24/12/2025
And just like that! a year of cycling adventures is drawing to an end for 2025.
From the New Years Day tidal ride tackling flooded lanes, surcharging water courses and breached river banks. There's been a lot of activity on Strava, with plenty of miles being ridden by everyone.
As we marked the 5th anniversary of Covid and Lockdown in March, remembering social distancing rules, face masks and those days of solo cycling. It was great to see more people coming out of hibernation to start their cycling season.
In April the CAFT Easter Chick Ride was again well supported by the Boneshakers and overall had a great turnout. Changing the lunch stop venue to Shentons Farm worked although there was some speculation over “who arrived first”? The chicken or the egg? This was a great start to our events calendar and raised £2,785.
There was panic in one household in June, when someone's Garmin went missing! The occupants had their house upside down looking for it, only to find it on the vacuum cleaner over a week later! We won't name & shame them, but they may be appearing on “How clean is your house” sometime soon!
Spring came and went and our next challenge was the CAFT Summer Solstice Ride in June. London to Timperley in a day, pedalling 210 miles from Sunrise to Sunset was another huge achievement. What an experience to ride through the Capital looking at famous landmarks at the crack of dawn. Then pedalling north through lots of pretty villages and bustling towns, including the village of Meridian the geographical centre of England was an experience we will not forget. The weather was kind and the 18 hours on the road was rewarded by raising a massive £12,661 from this event.
Throughout the Summer months some of the Boneshakers completed the CAFT series of Raid Alpine Challenge, cycling 350 miles from the Julian Alps to the Adriatic sea, travelling through some beautiful landscapes Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria in just 4 days!. The event raised £7,582
As we experienced a severe Summer drought, following its driest Spring in 132 years, with record heatwaves and low rainfall causing significant water resource issues, it was touch and go if we would have enough water for our bottles! Well that was our excuse for the pub stops on a Wednesday evening, well you've got to keep hydrated!
On the 20th & 21st September it was our annual charity ride. This year there was a change of plan we cycled to Shrewsbury and stopped overnight at Chirk in North Wales. This was definitely our wettest ride ever, torrential downpours "persisting down” for over 7 hours on Saturday arriving at the hotel wetter than downed rats!! Fortunately our return leg home on Sunday was a much better day of sunshine. Cycling up Horseshoe Pass, a 3.7 mile climb from Llangollen climbing 1368ft to the summit was another personal achievement for many of us . This event raised over £13K for the Little Green Sock Project based in Trafford.
On the 30th November our annual CAFT Santa Ride saw 140 people out in Santa Suits on the Cheshire Lanes. Whilst it marks the end of our cycling calendar it's always a fun day out, before the festive madness starts. To date this annual event, started as a bit of fun in 2014 has raised £60K.
Another milestone has now been reached as we hit £375K of fundraising since 2009 which has made a difference to so many deserving charities.
A special mention to our good friend Mark who has been fighting cancer this year. His perseverance to continue cycling whilst having treatment is truly inspirational. Furthermore, completing some of our toughest and longest rides including London to Timperley without doubt was far from what we or the medical professionals expected. We are hoping you will be able to continue cycling with us for as long as you are able to.
The Steady Riders Group and the Original Steady Riders Group have maintained weekly meetings which include the mandatory coffee and cake stop. These are great groups to join if you'd like to start cycling with others or are just fed up going out solo.
The main group continue to ride 3 times a week throughout the year, regularly pedalling 50 miles on a ride.
Newcomers are very welcome to join us, it's a perfect opportunity if you want to set yourself a personal challenge and do some endurance cycling. Just send a message to find out more.
Thank you each and everyone of you for the support, encouragement and motivation you gave each other whilst we were out on the road. Without doubt you all should be very proud of your accomplishments, and the friendships that have been forged by being part of this great group of people.
To our wives, husbands, partners, families, sponsors, followers, and support drivers, a big “Thank You” to you all. You are as much a part of the Boneshakers as the cyclists, it wouldn’t be possible without you.
Whilst the weather hasn't been great the past month, so if you fancy a ride on Boxing Day see you then.
All the best everyone, have a great Christmas and I hope Santa brings you something nice!!
The Captain
