Coast to Coast Cycle Challenge
Taking place on the 17th June and covering 4 days Blaise Ford MD at IDS and friends will be cycling across the UK, from the West coast, to the East.
Kicking off from Ravensglass, situated just south of Sellafield, the cyclists will proceed over to Ambleside for night 1 via Eskdale, Hardnott and Wrynose Passes day 2 they travel on to Culgaith, just south of Penrith. This means cycling along the famous ‘High Street Roman Road’ that day fell climbing to 828m. That doesn’t mean stopping for a shopping spree however, High Street is a 2,000-year-old road built by the Romans to link their forts at Brougham near Penrith and Ambleside.
The route will continue up to Cross Fell which is the highest point in the Pennine Hills of Northern England and the highest point in England outside of the Lake District at 2,930 feet (893 m). Next stopping point will be Rookhope in County Durham finishing in Sunderland at Wearmouth.
This Coast to Coast cycle route is about 80% off road and will require some hefty training before-hand to build up the stamina needed to cope! This weekend we did a huge cycle ride that involved a 1000 metre climb, that’s the equivalent of riding up Snowdon from the sea!
This is the 4th time that Blaise is doing the Coast to Coast ride and he’ll be accompanied by a group of 7 others, including 2 from ABB the Swedish-Swiss multinational automation corporation. Funds will be being raised for various charities, but the main reason for taking on this massive route is for the pure challenge!
If you fancy taking on this challenge yourself, lots of information and suggested cycle routes can be found here on the Coast to Coast website.
Good luck Blaise and co, we wish you all the best in this challenge and will keep our fingers crossed for good weather and a following breeze!