Andrew Rogerson, Halewood, is a man on a mission. He has unfinished business on the roads in the US and he can’t wait to complete the journey he started last July at Seattle Children’s Hospital before tragic personal circumstances meant he had to leave his bike in Montana and catch the first plane home.
“My mum sadly passed away in September from lung cancer. Even though she had been ill for a while she had just finished her chemotherapy treatment and was doing well so when I got that call about a week into the US cycling mission to say she had become so poorly it came as a big shock,” explained Andy.
“I was in the Rockies at the time staying in a place called Kalispell. The Air BnB hostel where I was sleeping just happened to be above a bike shop and they agreed to store the bike for me in their basement until I was ready to pick up where I left off.”
That moment has now arrived for Andy, aka the Cycling Scouser, as he is due to re-start his mission on May 13 and cycle across America to raise money for JLR’s Charity of the Year, Charlies Chance.
He said: “I can’t wait now – I’m more determined than ever. This challenge is personal to me and it means so much after what happened last year. We also received the sad news that Amber, a little girl Charlies Chance had supported had passed away recently, bringing it home even more how important it is we continue to raise as much money as possible to help fight this terrible disease.”
Andy will pick up his bike in Kalispell (the bike shop are kindly servicing it for him) and then have to pedal non-stop for 36 days in order to make it to the finish line at JLR’s US HQ in New Jersey and catch his flight home in time.
“It’s going to be a hard slog. However the only bonus is I only have two days left in the Rockies before the terrain becomes much flatter then until I reach Chicago and as it is Spring – the conditions should be good. The week I completed of the challenge last year was a real eye opener for me. It was incredibly uphill and I cycled more than I ever had before.
“I wouldn’t come across anyone or anything for hours on end – it was just horizon after horizon and the views were brilliant. However I did stumble across some incredibly poor places and it really opened my eyes – it was a whole different world,” he says.
The entire mission from Andy’s original starting point at Seattle Children’s Hospital to New Jersey is over 3000 miles and he will stop at a number of JLR dealerships along the way in Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland and New Jersey.
To learn more about Andy’s America Challenge and make a donation visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cyclingscouser
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