Felix Young, Author at Bike the UK for MS

Meeting up with MS Society local support groups

UK Programme Manager, Felix Young, shares a report from his visits to two of the MS Society support groups that our riders’ fundraising goes towards.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet two of the MS Society support groups close to where I live last week at their monthly social events. These events are an integral part of what these volunteer-led groups do to ensure that their members can access social occasions that are appropriate to their needs.

First up was the Cheltenham, Gloucester & Forest of Dean group in Yorkley. This is one of the groups that the riders on our Land’s End to John O’ Groats trip meet each year as they ride across the UK. In the spirit of our January #move4ms challenge, I decided to travel by train and bike meaning that I could use the ride up from the train station to add some kilometres to the team total. This meant I arrived a little flustered – forgetting that the ride up to Yorkley is all uphill and perhaps over-estimating my climbing abilities with the time allowed!

It is always a treat to see some familiar faces as well as having the opportunity to meet new members of the group. After sharing some of Bike the UK for MS’s story so far it was exciting to introduce some of our 2024 projects to the group including #move4ms, our MS Awareness Week Challenge and the summer trips that riders will be taking on all across the UK plus the personal challenge that I am planning to undertake in the Spring (watch this space!).

This led to tales of midges and ticks (I am not sure why my stories kept on coming back to bugs just before the cake was served up?!) as well as some of the stories from my summer at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships – taking place not long after I had last met the group in July. It wasn’t just me talking though (as can sometimes happen…), chatting with the members of the MS Society groups has been the main place where I have learned more about what it means to live with MS. As someone who did not have a personal connection to MS before I rode with Bike the UK for MS, it can be hard to truly understand:

“There are things I would like to join in with but MS stops me. I love gardening for example and my partner helps me and there is a local gardening group; they organise things like a walk in the woods to see the daffodils emerge. I won’t be able to join in with things like that and so I miss out.”

“I would love to join an art club. We were making wreaths and everyone was picking out what they wanted to put in theirs – I can’t hold things because of my MS though and so I didn’t know what to do. You don’t want to keep asking people to do things for you.”

A reminder that Bike the UK for MS is all about using the power of the bike to make a difference to those living with MS.

The following day I was able to take the short bike ride over the hill to Cumberwell Park Golf Club to meet up with the Bath & District group of the MS Society to join them for their Christmas celebration meal. This group was the first one that Bike the UK for MS supported back in 2014 and on a personal level was my first time meeting a local support group of the MS Society.

Members such as David and Julie have been members of the group since back then 10 years ago and it is always such a pleasure to re-acquaint myself and hear the stories that they have ready to tell. Despite all the challenges that living with MS had created for them it is so humbling to feel their determination and desire to overcome the day-to-day effects of the condition.

It is also particularly pertinent to spend time with the family who provide the support that they need every day of their lives. These social events are just as important for them as for the members who are living with MS. There are 130,000 people living with MS in the UK but the affect it has on people’s lives reaches much further to those around them and it can be easy to underestimate this impact until you get to know people such as the wonderful members of the local support groups.

The Bath & District group has a minibus that can carry up to three people using wheelchairs and the group are now fortunate to have a number of volunteer drivers who are able to help ensure that the group’s events are truly inclusive:

“It is so important. It can carry up to three people who otherwise would not be able to join in with what we do. It ensures that what we do is inclusive to everyone.”

The minibus does not come without its costs of course and there are a number of MS Society groups that I have met through my time with Bike the UK for MS that are not in a position where they can offer transport support in such a way. This can be particularly felt in rural locations such as north Wales or the Highlands of Scotland (places that Bike the UK for MS trips go to and so groups that our riders meet each year) where a single group may cover a vast area with limited transport options available.

The work that groups such as these would be utterly transformed if they had the financial support to be able to offer what the Bath & District group are able to do so with their minibus. We hope that with more fundraising and more awareness of the vital role that these volunteer groups carry out it will soon be possible for more people to access social events like to ones that I was lucky enough to be able to join – making a real difference to their quality of life whilst living with MS.

Route Leading: “It’s almost better than doing it yourself”

All you need to know about volunteering as a Route Leader with Bike the UK for MS

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Cycling in Cornwall & Devon – the “Big Bosses” of LEJOG

Bowser in Mario, the Elite Four in Pokemon and all other video game big bosses elicit the same thrill, excitement, frustration and dread in gamers. They push your skill, persistence, ingenuity and willpower to levels that the rest of the game does not reach and reward you with the standout moments of satisfaction and accomplishment when you finally overcome their steep challenges.

