On 26th June 2021 Meg and Mark will be doing the Coast to Coast Bike Ride in aid of Children with Cancer. 

The Coast to Coast bike ride is over 150 miles. We are riding from Seascale in Cumbria to Whitby. "A stunning 150 mile with 4500m of ascent road ride from the mountainous Western Lake District, through the Yorkshire Dales, across the flat Vale of York and finally the Northern Valleys of the North York Moors, finishing by the sea in Whitby". This is a very challenging ride, we will be cycling for over 14 hours, climbing approx. 12, 000 ft and setting off at approx. 5am. 

Just to highlight how tough our upcoming event is and why 

* We are riding 150 miles in a day. We've done some long rides but it's still 40% further than we've ever gone before

**  To add to  that 4500 meters of hills - almost 3 miles of height to climb, or 4 Snowdonia Mountains. 

***  Then consider that a mere few miles after starting we have to ride up Englands steepest road - Hardknott pass. Serious riders (and cars) struggle to get up this mountain (hill doesn't do it justice). It's a 1 in 3 gradient at it's steepest, and overall its 2km of pain. remember we're trying to get a tandem up it, which are notoriously hard to climb on. Just a couple of miles after Hardknott pass is Wrynose pass. This is another 30% gradient to climb up on already tired legs.

**** We also need to descent down the other side of these mountains, which sounds easy. At least gravity is on our side. But on narrow roads, a one in three gradient, loose tarmac, hairpin bends, almost sheer drops to the side - it's not easy. Spare a thought for Meg on the back with no control and no brakes. 

*****  Once this tough section is complete we only have another 130 odd miles to get to the finish line. We believe there is a 25% gradient 6 miles from the finish when we'll be desperate to get to the end.

****** To have a chance of finishing we are setting off at 5am. If we average 12mph (a good speed given the hills and distance) then we have around 12 and a half hours on the saddle. If we average 11mph then that becomes 14 hours. It's difficult standing on the pedals on a tandem - all that time is on the saddle, and it gets very uncomfortable on the old backside after so many hours.
Add in food and rest stops and we're finishing between 9pm and midnight. 

We are also  riding the following events as Training Rides .... GULP  * Stalybridge to Chester and back on 1st May (110 miles approx.)  * Stalybridge to Llandudno on 15th May (approx 100miles)   * Stalybridge to Skipton and back on 12th June  * Stalybridge to Blackpool and back (approx 110-120 miles (30th May).

With all the events combined thats a total of over 560 miles.  You can follow our training and events on Facebook @ Meg & Mark Tandem Journey. 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/doubletroubletandemc2c

We are asking all our friends and family to please dig deep for this great cause. No one wants to think of children passing with cancer however sadly, this has been the reality for Meg's cousin, Beth and their family who lost their daughter Lily in 2020. We want to try to help others by raising awareness and funds for Children with Cancer.  By sponsoring us you're sponsoring for all the above  events and helping us to help others in the hope lives can be saved. 

At Children with Cancer UK we actively raise and invest money for vital specialist research to save the lives of every child with cancer and keep their family together.Our vision is a world where every child diagnosed with cancer gets to ring their end of cancer treatment bell.