Ride2Northampton Day One Review

Twelve York City fans set off on the first day of a three day bike ride for charity this morning. Raising money for the British Heart Foundation, the Minstermen supporters left their club’s Bootham Crescent ground at 9am to embark on the first leg of a 170 mile journey to Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium. The event was organised by Ian Jones, to remember Northampton Town supporter David Henderson who sadly passed away following the fixture between the two sides last season. More information can be found here. The fundraising page can be found at www.justgiving.com/ride2northampton and updates on progress can be found on the group’s twitter page @ycfc_2_ntfc which will be updated regularly throughout Friday and Saturday.

york fans cycle wilcox
City manager Russ Wilcox met the riders before departure

After the group arrived at their first stopover just outside Gainsborough, I caught up with Ian to find out how the first day had gone.

Best Moment:- “Riding next to the Trent with the sun setting alongside my best mates, amazing”.

Worst Moment:- “10 miles in, thinking that I was simply not good enough to make it”.

Number of Fallers:- Two.

Number of Punctures:- Three.

Number of Times Lost:- “Six of us got lost once somewhere near Scunthorpe and then got more lost trying to get unlost”.

Learnings for Day Two:-

  • More Vaseline.
  • Get Up Earlier.
  • Don’t take a 90 minute lunch break.

The first faller of the day was Jones himself around the seven mile mark whilst Dan Waterworth fell with the stopover B&B just 5 miles away. Jones came away from his incident unscathed but Waterworth has a lovely swollen and grazed knee for his troubles.

Tom Poole was first to suffer a puncture in the Selby area but was able to continue on his way after stopping at Halfords.

In addition to his fall, Waterworth also suffered a puncture, leading to the self elected repair team of Poole and Ben Nicholson to begin their duties. york fans cycle repair

Poole later suffered a second puncture and may need some work on it in the morning ahead of departure. A few of the riders are complaining about the state of their legs but a good night’s sleep will soon sort them out! Adam Livingston’s delight at arriving at the first stopover was clear to see:

Tomorrow’s route is from Corringham, Gainsborough to Uppingham, Rutland with the group heading south from Gainsborough at 8am. They will pass to the east of Newark and Grantham before turning south west in the Stamford area and finishing at their second hotel. The distance will be in the region of 70 miles after today’s trip of just less than 70.

Most importantly, the fundraising total now stands at £4748, a truly incredible amount of money. I you are yet to donate then visit www.justgiving.com/ride2northampton and help push that figure to the £5000 mark. 
The group are due at Sixfields on Saturday around 13:00 and will be presented to the crowd before kick-off at around 14:45.

To follow their progress tomorrow and on Saturday, visit the twitter @ycfc_2_ntfc.

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