10 years of Acorn House

Last Wednesday we were lucky enough to be invited to to a celebration of 10 years of Acorn House, The Sick Children's Trust's home at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

It was great to meet so many of the people involved in the day to day running and fund-raising for Acorn House. For those who don't know Acorn House is a home on the site of Addenbrookes hospital which provides 'home from home' accommodation for the families of seriously ill children. It is entirely run through voluntary donations and receives no government support.

Aside from demolishing most of the canapés on offer we talked to a lot of people about the cycle ride and received many pledges of support and sponsorship, as well as some good advice. The evening finished with a some short speeches including one from ourselves and one from Dr. Mary Archer, who does a great deal of work for Acorn House. The team are pictured with Mary below:

Interuniversity endurocycle II

On Wednesday 9th June team member George Dean undertook an 80 mile training ride from Oxford to Cambridge to return for a 3 day team bonding, training and organisation camp.

Departing from Oxford in mid-morning the scenic ride began well, with the new Trek 7.3 dealing easily with the rolling hills of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Indeed the only complications came from the young and inexperienced riders over-enthusiastic riding style which resulted in the seat working loose. Heading further East Dean happily passed over the Grand Union canal through Woburn country park and over the M1, marking the halfway point of the journey. Though still with plenty 'in the tank' thanks to 'the hogs' packed snacks the next 20 miles dragged as picturesque Buckinghamshire gave way to the great planes of Bedfordshire and the boredom of riding alone set in. Thankfully help was soon at hand as team members Pearson and Gimson appeared over the horizon to meet the tiring Dean at the 60 mile mark in Sandy. After a sizeable round of sugary snacks to replenish Pearson the three happily powered through the last 20 miles finding the camaraderie of group riding to detract from the dullness of the featureless Cambridge countryside, any tiredness in the legs and even the steady rain that fell for the last 15 miles.

All in all a successful trip, Dean commented at the end "the first 40 was fine, but after that the monotony of riding alone wasn't great - despite the rain the last 20 when riding as a 3 was much more fun and is making me really look forward to getting out as a 6 and starting the trip to Casablanca..."

Jeremy Ournalist

Keble College donate £200

Thanks to Keble JCR passed a motion to award £200 to The Sick Children's Trust in support of our cycle on Sunday.

We're in the paper!

There's an article in the Cambridge Evening News today about our cycle, take a look at:

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/From-Cambridge-to-Casablanca-by-bike.htm

Hopefully it will attract some interest in the ride and maybe some sponsorship. As well as looking to raise £5000 for the Sick Children's Trust we're keen to hear from any businesses who might be able to help us out with the supply or cost of kit. Ben Hayward have been great to supply our bikes but we're also looking for some help for our tents, camping equipment and clothing. We can offer any business that wants to get involved some coverage in the press (Cambridge Evening News and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire) and branding on our kit. If you think you might like to help please drop us an email at: cambridgetocasablanca@googlemail.com

Sponsorship officer and law student Nat Gimson said: 'It's been a great few week's of preparation, we've added Adam Hart-Davis, the Bicycle Travel Network and Oxford University Society to Ben Hayward on our list of supporters, but we're still looking for one more sponsor to help us with our kit, hopefully some local businesses will see this as an opportunity to help a good cause and get some local publicity. I'd also like to thank The Cambridge Evening News and Charlie Pearson for giving us this publicity"

GD

Interuniversity endurocycle

On Wednesday 5th May, team member Rory Davidson set out on the longest ride undertaken by any of the Cambridge to Casablanca squad. It was to be an 89-mile ride, across the mountainous counties of Avon, Wiltshire, and Oxfordshire, from the premier British academic establishment of Bristol University to its lesser relative, Oxford.

Things started well for Davidson, after a Bran Flake breakfast worthy of Chris "On Your Bike" Hoy himself, reaching the medieval town of St. Paul Malmesbury Without, within 2 hours. After a rejuvenating 'Manwich', he powered on at an average speed of 16mph. The charming town of Swindon, however, proved to be almost too much for Davidson, like many before him. The 'Mountain of Purgatory' near Blunsdon St. Andrew was tackled at an average speed of 6.2mph, and for the next two hours, he struggled through 'lactic hell', sustained only by constant messages of encouragement from his team comrades by text, and his desperate desire to escape the clutches of the Swindonian suburbian diaspora.

Our Glorious Leader, Cyclegruppenfuhrer Dean, was promptly dispatched to Wantage to 'bring in' Davidson to Oxford, like a tugboat with a struggling, stricken supertanker. By this time, however, Davidson had caught a second wind, and his determination to show no weakness to the team's disciplinarian leader meant that the last 30 miles were covered in decent time.


On reaching Oxford, we interviewed the exhausted cyclist, who seemed positive about the ride, and called it a "learning experience".

"It all started pretty well, and I thought to myself, 'I can do this in 3 hours flat'. But I hadn't factored in the mental toughness of the ride. I have never felt so low and alone as I did when cycling through Swindon, I can tell you. Imagine Harlow, Sarajevo and Grantham all rolled into one". Davidson went on to unconditionally praise Our Brother Leader, Illustrious Field Marshal and Saviour of our Nation, G.E.F. Dean, saying that "When I saw Chairman Dean on the horizon, in his dazzling baby-blue tracksuit bottoms, bright cricket jumper, and designer stubble, I knew that I would make it. Without our Dear Leader, I would still be recovering in a layby just off the A4 at Gozzards Ford"

Cycling (to Morocco) doesn't have to be taxing...

We're delighted to announce that Adam Hart-Davis has become 'honorary patron' of the Cambridge to Casablanca cycle, on accepting the position Mr. Hart-Davis said:


"you are completely mad,  but it sounds like a splendid venture, not to say adventure, and I would be happy to be your patron. The Sick Children's Trust is a great cause, Good luck with it all"

Adam Hart-Davis is a well-known TV personality, author and photographer, most famous for his science and history focussed educational series such as What the Romans did for us and Science Shack and the Inland Revenue "Tax doesn't have to be taxing" ad campaign.  . A feature of Mr. Hart-Davis' TV programmes are that he always cycles around the country, indeed he owns 7 bikes and no car! He's also patron of several cycle related charities including BeSeenOnABike, Life Cycle UK and Crank It Up, has published 17 books and once appeared as a celebrity panelist on Have I Got News for You.

Team member Hugh Pemberton commented: "We're delighted to receive this endorsement from such a well-known cycling celebrity as Adam Hart-Davis, I've clear memories of  him cycling around the country in videos we used to watch in Latin. Hopefully his endorsement will help us to attract some corporate sponsorship and get some press coverage. In fact only last week I was chatting to a mate in the pub about who was cooler, AHD or Simon Sharma, and we decided AHD won hands down on account of his cycling ability. This is a huge boost for the team"


Mr. Hart-Davis responded in typically enthusiastic manner with this advice: "Drop in on at least one chateau on the Loire on the way - I recommend Chenonceaux. Give my love to Hendaye Plage just before you cross the border into Spain. And last time I was in Casablanca I found a pinball machine in a bar a few hundred yards to the left of the harbour where the ball jammed near the top and racked up the maximum number of free goes before you had too tilt it. So you could play all night - or until you got bored. Mind you, that was in my first long vac, in the summer of 1963, so they might have fixed the machine by now."


Find out more about Adam Hart-Davis at: http://www.adam-hart-davis.org/index.html or watch this clip of him on youtube: 

STOP PRESS...Celebrity Honorary Patron tba soon!

We are delighted to announce that we have the backing of an honorary celebrity patron... details to be announced very soon.