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A few months before my departure to stay with my friend Stas in Ukraine, I was asked if I wanted to take part in the annual Life Cycle Tour. I thought to myself, "Cycling? I don't cycle! Well, how hard can it be?" I promptly agreed, without really considering the 200 plus miles! As the date approached, I began to feel slightly apprehensive, and decided I'd better begin training. Next thing I knew, I was leaving without having ridden a bike for over a year.
Before the flight, the experience had already begun, through the collection of sponsorship. I enjoyed collecting for one simple reason: it was all going to an extremely worthy cause. With my grandma's immense help, using her circle of friends, I received substantial sponsorship. This is especially useful as it goes an awful long way in the Ukraine. In my opinion, lots of small donations are just as, or perhaps more, successful than trying to hunt down a few large donations.
After only two days rest in Cherkassy, I woke up to apparently perfect cycling weather. (I had no clue!) When ready, I was given a bike to use. After chatting with some of the members of the Hope Now Cycle Club, we were briefed by a more than capable leader about formations and signals.
I was paired with fellow Englishman Mike Shorey, with whom I got on very well. Neither of us spoke Ukrainian or Russian so, occasionally, instructions got a bit confusing. Luckily, Stas would come to our rescue and give us all the info we needed.
The first day was going perfectly; nice cool breeze -sunshine - great views, when my worst nightmare came true, I got a flat tire. For me disaster! I have no idea about bikes and no clue how to fix them. So Mike, Stash and I stopped on the side of the road, waiting for the following mini-bus crew to lend us a hand. The tour was so well prepared that I was quickly kitted up with a replacement bike for the rest of the day. From a pleasant cycle, we now had to play catch up to reach the rest of the group, and this was reasonably tough, but we made up the distance in good time. Thankfully, my bike was repaired by the next morning.
We had regular breaks in very pleasant, eye pleasing areas, Time for a quick snooze and all the energy boosting food and drink even a growing lad like me needed. Rather impressive! For the 'hard core' cyclists, where riding was simply not enough physical exercise, there was volleyball at every stop.
After completing our fifty odd miles for each day, a church in a town/village would give us hospitality. After locating our beds, a large, tasty, traditional Ukrainian dinner was served. Everywhere, I was very impressed with the graceful hospitality and quality of the food, far better than school lunches! Subsequently there would be a relaxing, interesting, well-prepared Christian meeting. These gatherings were even more valuable because they involved cyclists and local people. These were conducted in Ukrainian, but talented translators within the group, made them enjoyable even for foreigners like me.
For four days the weather was fantastic, that is apart from the last thirty minutes of the trip, when it absolutely poured. The roads where flooded within five minutes. It was great fun sliding around the tarmac with its now hidden potholes. Everyone was thoroughly drenched! As we turned the last corner a cheer erupted throughout the ranks. A perfect ending to a very successful, enjoyable and Christ solidifying tour.
To close, I will almost definitely be returning next year to partake in, what I'm sure will be a fantastic, spiritual and physical ride and Camp.
Alex Ferguson (17 yrs old)
London, England
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