“But that does that have to do with cycling the length of the UK?” I hear you ask. Well, riding from Land’s End to John O’Groats carries its own pair of big bosses to bring all of those same emotions to pass for the cycle tourer. They call them… “Devon” and “Cornwall”. These two counties are etched in the minds of many a rider from professional to first-timer and I am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to carve a few pieces of my cycling memory whilst riding in these special places.

The ”Crying Bench”

The aforementioned professional cyclists may not have been brought to tears, merely exclaiming that Tour of Britain stages in Devon were some of their highest ever recorded power numbers; but there is a particular spot that has remained a focal point of riding in the extreme South West of the UK for me and those who have passed through Cornwall in my company. The Crying Bench.

Over a decade ago, as a 19 year old student at the University of Bath, I set off towards St Austell in Cornwall for a Sunday lunch with a friend (a student will go a long way on the promise of food!). Doing the 150 miles by bike and armed with no GPS but merely a list of road numbers (A39, B3181, etc…) taped to my top tube now seems ambitious in time for lunch but confident in my ability I set off South West.

It was not the mist on the Mendip hills, the headwinds on the Somerset levels or the hail on Dartmoor that finally brought the tears welling up but a nondescript hill, part of a seemingly never-ending chain of the things, in Cornwall that broke the camel’s back of my self-assuredness. Fortunately, there was a bright blue bench right there at the side of the road waiting for me to slump on to and have a sob.

It has since become a reference point for Bike the UK for MS riders on our trips. “Look out for the Crying Bench,” a point of common reference and empathy for those having a hard day, or week, as they tackle one of LEJOG’s bosses. A physical tribute that no matter what level you ride at or speed you go, we are all feeling the same sensations and emotions, just like those video games. Not the pros, though. They just push more power numbers!

I can see the sea!

As any local cyclist will tell you, there is no flat road in Devon. Nowhere is more un-flat than Dartmoor. This has its drawbacks. When you are on a long hard day’s ride, that rollercoaster of up and down can make the kilometres stretch out interminably. It is not all bad though. When you are racing your mates and have the upper hand each upward kick feels like you are working together with the double-digit gradients as dastardly collaborators.

One other positive of all of that up-ness is that when you crest the final rise and see what remains of the UK spilling out before you towards the coast then you can know that you are not far from your goal. All the more so if you have seen the north coast of Scotland in the rear-view mirror of your mind since departing John O’ Groats. It’s not all plain sailing from there though, despite the lack of altitude, Cornwall has plenty of big-boss energy left to test you with (see references to crying and benches above!).

“Welcome to Cornwall” …You must be kidding?!

As you cross the mighty Tamar River which divides Devon and Cornwall you can immediately sense that something is a little bit different. Not cream on top of jam on scones, not even the fact that finding a train station halfway up a hill is a bit odd (trains like flat and halfway up this particular hill is almost the exact opposite) but that the maths and logic of the route laid out ahead of you doesn’t make sense.

Flash floods? Yes, but at the top of hills, not the bottom.

My record number of layers worn whilst cycling? Eleven. In June. In Cornwall, of course. When not a few moments earlier a single jersey was more than enough.

A bombastic, barmy, bonkers bundle of bicycling brilliance. The only way to describe a bike ride of any distance in Cornwall. And the final big boss of John O’ Groats to Land’s End can always say “well, I did warn you…” Crossing the bridge over the Tamar, where the sense of something odd emerged just as you passed the “Welcome to Cornwall” sign… and immediately turn the corner onto the daftest hill of them all!

Heading North

But what about if you are heading from Land’s End to John O’ Groats instead, for example, on our trip this July to raise money for MS? Well, as you emerge onto the city streets of Exeter you will have quite the realisation. All of that is behind you. You have unpicked that lock, solved that puzzle and persisted through that head-to-head. You get to enjoy that sense of accomplishment and satisfaction for that whole rest of the trip. And you never know, you might find yourself going back for more… Just one more level?

The scenery of the Scottish Highlands never disappoints!

Cycling in the Highlands: Experience Scotland’s Natural Wonders on Two Wheels

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.
– Ernest Hemingway

It may be a well-used quote, but here at Bike the UK for MS we are bringing Hemingway’s words to life for you. Get to know the UK as it actually is by cycling the Scottish Highlands; an unforgettable place to explore and enjoy.

