Ethan Gudge, South of England
Sue Ryder
Glenn Dearlove rode from London to Brighton on his grandmother’s old bicycle
An amateur cyclist, who rode his grandmother’s old bicycle from London to Brighton, has said he finished the ride with “heavy legs but a full heart”.
Glenn Dearlove, from Cholsey in Oxfordshire, completed the 55-mile ride on the 30-year-old gearless step-through bike, complete with a basket on the front.
He took on the challenge to raise money for the charity Sue Ryder, which provided support to his grandmother Joan and the family during her final days.
The ride itself had been “good fun, challenging and quite an emotional ride as much as it was a physical ride”, Mr Dearlove told the BBC.
As a keen cyclist, he said the London to Brighton ride had always “been on my to-do” list but it was “a slightly different challenge doing it on Nanny Joan’s bike”.
He said the bike, which Joan was “known for”, had been a gift from her grandchildren for her 65th birthday, adding that it “worked quite well to do something for charity on it”.
“She rode it pretty much every day around the village, originally she used to do the football pools and deliver Avon on the bike,” Mr Dearlove said.
Sue Ryder
The bike had been a gift to his grandmother on her 65th birthday
He continued: “My usual bikes are racers, so they’re designed for going a little bit faster, but equally they don’t have a basket on the front.”
He said that during the ride, Joan had been “at the forefront of my mind”.
“There were a couple of difficult hills and a couple of tough sections but certainly on those bits she was on my shoulder.
“I finished with heavy legs but a full heart.”
Mr Dearlove’s efforts have so far raised more than £1,700 for the palliative and bereavement support charity Sue Ryder.
“It was really important because Nan was able to stay in the family home she had lived in for more than 65 years thanks to Sue Ryder,” he explained.
“They turned up to the house and we were all a little bit lost and didn’t know what we were doing, and we couldn’t have done those last couple of days without their help and guidance – they were fantastic.”