This website doesn’t always live up to its name, CyclingEurope.org. I’ll ignore the fact that I’m just a budding author & traveller (& teacher) and not by any stretch of the imagination an organisation. I’m talking about the ‘Cycling Europe’ bit. This post, however, certainly ticks the boxes of both ‘cycling’ & ‘Europe’. Here goes.

In this morning’s post ‘In Praise Of… Cycling Logos’, I mention the cleverly crafted logo shown here. I almost wish I had come up with the idea of incorporating the countries of the Eurovelo 5 into the frame of a bicycle myself; it seems such an obvious thing to do when you see it here. Anyway, there is a story behind the logo; The 1000TT – Turin to Tiger Bay Cycle. I contacted one of the four cyclists who will be completing the challenge via his Twitter account which is, unsurprisingly… @1000TT. His name is Scott Jenkins and when it comes to endurance events, his biography makes it clear he has quite a good pedigree;

“Scott is a 31-year-old GP Exercise Referral Professional.  He is a keen ultra endurance athlete and created and planned the route of the 1000TT. Scott completed the Boston to Austin 2000 Mile Run (www.2000milerun.com) and completed the Around The Clock , Around Wales challenge…  Scott is an amateur road cyclist who enjoys creating and completing endurance challenges that have not been done before. His cycling PB was 107 miles in 6 hours.” He also has a taste for extremely green jackets.

Don’t worry, I’m not sure what a ‘GP Exercise Referral Professional‘ is either but the key thing is that he has form when it comes to these kind of events. He is cycling with three friends (one of whom is his brother Rhys, who, get this, is an Olympic torch-bearer – this family have some quality genes) and they set off on the 3rd June from Turin with the aim of arriving back in Wales – Tiger Bay – on the 13th June.

“The challenge ahead for Scott, Rhys, Dom and Sammy is a grueling one and will see the friends push themselves to their physical limits. They will be completing up to 110 miles a day, for 10 days, cycling through 5 countries, 50 towns and 5 cities. The climate will be constantly changing, and the men will be tackling mountains and varying terrain along the way. Scott, Rhys, Dom and Sammy will need to consume between 7,000 and 10,000 calories a day just to ensure that they maintain peak physical condition and optimum energy levels over the cycle.”

Or come back very thin. It’s all in a very good cause; MacMillan Cancer Support. Scott has personal experience of how valuable their work can be having seen them support members of his own family who were suffering from cancer.

The team are still looking for publicity & sponsorship so if you can help them out in any way you can, they would love to hear from you. Their website is www.1000tt.co.uk and they have a Facebook page. The Twitter feed, as mentioned is @1000TT. To donate visit the team’s Just Giving page or text ITWA60 and the amount you would like to give to 70070. For example, if you are Lord Sugar, it would be ITWA60 £50,000. Something like that.

I’m toying with the idea of ‘guest blogging’ – I already have one lined up – and I may ask Scott to contribute a couple of pieces while he is cycling north. Well, not actually while he is cycling but you know what I mean. Watch this space!