Friends saddle up for charity US cycle

Cycle USA 2011 will see the Edinburgh group travel from Santa Monica, California to the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City by Sunday, May 1. The journey will see them cross 11 states over a period of 35 days.

The group - comprised of shop assistants Adam Kent, 25, Matthew Tulloch, 21, Andrew Hall, 28, and barman Ben Brown, 21 - have raised more than 2000 for Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre, a charity established in Edinburgh by the late Maggie Keswick Jencks in 1996. They aim to raise 10,000.

Adam, from Portobello, founded Cycle USA 2011 on the back of "a collection of ideas", but said that a visit to a cycling event in Manchester was a key factor.

"We were really inspired by a trip to the Manchester Velodrome last year to watch a world track cycling event. Cycling is a sport which in essence is so simple, but the amount of passion that these athletes put into it is really incredible.

"Another aspect was the desire to help other people, and the desire to challenge ourselves. We wanted to push ourselves to the limit and take on something new."

Ben, also from Portobello, said that the group trained in Gullane, North Berwick and Dunbar. He added that training for the trip in the midst of the coldest winter since records began had been "a challenge".

"Riding around town isn't really viable for us because we can't get a long enough ride. Having to go down places like Gullane where the roads are more dangerous became tricky, so we've had to do a lot of indoor training. We've not been out on the bikes as much as we would have liked."

He added that he was aiming to complete 100 miles in the saddle every day.

Matthew and Andrew hail from Musselburgh and Tollcross respectively.

Andrew Anderson, manager of the Edinburgh branch of Maggie's, hailed the group's efforts.

He said: "It is quite a challenge that they have set themselves - amazingly hard work but, no doubt, the experience of a lifetime. I am honoured that they have chosen Maggie's as the beneficiary to Cycle USA."

Mr Anderson said that the money raised would go towards the running costs of Maggie's Edinburgh Centre.

"At the centre, we aim to give people the space, the time, the skills and the support to understand and manage their experience of cancer. We're thankful to Cycle USA team for directly helping us to achieve this aim through their fundraising endeavours. We wish them the best of luck for the event."

Maggie's was set up to "provide support for people affected by cancer, their families, carers and friends in a domestic, not clinical, setting". Its services are free of charge, and the centres are funded mostly by donations and fundraising initiatives.

There are seven centres in the UK, including five in Scotland.