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Around the world in 180 days
TIME: 04:35PM Saturday April 02,2011
FROM:harborough mail   

Harborough born Ian Reeds is to undertake the ultimate cycling challenge – on Saturday he sets off on a 20,000-mile around-the-world trip in a bid to raise £100,000 for charity.

A former elite racing cyclist and one-time member of Welland Valley CC, he starts his gruelling solo ride from Leicester clock tower at 10am on Saturday, passing through Harborough town centre just before 11am on his way to London.

Aptly tagged the ‘well-mad ride’, Mr Reeds’ global challenge will see him in the saddle for 180 days, pedalling through 20 different countries at the rate of 120 miles a day... taking just one day off every two weeks.

No stranger to cycling under pressure, Mr Reeds (44) is a former racing champion who competed in most of the top UK races. He was both regional champion and rode for England.

During the 1990s he was part of an elite team competing internationally but in 1998 he left the fast life to study archaeology at the University of Leicester, where he now works.

He will be cycling through countries as far flung as Australia, USA and China, and while ‘well-mad’ is a good description of the ride, the name actually represents the two cities on his route at opposite ends of the world, Wellington in New Zealand and Madrid in Spain.

Mr Reeds has set himself a target of raising £50,000 each for the MS Society, supporting people with multiple sclerosis, and the Leicestershire and Rutland charity Hope Against Cancer, which currently funds 14 cancer research projects at Leicester University.

He will be riding a specially-built bicycle, with solar panels on his panniers to keep his electrical equipment automatically recharged as he pedals onwards. He will visit schools along the way, collecting photos and information for his blog.

“I’ve chosen a systematic route from west to east,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll break any world records, but that’s partly because of the work I want to do with schools on the way. I plan to do 120 miles a day on average, with one day off a fortnight.

“It should be good fun in a strange kind of way!”

In 2009 he rode from his home to Italy – and thought one day it would be good to keep riding and not stop.

“But if you are doing a ride like this, you really have to do it for more reasons than just because you want to,” he said, “and so the two causes that came to mind immediately, were MS and cancer research.

“Cancer has affected many people that I know. My ex-wife has now had it twice and my father has recovered from bowel cancer.”

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