South Shields man to cycle to London on charity BMX bike fundraiser 'One Gear One Mission' challenge
“I don’t think anyone has been stupid enough to cycle hundreds of miles on one gear”
A South Shields man has teamed up with the Fans Museum to launch a fundraising cycle ride from Sunderland to London on a BMX bike to raise vital funds for Comic Relief.
The ‘One Gear One Mission’ event will see Stephen Thompson cycle 483 miles on a 1983 BMX bike.
After departing from the Fans Museum, he will stop at Catterick, York, Doncaster, Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham, Nuneaton, and Milton Keynes, before arriving at Peckham BMX Club in London 10 days later.
Originally from South Shields, big Black Cats fan Stephen now lives in Germany, but was back in Sunderland at the Fans Museum across the weekend to launch the fundraiser.
Stephen, 55, who is a military veteran, said: “I’ve done cycling fundraisers over the last few years, but a lot of people are jumping on road and gravel bikes and raising money and so I wanted to do a cycling challenge with a difference.
“I noticed that Paddy McGuinness rode a Chopper bike for Children in Need a couple of years ago. I’m from the generation which rode BMX bikes as a kid and so I thought why not do a challenge involving this iconic 80s bike.
“To help raise extra money, I wanted a challenge which gets noticed. As far as I’m aware, no one has cycled this sort of distance on a BMX.”
On the challenge of cycling with only one gear, Stephen added: “I don’t think anyone has been stupid enough to cycle hundreds of miles on one gear. There will be some big hills on my journey - there’s no way of avoiding them.
“Hopefully people realise the scale of the challenge and this helps to raise more money.”
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Stephen is due to embark on his challenge on Friday March 5, ahead of Red Nose Day on March 19. Stephen was at the Fans Museum on Saturday to launch the fundraising event.
As well as supporting with organisation of the event, Fans Museum founder Michael Ganley has also donated the BMX bike being used in the challenge.
Michael said: “As well as my football memorabilia, I also have a collection of 50 BMX bikes from 1979 to 1983. From my collection, Stephen chose his dream childhood bike. As a kid, I was part of that BMX world.
“It’s going to be an absolute killer with no gears, but when Stephen told me about the challenge I was keen to back him and to help raise the profile of his challenge.”
Ahead of the ride, Stephen has set up a Just Giving Page with an initial target of raising £40,000.
He said: “I’ve got a few months to train and it’s not a challenge you can rush, but I’m confident I will do it.”
In the coming weeks, Michael also plans to use his BMX collection as a focus around which to launch a mental health support group.
You can donate to Stephen’s cause at https://www.justgiving.com/page/stephen-thompson-11.