Hi everyone,

I thought I’d update you all and let you know what your donations got you at the weekend. Firstly I’ve got a few thank yous to do, though.

I have to thank everyone on here who donated- the generosity of the cycling and outdoor communities has been staggering. We’re very grateful for the support that has been shown during the last week. There are some industry types that have been helpful in donating and spreading the word. These are-

Orange bikes, Dirt magazine, MBR, Singletrack, Grough magazine, Uberbike components, Haglofs and Evans cycles.

Chris’s aunt sent me a message on Friday night and she wanted everyone to know that the donations have been “a great source of comfort and ongoing pleasure to his parents and all of us down here. I just want you to know it has helped us through the 1st week”.

Race day rolled around and Sam Morris from Bike Village has got us some stickers printed up for the bikes, so thanks to him for those. It certainly made our teams recognisable. Oli and I did the first laps- the run was very icy and I think Oli fell. Spike tyres are all well and good but they don’t do spiked SPDs yet!

Oli and Huw were settled around 3rd and 2nd for most of the first half of the race, while Pete and I started in the high teens. Huw and Oli were doing laps well under 40 minutes, while mine were all 41 minutes and Pete’s in the 50’s. The spikers came off around 2pm and mine weren’t back on til 4am.

During the night Huw’s chain snapped and knocked them back to 4th and from there there was no recovery- JMC, Team Aardvark and I-cycles were just too strong to reel the lost time back in. Meanwhile I chugged out a triple set of laps and Pete kept on doing doubles- there were perhaps only 10 minutes when neither of us were out on course and as a result we climbed from high teens, to 14th, to 11th. Come daylight, by some miracle, a 17 stone computer fixer and a guy who sits in a van for a living and hasn’t done a 24 hour race seriously for over 2 years, ended up sneaking into the top 10 in 9th position with an hour cushion either side.

Strathpuffer 2013_142 by GavinBelton, on Flickr

There were some dark times in the night- I found myself having imaginary conversations with Chris, asking him if he was tired (he wasn’t), how he was doing (“I’m fine!”). I taped the picture of him wheelying and pointing to my top tube and looking down at that certainly made me mash the pedals harder.

Pete was the star of the show. Pete had never met Chris and roping him into such a big deal was perhaps a bit unfair. But he rode his heart out- he is by no means a bike racer but smashed it. He struggled in the night and so I did a triple lap with the intention of him doing a single afterwards but came back to find him refreshed and raring to go for a double. Pete was a real hero and rose to the occasion and then some.

Strathpuffer 2013_139 by GavinBelton, on Flickr

Huw and Oli did well enough to have a big cushion behind them and so Huw finished his last lap (wearing a Chris Bell signature St Andrews skinsuit) just as I was ready to start mine. I found him in the transition area with tears in his eyes. He rode at a pace Chris would be proud of.

My last lap was awful and brilliant all at once. I set off with the just giving total at £19,900 odd. I cried all the way up the first climb before the techy flat singletrack at the top forced me to pull myself together. I smashed out the last lap as hard as I could. I came down the last set of steps and heard the cheers and burst out in tears again. A very, very emotional finish and lots of hugs saw us finish 9th and Huw and Oli finish 4th. At the end of the lap I phoned my wife and found the total had ticked to £20,001. Incredible.

Our support crew were invaluable- Roberta, Hillary, Dave, Al, Annie and Mike (plus my mum and dad) cooked, got us clothes, fixed our bikes, dried our kit, put the heater on, kept the time- everything, plus hundreds of hugs. We’d not have done as well without them.

DSCF5136 by ricketyrob1, on Flickr

Square Wheels were great too, giving us a mention at the briefing and at the end, as well as donating the proceeds from the tea and pot noodle table to the cause, so thanks to them for that.

I can only reiterate our gratitude here. Chris was a wonderful young man- polite, generous, enthusiastic and fun. I think he’d most like to remembered as a fast bastard, though, and racing for him was an honour. It was all made easier by all of your exceptional generosity, so thank you so much.

