Bicycle Kicks SOS - back in the saddle and heading for Wrexham

Things looked bleak last week for Simon Hood and there was a real possibility that his Bicycle Kicks quest to spend a season following his team to every game in the country by bike to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society would come to a grinding halt before it had even started.

Despite the best efforts of Kona UK and the regulars of the Schoolboy pub in Norton – who got him back on the road when the spigot supporting the rack on his Kona Sutra snapped – he was stuck with a broken bike and a series of tricky away fixtures that meant he needed to get back in the saddle by Sunday.

We didn't want to see him have to stop before he'd got started so we stuck out an SOS for an emergency back-up bike and the guys at Ridgeback rode to the rescue. Via his local bike shop (and one of his sponsors) Cycle Heaven they sorted him out with one of their Ridgeback Horizon tourers. Si went down to pick it up on Saturday and the good omens continued to stack up for him as York won two – nil against Forest Green Rovers.

“I'd really like to thank Albert at Madison for helping me out like this at such short notice, and Andy at Cycle Heaven for building the bike up for me so quickly too, they've both been incredible” he told us on Saturday. 

Si is now out on the road on a two week marathon that will tack in Wrexham on Tuesday, then down to the London suburbs for Hayes and Yeading on Saturday, followed by a quick sprint up to Gateshead for Tuesday for a fixture brought forward from Bank Holiday Monday to accommodate an athletics meeting. Last we heard he was heading west. By the time he gets back to York a re-fettled Kona Sutra could be waiting for him. Madison have told him that he can raffle the bike off at the end of the season. Nice one!

You can follow Si's adventure via his website at www.bicyclekicks.co.uk/ and his twitter feed twitter.com/bicyclekicks, and you can make a donation at www.justgiving.com/bicyclekicks/