The Calshot Crusaders are a cycling team made up of Calshot Activities Centre Staff. We are taking part in a 24h Track Cycling Event to raise money for the BBC Children in Need appeal. Teams of riders will be taking part in the relay event to carry Pudsey Bear as far as we can around the Calshot Velodrome non stop for 24 hours.

We have been training hard and at our last rehearsal we averaged 23mph for a full hour!! On the night/day of the event we have three one hour slots to ride. We are starting the event at 5pm on Saturday the 19th of November so the teams will be lining up behind us to beat our first hours distance ridden.

It is a competitive event and we are trying to beat the distance we carried Pudsey last year as well as sizing up the other teams taking part. However, the reason for having the event happening at all is to raise money for the BBC Children in Need appeal.

We have given our time and effort in training and it is not an easy task to pedal round a banked track at that speed for an hour at a time....

The first 20 minutes really get your heart rate up and it all seems like very good fun, the second 20 minutes you start to get tired and your legs start asking you the question "why are we moving so fast for so long??!! The third 20 minutes your legs are screaming for a break, your back really hurts, the seat has become an implement of torture, your neck and wrists are so stiff you doubt that they'll ever straighten out again and your brain is just trying to shut out all the pain and concentrate on not causing a crash at over 20mph that will undoubtedly take out all your team-mates!!! well... that's my experience anyway!

So, that's what we are doing for Pudsey. Thank you for taking the time to visit this page and we will really appreciate it if you make a donation to support us and Children in Need 2010.

Your donations will go directly to the BBC Children in Need Appeal.

Many thanks, Chris and the Calshot Cursaders.