Big Ride for Palestine 2020

In 2018 Jane, Euan and I did the Big Ride for Palestine from Coventry to London in company with some 200 other riders. Quite a cavalcade.

Unfortunately we I missed last year when there were two smaller rides rather than one big one – and none accessible from Cornwall, but Jane went up to join the London one while I dog-sat.

This year was planned to be a mass Bristol-London which we were looking forward to, but because of things being as they are the ride has been re-organised so that everyone does it independently, or in groups of up to six, but we all do the same distance at more or less the same time.

The distance is 36 miles – which is the length of the fence between the Gaza strip and Israel, and also a nice distance for a day’s ride.  Most people are doing it on Saturday 1st August, but we have a grandies first birthday that day which we are not going to miss having been unable to have any contact with him for most of the past four months, so we are going for Thursday (the day after tomorrow as I write).

I’ll write separately about why 36 miles and how the situation in Gaza relates to East Cornwall, but as for the cycling Genie is in good shape having had a quiet year but her rider is probably much less fit. Certainly Jane, who has acquired a proper lightweight road bike and been doing club rides with the Widgers, now routinely pulls away from me uphill.

We’ve been out a couple of times in the last couple of weeks for 20 mile loops around North Cornwall. We have to put the bikes in the van with the dog and park up somewhere, leaving the dog in the van because we can’t leave him alone at home. This restricts us to about a 2hour ride, but I’ve managed ok so should be able to get round the 36miles on Thursday without too much trouble since we plan to stop for lunch at the Pump’n’Pedal near Okehampton.

Euan is coming up from Falmouth to join us, and also John B from Launceston is coming along so we will be four on the road. 

And if things go well we will be meeting Ricky and L’Anne at lunch who are doing the distance from Torrington to Okehampton and back.