Saturday 2nd July

Today saw the 10th anniversary of the Mansfield to Skegness bike ride. As you can guess from the title this bike ride takes place every year and is from Mansfield to Skegness to raise money for charity. One of the charities it is supporting this year, St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice, is also my charity so I was more than happy to support this event.

About 30 or so riders set of from Newstead Court, Annesley, Mansfield at 6.30 am for the 82 mile ride to Skegness. The fastest riders take about 4 hours to complete the distance, the slower ones up to 8. It was therefore planned that I would meet them at the Royal Hotel at 3.00 pm, after they had all finished and had time to freshen up, to present the awards.

As they say about “the best laid plans” is wasn’t to be. At 3.45 pm we were still waiting for one of the bikes to arrive. The bike in question was a tandem with one of the organisers, Neil, on the back of it. This was the same Neil  who was helping to present the awards at 3.00 pm. Rumour was that numerous punctures had caused the delay but I think it was more to do with his dress getting caught in the back wheel, but that’s a whole different story.

Event organisers Kev Bryant and Neil Green

Suffice to say that everybody had enjoyed the ride, if indeed enjoyed is the right word, and they has raised a lot of money for charity. After a hearty buffet and the presentations it was agreed by all that the next stop was Skegness sea front and a well deserved beer or 5 ( now that bit I could manage).

Well done ladies and gentlemen and we look forward to welcoming you again next year.