Keeping up with the Benno’s

Usually keeping up with Brian and Kevin requires nothing more than having a wash before work and not necessarily a shower. However recently they along with the rest of the cycling for Harry team they have been showing a herculean effort in their training for the big ride.

With that in mind and also being impressed by Mel’s solo effort to Warwick last week my brother and I decided to see if we could join club 40 (mile).

Matt and I had planned our route after the Blues on Saturday and took a drive through the long and windy roads until we reached the 20 mile mark. Using Matt’s 14 years of working in the bank we were able to calculate that if we went there and back we would reach the magic 40 mile mark!

We arranged to meet at 6.45am this morning to get an early start. This would have been great if I remembered to set my alarm, however as always my brother was there to lend a helping hand and woke me up with an irate call. I finally got my butt out of my pit wolfed down a bowl of cherrios (indecently that’s what Matt had for breakfast as well.... it’s a twin thing!)  and got to Matt’s for just after 7am. I was met by Matt who was not too impressed at my time keeping as he had been waiting for me in the garage for the last 20 minutes and had posted his front door keys back through the letter box, however we got over it and set out on our Journey.

Over the last 6 weeks Matt and I have been building up our own route using road signs as a guide to our distance travelled, this is because we are technophobes and luddites. We cycled through Knowle and surrounding villages and eventually to a sign that stated it was 9 miles to Coventry.

As we made our trek into Coventry city centre Matt and I discussed how great being part of this challenge is and that we are proud that in a small way we can contribute to a fantastic charity.

We finally got to Coventry and decided to give our Dad a call for some support. To be fair he was a bit busy Mom has got him painting the living room so he wished us well and told us to make sure we had something to eat and drink, I think he may have missed his calling as a motivational mentor. Can’t be too hard on him though as he has pledged £100.00 and I made him put a fiver in the bucket on Saturday.

By now it had started to tip down but our spirits remained high (that may have been the Powerade though) and we made the journey back to Solihull. However before we got back to the border we had to go through Tile Hill Housing estate. To be honest it made us go a little bit faster however I am not sure anyone in Coventry can ride a bike because of the skeletal structure that forms after years of inbreeding (come on.... I am a Brummie I must be allowed one Coventry joke!)

As we made it to Balsall Common we got a little bit peckish, good job I had liberated 4 packs of Haribo from Daisy’s sweet stash #dadoftheyear .

We took a few more pictures and rode back to Knowle. Another quick stop for a drink and preparing for the final hill we finally got back to Matt’s.

A Sign Saying Coventry

Matt

Simon

Matt

Matt

a road

Simon

We did the 40 miles in 3 hours 50 minutes. I am not going to lie it was hard and I may need to buy a rubber ring to sit on after the first leg of the challenge, but it was worth it to be part of this great event and do our bit for a great cause.

Thanks Bri for making Matt and I be part of the team !

Si

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