She battled head winds, torrential rain and a couple of close calls with Holland’s canal system – and on Sunday night, Product Development Natalie finally arrived, tired & victorious, in Brussels after four epic days of cycling for charity.
So far, she’s raised over £13,000 for a children’s hospice, which has made the challenge – and indignity of applying chamois cream – all totally worth it.
Armed with 13 Mars bars, and fuelled on a steady diet of mince & pasta (lasagne, spaghetti & meatballs, classic spag bol – honestly, the options are endless), Nat powered through over 300 miles. (You can probably add on a few more, thanks to Nat’s dad who proved himself to be clueless in charge of a map. Thanks to a few wrong turns on Day 3, the team ended up riding for 14 hours and eventually got to their hotel at 10pm.)
Minor incidents included falling into a bush, swallowing a blowfly whole and getting a nasty nettle rash on a sensitive area during a comfort stop, but Nat loved every minute of it. At least the ones she can remember. (She’s told there was a spell on that infamous Day 3 where she lapsed into a delirious state and laughed maniacally for an hour straight, but someone gave her some sugar and she soon came right).
After such a physical effort, she’s feeling a little stationary and ‘penned in’ back at the office, so we’re thinking of installing a little crank unit under her desk for her to pedal away on so she can power the lights (and the coffee machine, if we gather around her and shout ‘Vamos!’ encouragingly enough).
Join us in saying a huge, “Congrats Nat”!
