Their story, in their words…
The Mark Evison cycling challenge was a challenging but incredibly memorable experience for all of us. We started early by cycling through Central London and Hyde Park before taking the train from London to Guildford. From Guildford station, we got back on our bikes and began our journey cycling towards Bognor Regis. We had planned our route beforehand, choosing quieter roads where possible and making it as scenic as possible (going past castles and countrysides) and making regular stops for food, water, breaks. As we were relatively inexperienced cyclists, we had to rely on each other to stop when needed and take responsibility for navigating and making our own decisions throughout the journey.
The journey was tiring at times, and there were definitely moments when some of us felt like giving up. However, we encouraged each other, kept reminding ourselves how far we had already come, and pushed each other to keep going. The support within the group made a huge difference, and whenever one person was struggling, the others were there to motivate them. Knowing that we would eventually reach Bognor Regis made all the effort feel worthwhile.
When we finally arrived, we put our bikes away and walked around the seafront, spent time looking at the beach and the stunning sunset, finally being able to relax before setting up our tents and camping overnight.
The following day, we followed a similar journey to the first day, cycling from the campsite to Guildford station. We set off bright and early hoping to avoid large amounts of traffic and hoping to make it home successfully before dark. Once again, we made sure to take regular breaks stopping every 35-45 minutes and making sure we stopped for a reasonable amount of time after meals to avoid sickness. We managed to find shops to buy food from along the way; however, for parts of the trip when we weren’t sure when we would next see a shop, we made sure to keep snacks in our bags and plenty of water. The heat was shining across our faces so we made sure to wear sunscreen and helmets. We also tried our best to avoid the sunlight where possible. From there we took the train to London Victoria station. We then cycled through central London till we reached the next station and from there took the train back to our nearest train station from where we cycled back home, completing the final part of the journey by bike.
Throughout this experience, we learnt the importance of teamwork, communication and perseverance. We had to listen to each other, manage our energy and make decisions together. We also became more independent by taking responsibility for our route, time, food and safety.Most importantly, we had a lot of fun and created memories that we will remember for a long time. There were plenty of laughs along the way, and completing such a long journey together gave us a real sense of achievement.
We would definitely recommend the Mark Evison challenge to others because it is a great opportunity to step outside your comfort zone, build stronger friendships, develop valuable life skills and prove to yourself that you can keep going even when you feel like giving up.