The Highlands of Scotland is the one place that features prominently in the memories of all our alumni. Acting as the grand crescendo of our 1000 mile Land’s End to John O’ Groats cycle ride and of course the star attraction of the North Coast 500 cycle route; the Highlands are a place like no other in the UK and possibly even the world.

Cycling the Wild Coast of the Scottish Highlands

The coasts of the Highlands bear hard-earned treasures. When you think of the Scottish coastline the first word that comes to mind is often “rugged”. Images of towering cliffs and crashing waves as the force of the Atlantic Ocean comes thundering into the British Isles. However, nestled within this brusque exterior hide the other extreme conditions that the coast of Scotland has to offer.

Remote, tranquil and storied coves and beaches. Refuges from a hectic modern life in the 21^st Century, but filled with a history of sanctuary from the threats of an outside world for those on the water and the land.

Notable highlights, such as Big Sand beach near Gairloch, are joined by the beaches at Scourie where the campsite for our riders sits right against the water’s edge. The quiet Berriedale, where you cross a narrow suspension footbridge to learn of the navigation beacons, standing high above you on the cliffs, that have guided ships returning from the open sea safely homeward.

The rugged coastal views you get to see when cycling in the Scottish Highlands.

Cycling Amongst Giants

No place in the UK can give you a sense of scale to match the Highlands of Scotland. We are fortunate to have the ability to enjoy exploring places that once acted as Mother Nature’s hostile barrier to all but the boldest.

Ben Hope towers above a rest stop in Tongue on the North Coast 500 cycle. Nearly 1000m high, in the far north of Scotland, it still inspires a mix of awe and mystery in a way that is impossible to replicate without experiencing it in person.

As you skirt your way around the peaks, through the valleys and glens that stand across the vast landscape like wide corridors in a country sized stately home, you can expect every distant horizon to hold new surprises. Not least the towering peaks of the Isle of Skye as you gaze across the water far below from the Applecross Pass – the wildest and most spectacular climb in the whole of Britain.

Cycling amongst giants in the Scottish Highlands on the North Coast 500 or NC500.

Beneath your wheels while cycling in the Highlands

For all that the surrounding landscapes inevitably catch the eye, a subtle treat is in store for those learning the Highlands’ crinkly contours by bike. The kind of treat that you first notice by the absence of one thing, before being able to savour what has replaced it.

A thin, snaking ribbon of tarmac. Winding away from your front wheel, off towards the distant sky and pointing you at yet-to-be-known experiences. Space to take a deep breath and really experience what it is to ride a bike. What it is to feel the gradient, up or down. The push of the wind, in support of your efforts or as an invisible challenge that you must find spirit from within to overcome.

Every bike ride is unique, but nothing is quite as unique as the Wee Mad Road; a rollercoaster of a journey taking you from the peak of what human engineering can achieve with the Kylesku Bridge. Immediately showing you that humanity is but a passenger on the wild planet beneath our wheels. What a privilege to sample some of what is normally reserved for “off the edge of the map”.

Above it All

Taking everything in while cycling in the Highlands is the theme of these words so far, but you must cast your eyes further still to capture it all. Daylight, taking you almost through the night with long, spectacular performances from the sun as it briefly leaves the stage at sunset, only to be replaced by light shows of a sky full of stars. Perhaps, even an aurora borealis if you have fortune on your side.

Distant beauty dovetails with the chance atmospheric blanket of mist where the world draws in close, creating the feeling of spooky isolation. Every sound is dulled to silence and the unknown of what hides beyond the murk is unknown. How better to experience the vastness of the universe than to have it re-revealed from behind the curtain of dense fog?

No better scenery in the UK to stop and enjoy on a bike ride.

The Scottish Highlands: Where the Wild Things Are

Mountains stand immovable and the sea reaches out endlessly, but blink and you might miss the dynamic movement of animal life in the Highlands. At the Falls of Shin, can you gaze down and spot a salmon making the leap against the rushing rapids? Did you catch that seal bobbing in and out of the rocks as you sit on the beach watching the seabirds dive into the waves?

Highland cows stoically standing as statues or lying aside the road as you pedal past. Deer bounding over the open moors, racing faster than a bike on the road. Cycling in the Highlands has enough to fill a camera roll on a phone or a highlight reel in the memory.

Join us for the Adventure

We will be in the Highlands on both our Land’s End to John O’Groats cycle, often known as LEJOG, in July 2024 and our North Coast 500 cycle, or NC500, in August. Cycle the Highlands with us and give yourself the ride that will last long in the memory; all whilst giving back to a great cause and supporting those living with multiple sclerosis.

