Hampshire physiotherapist to cycle tandem to the Alps

Becky Hobbs, a physiotherapist specialising in spinal cord injuries, will soon be embarking on a journey to raise funds for charity.

She will be riding a tandem bike from Staines, where Access Adventures, the charity she will be raising funds for, has its base all the way to Val Thorens, where Access Adventures organises its ski camps.

Becky got the idea to ride to the Alps on a tandem bike while picking up strangers along the way to help her pedal her way to the Val Thorens a few years ago, before COVID hit.

But her adventure to figure out how far she could get on her tandem bike along Europe was stopped by COVID.

Now a few years later she has decided to resume her adventure and this time use it to raise money for the Acesse Adventure charity, which is a small organisation that helps disabled people to take part in different types of sports, such as skiing and various types of water sports.

She thinks this trip will take her about three weeks to complete, or at least that is the amount of time she is hoping to be able to complete the challenge in, hoping she will get to Val Thorens in time to do some more volunteering there.

When asked what she thought would be the hardest part of the challenge, she said: “The hardest part cycling-wise will definitely be the Alps, so Val Thorens is the highest ski resort in Europe, so that’s a big climb to get in March when it can be snowy.”

But the steep hills won’t be the only problem she could encounter in this challenge as she will be taking strangers she meets along the way on the back of her bike and relying on them to help her and also relying on the kindness of people to host her and let her stay in different places along the way to rest.

She said: “Really relying on people’s kindness to get me there.”

Once she reaches Val Thorens, she will also be volunteering at the Ski camp that Acesse Active organises there.

These ski camps help people with disabilities be able to ski independently without having to rely on other people to be able to enjoy the sport.

This won’t be her first time volunteering there.

She said that she chose to support this charity because she is a physiotherapist specialised in spinal cord injuries and this charity was funded by two people who had suffered from this kind of injury and a physio and the sports that this charity helps people with disabilities to do can be life-changing for them.

She said: “I’ve done a bit of volunteering with them and I really see the difference they make and so I thought I want to try and support them, they are only a smaller charity so they need the fundraising to keep them going .”

You can follow her journey on her Instagram @humansofthetandem and can also support her by donating on her JustGiving page Humans of the Tandem

 ( https://www.justgiving.com/page/tandem-for-access?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL )