Beyond the Bike!

Two years ago when our friend Stuart Block first floated the idea of cycling across Africa to raise funds for Beyond Ourselves and a couple of other charities I have to admit that I thought he was slightly mad! I also thought it would never actually happen…

Yet, here we are with Beyond the Bike in full swing and the first Group Ride of the trip complete.

Somewhere along the way over the past couple of years amidst all the logistics, publicity, sponsors and organising,  I agreed to cycle part of the Zambia Group Ride. As the major beneficiary charity of the ride, it seemed the good and proper thing to do, to show willing and don a pair of padded shorts!

And so one of the toughest weeks of my life began!

There were 12 cyclists in total cycling from Lusaka to Ndola on the Zambikes that had been bought by one of the ride’s sponsors, Copperbelt Energy. The bikes are then being donated to the community schools Beyond Ourselves partners with in Ndola and Kitwe.

It was an incredible week with many lasting memories but what impacted me the most (apart from the saddle!) was that a group of people I hardly knew were willing to give up a week or two of their Summer and put themselves through such a physically demanding task in support of the bike ride and the work of Beyond Ourselves with communities in Zambia. But I’ll let you see for yourself:

In my previous blog I wrote about living generously, and what the past few weeks have showed me once again is that if we offer people the opportunity to be generous, more often than not they’ll take it! Something inside each one of us longs to be a part of something bigger, something worthwhile, something beyond ourselves…

In case you’re interested, here’s a bit more about the Beyond the Bike journey so far: