For most of us, recovering from a fractured skull after a serious cycling crash might lend us towards putting our hooves up and taking it easy for a while. Tom Townsend, however, is not most of us. And over the next two weeks he’ll be taking on an epic feat of endurance: cycling the length of Britain across road, gravel, singletrack and everything in between. With over 1200 miles of riding, and almost 89,000 feet of ascent – this is certainly going to be an adventure of epic proportions.
Meet Tom //
Tom Townsend is a Level 3 Cycling Coach, and part of the Stolen Goat Race Team. In 2019, Tom was hit by a car while cycling which resulted in a broken neck, pelvis, collarbone and both cheekbones. Undeterred, Tom’s determination and love of racing saw him back racing in hill climb series by the end of 2020, before getting his 2021 race season off to a strong start.
Then, in a road race at the end of June 2021, Tom was unfortunately involved in another serious crash after hitting a huge pothole at 30mph. The crash left him with a fractured skull and strict instructions from one of the UK’s top consultant neurologists that he could do with not hitting his head again.
Tom’s recovery has seen him switch up the training and head off on some seriously stunning scenic routes, and now he’ll be taking on the GB Divide…
The GB Divide //
The GB Divide is a self-supported bike packing route which sees those who dare to take on the challenge embark on an adventure on two wheels from Lands’ End to John O’Groats. The route will take riders along some of Britain’s most remote, and stunning, off-road riding, passing through several National Parks and mountain ranges. Riders can expect to tackle a mixture of road, gravel, singletrack – with some inevitable ‘hike-a-bike’ in between. Designed to show UK riders that they don’t need to hop on a plane to have an adventure, the route features 1218 miles of riding, with 88,844 feet of ascent and a high point of 2502 feet.
Tom set off on 13th May and aims to be finishing at John O’Groats just under two weeks later. We’re delighted to be supporting Tom on this epic adventure… LEJOG is hard enough, but doing it off road!? That’s something quite extraordinary.
Make sure you follow Tom on Instagram to stay up to date with how he’s getting on!