By: Blonde Two

I have many reasons to be proud of all three of my children but this month I’m feeling particularly impressed with my daughter Anna (Not-At-All-Blonde). This is because she has taken on a cycling challenge for the month of September. Deciding to take on a physical challenge like cycling 200 miles in a month would be a big decision for most people but even bigger if you haven’t cycled in years and feel very wobbly every time you get in the saddle.

Add to this the fact that Anna, who holds down a tricky job with bags of responsibility, doesn’t actually own a bicycle, doesn’t own a car either, and has to walk to our house each evening to borrow one (a bike not a car), and you’ll start to get a picture of her level of determination.

So far her September cycling challenge is going well. She has a set local route and cycles it regularly, sometimes with her Dad, sometimes on her own. She is up against it timewise with the darkening evenings but I reckon she is on track to succeed. She has already coped admirably with her first tumble. Helped along by a very kind lady who brought her out a cupcake, she got back on her bike and not only completed that circuit but executed another.

As her mother, I would have liked the opportunity to tell the BMW driver who caused her wobble then beeped his horn as he drove off smiling, exactly what I think of him but such things are not in my remit. I will content myself with slowing traffic down by driving at 20 miles an hour as often as possible and, when walking, pressing as many pedestrian crossing buttons as I sensibly can.

I would like to be able to say Anna gets her determination from me but it is her Dad who really grits his teeth and gets on with it when it comes to exercise. She has a long way to go yet but having seen her efforts so far, I have no doubt she will succeed.

Anna is raising money for Cancer Research UK. If you would like to make a donation to encourage her, you’ll find her fundraising page linked here. Otherwise, if you see a slightly wobbly looking, nervous cyclist around Torbay, don’t be afraid to offer her a cupcake, apparently they work wonders!