There is getting straight back in the saddle after a fall, and then there is deciding to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats after suffering serious head injuries having been knocked off your bike.
That is what Twickenham Cycling Club’s Emma Williams is about to do two years after a road accident left her hospitalised, but the bonus is three west London based athletes will be joining her.
The East Sheen-based rider - alongwith Natalie Crestwick, Parys Edwards and Jessica Taylor - is bidding to ride the length of England non-stop in August.
And for Williams it is another challenge having already represented her country as a junior rower and swum the Channel as a student.
“When I came off my bike I landed on my head and was in intensive care for about two weeks and off work for two months, “ she said.
“It puts things very much into perspective and it makes you realise you don’t have much time in your life to do these sort of things.
“I had thought about doing the Everest Base Camp marathon, but it was soon after the accident when I came up with bike idea and it has taken since then to get the project off the ground.”
Williams met Crestwick, Edwards and Taylor at Fulham-based Triathlon club Ful-on-Tri, having enjoyed some success in the sport since leaving Imperial College University, where she had organised a team channel swim.
But it wasn’t unitl she and Crestwick chose to concentrate solely on cycling with Twickenham that things came in to focus.
“I wanted to just concentrate on my cycling and heard Twickenham was a particularly strong club with a good women’s team,” she added.
“Having always done individual sports I wanted to get back into a team scenario.
“Natalie has had a great season so far and now we are just looking to apply.”
The quartet are hoping to complete the 874mile distance non-stop in around 48 hours if they can maintain an average speed of 18.4mph, and will have a back-up van - supplied by Prologue, Sheen - where each rider will rest between their stints in the saddle.
The record for an individual is four hours, four minutes and 20 seconds, set by Gethin Butler in 2001, but Williams admits they are unlikely to trouble that.
“Riding through the night is going to be the hardest. It will be a very solitary experience and finding the motivation to get back out on the bike is going to be tough. But we are prepared,” she said.
The quartet are bidding to raise around £3,000 in aid of the Dave Aitchison SportsAid Fund, set-up to provide support for talented triathletes in London & the south east.
For further information on sponsoring them visit justgiving.com/daveaitchisonfund_lejog_ttt or follow the progress at twitter.com/lejogrelay.
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