Karen Darke | Athlete | Speaker | Author

June 28th…The first day of the ‘BBraun Fit 2 Wheel Challenge’, saw us cross the North Yorkshire Moors from Middlesbrough to north of York. Myself and Katie Carter of BBraun are on a 4 day bike ride, linking talks at the spinal units of northern England. It’s to promote the activities possible with a spinal cord injury, the benefits of cycling, and to generate funds for the life-saving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Staff, current and ex patients at the James Cooke Spinal Injuries Centre appreciated a talk about outdoor adventures, before Tyne Tees TV filmed us on our way.

A huge thanks to BBraun for supporting this, not least because we have a van - the ‘snack wagon’ - and a team to meet us along the way, which is great for our energy and motivation. I’m used to roughing it on bike journeys like this, camping at roadsides, eating porridge and being eaten by midges. This time BBraun are supporting us with the luxury of hotels (the comfiest bed I’ve ever slept in!). The only glitch of the day was the reconnaisance team recommending a wheelchair accessible bike path that would follow a flat route beside a river…which turned out to be a bouldery mountain bike trail, uphill and down dale. The pic below proves it - only slightly traumatic to bump my new carbonbike racing machine along!

Well, its not all bad - a belly full of delicious food this evening, and a flat route tomorrow, morning for some fundraising at Monks Cross Asda in York, then onward to a scenic spot near the M1!!

By the way, loving the new Berghaus lightweight gear. Its aimed at Trail running, but perfect for cycling too. Thanks to Berghaus too for donating rucksacks to raffle, to help our fundraising efforts.