SORE winners: Epic charity cycle ride ends on high note

JUBILANT but saddle-sore, Mike Tomlinson and his daughter Rebecca arrived back in Leeds yesterday after an epic 2,500-mile cycle ride that began in Turkey five weeks ago.

Mike, 49, and Rebecca, 22, widower and daughter of Leeds fundraiser Jane, pedalled the final 60 miles with a group of supporters which included former Leeds United player Danny Mills and Mike’s three-year-old granddaughter Emily Waldron.

The cyclists were greeted by about 60 well-wishers outside Leeds Art Gallery.

As well as enduring physical pain and temperatures as high as 40 degrees centigrade, it was also a very emotional journey, particularly for Rebecca and her brother Steven, 13.

“They have been travelling for weeks with their mum’s picture plastered to the side of the support van. There have been occasional tears and upset.”

He admitted that the going had been pretty tough, particularly during hill climbs in hot countries such as Bulgaria.

“I had a bad day in Bulgaria on day five because I had not trained, because I had not given the challenge the respect it deserved. I started to suffer and had two or three hours of hell. I could quite easily have thrown the bike into a wall. Then the chain came off and I was thinking ‘I have got another four weeks of this’.”

Rebecca said the challenge would have been one her mum would have relished.

The ride, completed by nine people, raised over 10,000 for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal.