Lucy's London to Paris Challenge
Standing at the finish line beneath the Eiffel Tower, Lucy Meadows looked around at the 93 cyclists beside her: strangers four days ago, close friends with shared experiences after 300 miles on the road.
That moment was the payoff for months of meticulous preparation. When she's not juggling diaries, meetings and the dozen other things that land on an Executive Assistant's desk, Lucy has spent the last several months turning herself into a long-distance cyclist, all in aid of Tough Enough to Care, a mental health charity close to her heart.
When she told us what she was planning, Stiltz was only too happy to support her journey, and it's been brilliant watching the whole office cheer her on.
The route
- Day one: Blackheath to Calais: An early start with 93 other cyclists and the Discover Adventure crew, cycling through Kent to make the 6.10pm ferry at Dover. Off the ferry in Calais, remembering (mostly) to ride on the right, and the first new friendships already forming.
- Days two and three: on to Abbeville and Beauvais: French market towns, river valleys, and the site of the Battle of Crécy, with a chef travelling alongside the crew to keep everyone fed. By day three, Lucy had teamed up with three riders who'd become good friends, tired legs and all.
- Day four: into Paris: The group gathered in a park outside the city, waiting until 2pm so everyone could ride in together as one peloton. Down the cobbles of the Champs-Élysées, two laps of the Arc de Triomphe with the Eiffel Tower coming into view each time round, and more than a few happy tears by the time the group reached the Trocadéro for a group photo they would cherish in years to come.
"It was the pinnacle of the whole week, really," Lucy remembers. "There were quite a few of us with happy, joyful tears, just because we'd made it."
Getting to the start line
Reaching Paris took seven months of training: weekends, bank holidays, and deliberate back-to-back long rides so four consecutive days in the saddle wouldn't come as a shock.
"It was hard at the time, but it really, really helped me, and it was pushing myself early on which got me through," Lucy says. "There were plenty of hills, but I did better than I thought I would."
Two weeks before setting off, she also rode the Wolverhampton to Aberdovey 100-mile charity ride for the second consecutive year, this time as a training exercise rather than as the main event.
Her love of cycling goes back further still to mountain biking with a local club around 15 years ago. Road cycling came later, after an old school friend invited her along to a club ride.
"I'll thank my friend for getting me back into it," she says. "I've just absolutely loved it."
Why Tough Enough to Care
Lucy rode for Tough Enough to Care, a local mental health charity where all donations go directly towards a helpline and encouraging people to talk when they're struggling. Lucy is also a mental health first aider at Stiltz, so it's a cause close to home.
"Mental health is so prevalent, and we want to encourage everybody to keep talking to each other if they're struggling," she says.
So far, she's raised an impressive £1250, far surpassing her original £500 target.
"That's so much more than I ever thought! I'm absolutely over the moon."
None of it happened alone. Colleagues, friends and family have been behind Lucy since the day she signed up, turning up in numbers on her JustGiving page, where the messages of support have been rolling in alongside the donations.
Her JustGiving page is still open, and every contribution helps a charity that's helping people feel less alone.
It's fair to say the office has heard about very little else for the past seven months.
"Everybody in the office will know everything about it," Lucy laughs. "I'm very aware that people are like, 'Oh god, she's done it now, let's quieten down.'" No such luck: Lucy's already thinking about what's next. "I think I'll be doing more challenges in the future," she says. "So, watch this space."
