomyopathy.
Cardiomyopathy affects the heart muscle and in most cases it can be picked up in a scan. The condition is generally associated with the sudden collapse and death of young people and public awareness has been raised when sportsmen and women, who had always appeared fit and healthy, have collapsed during sporting events.
Lynne Brownhill, Leanne’s mother says that “people are dying needlessly because there is no national screening programme.” Lynne advocates C-R-Y, and is incredibly thankful for their support. This is why we are so happy to use our trip as an opportunity to raise money for a charity so trusted and valued.
This is undoubtably a trip of a life time, but it is also the toughest endurance challenge we will probably ever face. The trip is a self-supported 24,000 mile bike ride around the entire globe. We will cycle through Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South Asia, Australia, New Zealand, United States of America and then we will cycle through Portugal, Spain and France. The original plan was to cycle from Shropshire to Paris – from Paris we would circumnavigate, meaning we would finish in Paris, but we’ve had such an amazing time so far and we have met so many wonderful people, when we finish in 2 years time, we will be cycling Paris to home so we can stay with everyone again.
We will cycle through 30 counties with our heavy loaded bikes. Over the Rocky Mountains we will climb 11,500 feet. There’s no doubt that we’re going to need to dig deep!
The journey can be followed here:
Website: www.roadtoframe.com
Instagram: @Road_to_Frame
Facebook: @RoadtoFrame
Donate link here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/aroundtheworldforcry
