ON a diet of horseburgers and snails, and pedalling a bicycle with gears that didn't work, a Cullompton man somehow managed to complete a 500-mile charity bike ride across France.
Scott Struthers was part of a four-man team who tackled the Velo Vosges Challenge, which involved cycling 500 miles in three days.
A total of 70 teams took part in the event, pedalling in relay from close to the Belgian border over the formidable Vosges mountains to the fairytale village of Riquewihr.
Scott said: "The weather on the first day was awful, and within the first 10 minutes the team captain got hit by a car. He was fine, thank God, but the only good bike we had was damaged.
"We went to all the cycle shops but it was beyond repair, so we had to use a £40 bike we had bought from an internet auction website which was meant to be our reserve."
The initial day, when the riders covered 190 miles in wet, cold weather, was the toughest, Scott said, but the final day route, though only measuring 150 miles, was also punishing because of the number of steep climbs.
Scott said: "Riquewihr is a small village with two breweries, so there was lots of beer and wine consumed to celebrate getting to the finish.
"Only one person was cycling at a time, so the others piled into the support vehicles and offered encouragement and picked up baguettes and chocolates along the way."
The chance for a taste of France was also one of the reasons Scott was so keen to take part.
"One night I had snails and stingray and the next night I had a horseburger, which was actually really nice. The meat was very tender but it didn't taste like anything I had tried before."
Scott explained that he only became part of the team at the last minute, when someone else dropped out. He said: "I play hockey with Ben Jones and Ben's brother had originally been intending to come on the trip, but when he couldn't make it, Ben asked if I wanted to come. The other three did quite a bit of training and my legs were killing me afterwards."
The cyclists set off from Arras, near Calais, on October 3, and stopped in Reims and Nancy on the next two nights before finishing in Riquewihr on October 5.
Scott has lived in Cullompton for seven years, and is a former student of East Devon College in Tiverton. He said he had relished taking part in the epic ride — to the point where he hopes to put together his own team for a future cross-Channel cycling challenge.
All the team want to say a "very big thank you" to Devon Shirts for providing team T-shirts, complete with the challenge logo. The ride was in aid of Cancer Research and the Wessex Heart Foundation. Donations can still be made at the Cherry Tree in Cullompton, where Scott works |
Club News
