June 12th sees the start of GM Fundraising’s Border2Border ride. With less than 6 weeks to go, the team met up for an official training weekend in Mallorca.

“The aim of the training is to get some much needed cycling miles under our belts and Mallorca provides the perfect setting for building the levels of fitness and stamina needed to complete the upcoming ride,” says Gary Morton, chairman of GM Fundraising and B2B team member.

“The training took place over 5 days and every day saw a different challenge to prepare us for the main event. We have quite a few ‘virgin’ riders this year and the training gave them a good insight into the daily challenges we will be facing whilst cycling from Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico. And for the veterans, it definitely reminded us how hard it’s going to be! Another very important part of the training is to teach us to cycle as a team, it is imperative that we support each other through each section of the riding.

“Over the five days the riders covered around 300 miles, 17,000 feet of climbing up three mountains, with many hours in the saddle and thousands of calories burnt – a great achievement but only a taster of what we are going to be covering in June. Over 11 days we will be covering 2016 miles, 92,295 feet of climbing, in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees. Most of the ride will take place in the absolute wilderness of mountains and deserts including the Cascade Mountains, Colombian Plateau, Sacramento Valley, Californian Coastal Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, the Mojave Desert and the San Antonio Mountains.

“Our next training weekend takes place in the Peak District where more climbing and cycling over varied terrain will further prepare us for Border2Border. This is a compulsory weekend where all of the team will be bought together for safety briefings and final preparations for the trip.

“And let’s not forget why the team are putting ourselves through this – Hope House Children’s Hospices will benefit from every penny raised. Hope House provides palliative care for children with terminal conditions and support for their families, both on site and in their homes. We are nearly half way to our fundraising target of £100,000 so we still need your support. Each member of the team is working hard to gain sponsorship and raise the much needed funds and if you would like to support us you can make a donation at https://www.justgiving.com/teams/GMFB2B.”