There is no better way to enjoy everything that the Highlands of Scotland has to offer than with Bike the UK for MS. Our route leaders are there to support you and ensure that you can experience the best of what the Highlands has to offer. Your teammates will be there to share the experience with you and bring every moment to life. Time for a bike ride like no other?

What is your lasting memory of cycling in the Highlands? Comment below.

Drone shot views of the incredible scenery.

#Move4MS

In January, join us for #Move4MS as we aim to walk, run, swim and cycle 130,000km – one for each of the people living with MS in the UK.

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10 Years of Bike the UK for MS – Throwback to 2014

June 2024 will mark 10 years since the first Bike the UK for MS trip as 12 riders took on John O’ Groats to Land’s End. We wanted to take this chance to cast back to memories of the trips that have brought the charity to where it is today and to celebrate the achievements and challenges overcome by the hundreds of riders who have been part of Bike the UK for MS over the past decade.

The 2014 Ride

With eight Bike the US for MS alumni joining four riders from the University of Bath the first Bike the UK for MS trip was a true hybrid of the two organisations. One of the UK-based riders, Emily, shares some of her memories from the trip:

“My favourite day was definitely the first day up in Scotland. I’ve done a lot riding in my time but never in Scotland and riding along the country roads, next to huge highland cows with breathtaking coast views was just spectacular. We ended the day at Bettyhill Camp site and spent the evening skimming stones and watching the sun set on the rocks – a perfect day!”

“The biggest surprise was how close we became as a team. Although cliché, I really couldn’t have done it without the support of the other riders. Living together for all that time and experiencing the highs and lows was amazing and has led to life-long friendships!”

“The toughest challenge for me was definitely the mental strain of the harder days down south. It definitely pushed me to my limit and I remember a few moments where I really drew on the strength of the team around me as I turned a corner to be faced with yet another hill on wet, windy days in Cornwall!”

“The standout memory for me was our day in the Lake District. Kirkstone pass didn’t disappoint and although tough was a spectacular climb and a real achievement to cross. As a celebration, we then descended in a slightly delirious state to the furthest corner of Lake Windermere unaware that the campsite was actually quite a few miles further along the road, outside of Windermere itself.”

Stunning views are earned by challenging climbs

“We were just settling in to enjoy a sunny evening at the lakeside when we received a call from our route leader asking where we were. The uphill 30 minute climb to camp proved rather challenging and I’m sure we were quite a spectacle as we attempted to navigate the Windermere tourists whilst exhausted and slightly disoriented! But it was those moments riding together as a team at the end of a hard day knowing we had achieved something together that were so special.”

“It was an amazing two weeks – breath-taking, mentally and physically challenging but so rewarding. I can still remember that feeling of pride, relief, joy as we crossed the finish line at Land’s End.”

Action from the Western Cyclo-cross League 2023/24 - Round 1 in Frome, Somerset.

Local Cyclocross Race donates to Bike the UK for MS

Bike the UK for MS was the official charity partner of Round 1 of the Western Cyclocross League on Sunday 24th September in Frome with organizer Avid Sport donating £1 per rider entry to Bike the UK for MS.

With 172 riders taking the start line across the day’s races, that means another £172 donated to support those fighting MS. The Western Cyclocross League continues through until January with the next Round where Bike the UK for MS is the charity partner taking place in Bradford on Avon on the 29^th October. A huge thanks and congratulations to all the riders who took part in this British Cycling event and we hope your season has started well!

Action from the Western Cyclo-cross League 2023/24 – Round 1 in Frome, Somerset. Photo credit: Dave Dodge – Pelotonpix

This is the first time that a cyclocross race in the Western Cyclocross League has partnered with Bike the UK for MS to help raise funds but both the charity’s Founder James Whateley and Programme Manager Felix Young have raced in the league over the past ten years. Cyclocross is a sport where riders race on grass (and mud!) for up to an hour on a course that may force you to get off and carry your bike with things like steps and hurdles. The Western Cyclocross League features races from across North Somerset, Wiltshire, Bristol and Gloucestershire with eleven races this season. The event in Frome was organized with the support of Frome Town Council, Frome Cricket Club and Frome and District Agricultural Society. If you are running an event and would like to partner up with Bike the UK for MS to help contribute to supporting those fighting MS then please get in touch via info@biketheukforms.org.