Last year David Stevenson rode his late father’s 1949 Raleigh-built Rudge Pathfinder bicycle, fitted with a 1952 Trojan Mini-Motor, from Land’s End to John O’Groats because he likes a challenge and wanted to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research UK. Both David’s father and uncle died of Alzheimer- related dementia. David’s uncle Bob Skinner originally owned the Rudge, then sold it to David’s father Robert before David inherited it after his father passed away. The bicycle has been is the same family for seventy years.
David’s LeJog run took twenty days and covered 1,104 miles of often difficult terrain, with rain, headwinds and endless hills impeding progress along the way and requiring a good deal of pedal-assistance and pushing. En route the Rudge/Mini-Motor was displayed on the NACC stand at April the 2018 Stafford Classic International Show, where artist Martin Squires immortalized it with a detailed drawing which is featured in the 2019 NACC calendar.
Peter Lee Warner, after whom the VMCC trophy is named, rode a tradesman’s delivery bicycle fitted with a Power Pak Synchromatic engine round the world in 1953. Lee Warner’s motive was to “have a look at Australia” and he originally planned a one-way trip, only to change his mind in Baghdad, Iraq, and decided to carry on from Australia to go the whole way round the world. He flew to San Francisco, rode 3,000 miles across America to New York and took the Queen Elizabeth liner back to Britain.
If you would like to contribute to Alzheimer’s Research UK, payments can be made via https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/raleighrudginit