Thanks again.

Luke

Well done Luke..

And a fantastic write up..

Nice one, well done.

Hi Luke,

mind if I run this on the front page?

Aye, well done all of you. Fantastic effort all round!!

Well done. Fantastic tribute, a great effort by the riders and a lot of money for a good cause.

Dave- it’s not really eloquent enough, but that would be lovely if you could. Thank you.

Brilliant write-up. Great effort, well done to all involved 🙂

propper job lads – liked the chris signature one handed wheelie up the fire road luke – only he pulled it off with a more nonchallent style 😉

Al tells me you were riding most of the night with no brake pads as well …. awesomeness!

Aye- triple lap from 11.30pm-2.30am, nae front brake, nae ice tyres. Drifting like a wrong’un!

Good work. Your friend would have a very proud man, I think.

Great stuff guys. Fantastic commitment and endurance by all. Pete, 17 stone! Maybe 20 years ago 😉

Well done lads. Well done.

well done fella’s…… 8)

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Trying not to cry at work… again. Good work guys. Chris would be proud 🙂

Fantastic effort by all of you.

Bit dusty in here….

Didn’t clock on to what you were doing and why until just now. Well done to you and yours for putting in such a good effort for a such a good cause.

Looks like we need another £250 to clear 20k after charges on the giving page.

Top effort all round, and great write up.

Sandwich- I’ve not taken their charge into account. I don’t begrudge them taking a bit off the top, if it weren’t for their site we’d never have raised so much.

Spawnofyorkshire- I think a few people heard me bawling up the climb and when I came back in and wondered what on earth that jessie was up to. Certainly a lot of grit “somehow” snuck past my glasses and into my tear ducts on that lap…

It’s a bit dusty in my office at the moment…

Hats off to you Luke and to the rest of the team. Great work.

well done team

Brilliant stuff. Tough but heart warming to read. Friendship is a beautiful thing.

Great effort on all scores!

(Is that a St Andrews Uni sweatshirt in the photo?)

Teamhurtmore- yes, Chris and I were St Andrews graduates (2010 and 2011) and Huw (the one in the blue St Andrews skinsuit) is still there.

Well done all

Just when I was getting my crap back together I appear to be losing fluids again! Not pissed lighter than bright orange yet despite drinking my not inconsiderable weight in water. It was a pleasure and an honour to help out. As I said before the race, no team with me in it will ever come 1st but I would burst my spleen keeping it respectable. If I came off the course with anything left then I would have felt I had let luke, Chris and everybody who donated down so that was never going to happen. It is wrong that luke and the family and friends of the 4 brilliant young people should be going through what they are going through but also we can’t exist wrapped in cotton wool. Life has to be lived and it sounds like Chris crammed a whole lot of life into his few short years. The mountain rescue are very fitting recipients of any donations raised and far from being ‘put on’ I was delighted and proud to be part of something good which has come from such tragedy. Be proud too luke, what you have done in such a short time, whilst grieving your heart out is remarkable. I’m sure Chris would be proud of you.

Superb effort. Good on ya.

Fantastic effort from everyone involved – well done

Bloody brilliant, hats off to you all.

Good write up Luke.

Well done to you all.

Love you guys.

For those of you who are interested and want to see what your money got you we’re on last night’s Adventure Show (I’m Luke, Oli is the twonk in the purple helmet falling over on the run).

I think we’re on at 31 mins 40 sec, though haven’t watched it yet to confirm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01rj3s6/The_Adventure_Show_2012_2013_Episode_6

The Just Giving page is still open just in case anyone still feels like donating.

http://www.justgiving.com/Luke-Bradley

Thanks for the link , enjoyed that alot.
Good program for my Mum to watch I think as it will give her a real insight into what actualy goes on at 24hr events .

Well done. Good cause. The tribute was excellent. Had me saying “Hear Hear” at the TV.