Why This Man Rode 211 Miles on His Daughter’s Little Pink Bike
In 2014, Peter Williams noticed that his seven-year-old daughter, Ellie, started to go cross-eyed for brief periods at their home in Penzance, a small town in Cornwall, England. At first, he and his wife, Kaz, wrote off this movement as just a silly face she was making. But then Williams noticed her personality start to shift.
“She normally loved sports like tennis and swimming, but she began to lose confidence in them,” he said in a phone call to Bicycling. When she walked around, she would occasionally lose her balance and stumble.
The problems worsened when the family-which includes Williams’s son, Joe, who was nine at the time-took a vacation to London that year. Ellie’s right eye was drifting inwards even more than usual, prompting the parents to take her to see her doctor, who ordered a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test.
The screening revealed the terrible news: Ellie had an inoperable brain tumor, and only three months left to live.
“Our world turned upside down,” said Williams, who’s now 46. But his family didn’t waste time grieving; They made the most of their few months left with Ellie, going on holidays and letting her play as much as she wanted.
“Many parents don’t get as many months,” Williams said. “We had a lovely daughter for seven years, and we’re grateful for that.”
Ellie passed away five months later, in 2015. It was a devastating period for the family, but they coped with the grief by continuing to do the things Ellie loved to do, like biking. “To get on with the grieving process, we tried to celebrate her life,” Williams said.
His daughter loved to cycle, and she could ride without training wheels at the age of three. Ellie received a small pink bike for Christmas of 2014, though she was too sickly to ride it much.
After she passed, the unused bike brought pain and sadness to the family. But this year, Williams dreamed up a way to put it to use for a good cause: He would ride Ellie’s bike from the cancer clinic where she was diagnosed in Bristol, England, to Land’s End-the furthest point on England’s west coast-all the while raising funds for cancer research via the Brain Tumour Charity.
“I knew the bike would catch people’s eye,” said Williams, who, at six feet tall, certainly stood out on the tiny bike. “And it was also another way to celebrate what Ellie loved to do.”
The riding distance didn’t phase Williams; he competed in BMX races as a boy, and goes on regular group rides today.
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On Friday, September 21, he rolled out from the Bristol Hospital on Ellie’s little pink bike, sporting a neon rear wheel flag emblazoned with “Brain Tumour Charity.” His mission was to raise £10,000 (about $13,000 in the U.S.) in donations for brain cancer research-a goal he quickly reached over the course of his route. Over the next week, he traversed Bristol and road south through Avon, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, finishing at Land’s End on Friday, September 28. He kept an average of 20 to 30 miles per day, regrouping with his support crew each night to catch a night’s rest in their team van. At the time of his finish, he’d raised £32,556 (about $42,500).
The challenging part of the journey, of course, was the bike, with its child-sized frame decorated with a Frozen sticker. To get his knees used to the cramped space, he practiced in his driveway beforehand. “They held up pretty well,” said Williams. After each day’s ride, he made sure to stretch and soak in a warm bath when he could.
Having constant support helped, too-even though his family had to stay home for most of his journey to care for their pets, Williams said he had plenty of cheers and honks on the road to carry him through.
“On the last leg, my wife and son, plus my coworkers and friends, joined me for the final miles,” he said. “I was so happy to see them all. It was very emotional for all of us.”
As for what’s next for Williams, first thing’s first: “A good night’s sleep in my own bed,” he said. He plans to continue raising awareness and funds for brain cancer research, so fewer families will have to face the devastating loss that his family did.
Williams says biking has greatly helped him cope with the loss of his daughter. “I know if Ellie were here, she would want to ride, so that’s what I’m going to keep doing,” he said. “Biking helps me stay positive.”
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