Father and daughter duo, Raul and Eva, cycled over 70 miles to raise money for Big Issue vendors. Raul talks about their cycle and why they decided to take on this amazing challenge for The Big Issue Foundation.
“Eva and I decided to take on this cycling challenge because we like riding together and we also like raising money towards good causes. The issue of homelessness has a massive significance in our lives as I come from Colombia where there are lots of homeless kids. Me and my friends back home have always struggled to understand this social issue and we want to support any work that we can towards this cause. 
We love what the Big Issue does to help this sad social issue, which could affect any of us, and I personally love and follow all the work that John bird does! Eva has also been very involved and passionate about this cause from a young age and has met with the Crisis team and Homeless Oxfordshire in the past, as well as taking part in lots of fundraising since the age of 8.
We are not typically planners and on the day we did forgot things as I packed the car in a rush, however there were a few things that were very important: bike repair kit ( puncture repair kit and few spanner’s & Allan keys), tonnes of water or containers to refill and good slow energy release food as fruit, as well as treats like snickers bars doughnuts and nuts! And sandwiches for the journey (peanut butter with butter as well) in Bagels of course!
We loved all of the experience! The training and the ride itself were both done in a really chilled way and we made sure the pace was comfortable for both of us. Since lockdown started we were doing 10,15,20,25 miles every other day but it became harder to train once Eva was back at school.
The New Forest is an amazing place to ride – horses, cows, pigs and wildlife on the roads, through villages, and speed limit of 30/40 all the way, made the experience magical!
