Sarah and Flo recently took on our Refugee Routes challenge, cycling 125 miles- from Cambridge to Sheffield- in just one day and fundraising an amazing £2386 for us! Hear all about why they did it and how they found it…

With minimal gear, very little idea but all the enthusiasm, we took on the Refugee Routes challenge last month and would recommend it to all!

Sarah and I set ourselves the challenge of cycling 125 miles from Cambridge to Sheffield in one day – we like to say 200 km because it sounds further. This was the longest ride we had ever done in a day, but we were excited for the challenge! Starting the day at 5am in Cambridge we fuelled ourselves with overnight oats and coffee. We stopped plenty of times along the way, some spots more idyllic than others – a personal highlight was a packet of Haribo on the side of the Motorway in Chesterfield. But overall, the sun was shining, the midlands is flatter than we realised and our Spotify playlists kept us motivated.

We finished at 8pm and even managed to make it to the pub for a pint in Sheffield.

The Bike Project is an awesome charity that we have both supported for a while. As cyclists ourselves we know first hand how owning a bike can transform your life in London. It is a fun, cheap way of getting around and a great way to make friends and stay healthy.

£40 a week to live off in London does not get you very far, and if you have to pay for a rush hour tube the maths simply does not add up. We feel like a sense of humanity is being lost around the conversation about refugees and asylum seekers. Politicians are too busy ‘policing our borders’ to focus on supporting people to rebuild their lives and find community – there is beauty around the simplicity of a bike in the storm of all the political debates. A bike can’t vote after all!

We were overwhelmed by people’s generosity and support (both financially and in other ways). We managed to raise £2386 for The Bike Project- that is 23 bikes to give to 23 people.

Thanks so much Sarah and Flo for your support. Inspired by their story? Sign up to Refugee Routes today.