James Harris completed his charity bike ride, and cycled between Paris and London for nearly 18 hours on the fourth and final day, to raise money for The Professional Cricketers' Trust.
He completed the journey in 17 hours and 48 minutes, which is believed to be a record. The PCA Chair was thrilled to have finished the grueling journey.
“The London - Paris bike ride for the PCT was very successful, we got everyone to Paris in the planned time, and with just one spill (from me ironically, I managed to hit the tarmac particularly innocuously on Day 1, with thankfully just a cut palm on my right hand and some light road rash). Day 1, 150km into the wind to Portsmouth before dinner and a hop to the ferry across to France. Can’t say I’ll be jumping for a short choppy sleep on the ferry crossing too quickly again, but we had some good weather and the French roads were challenging but far nicer than those in the UK and we made it to Paris over the following two days.
"Then came the challenge of getting home, the next morning, Myself and Rob Smyth (PCA Commercial Director) set ourselves the challenge to get back to London in a Day. We left from the Arc De Triomphe at 10am and had a ferry to catch from Dieppe at 7:15pm, before making the crossing and then cycling the final 95km (275km total) to central London. We couldn’t find a record time for the trip from this direction so we set about setting one. The 180km through northern France was beautiful but a bit challenging with a pretty strong breeze blowing all day, thankfully we made the ferry.
"No cabin for this journey, however, I did manage about 15 minutes kip on the floor. We got into Newhaven at around 10 30pm and with some bright lights and some warmer clothing set about the night shift. It was oddly peaceful but really challenging, feeling at times as though the south of England had grown a mountain range for us to pass over, plenty of steep up-and-down stuff before we got inside the M25. Thankfully once we were the roads flattened out and the fact that it was now the early hours meant that cycling towards and through central London was about as quiet as it is ever likely to get. A picture in front of Big Ben and with a total elapsed time of 17hrs and 48mins on the clock we’d managed with what little planning we’d done to get back. 2 45 am was the finish time but with a train not leaving Paddington to Cardiff until 6 50am I had a bit of time to kill and spent most of it sipping on a hot chocolate at the 24hr Starbucks at St Pancras.
"Somewhat of a mad idea, but all for a great cause, the Professional Cricketers Trust is something very close to my heart particularly in my current role at the PCA as well as being a director. The fundraising has gone ok, however, any help anyone can offer would be immensely appreciated.
"Hope everyone has a fabulous winter, and I’ll see you all again next spring."
Please donate here: https://www.thepca.co.uk/trust/