Mark Binks, co-founder and group managing director of Bynx, reports back from a mammoth cycle ride with his brothers to fundraise for Parkinson’s charities.

Hi, Mark here from Bynx, fresh from our epic cycle ride to raise much-needed money for Parkinson’s research.

Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone in the industry who supported us, whether sending best wishes, meeting us along the way, helping to organise things or by donating – which there’s still time to do – if you’re able to.

I personally want to add thanks to my bothers Ian and Steve. Spending so much time with them – in fact – the longest time we’d spent with each other since our schooldays was one of our mutual highlights.

Time we’ll all fondly remember and be grateful for.

We rode for two separate Parkinson’s charities, one in the UK and one in Australia (where my brother and fellow rider Steve lives).

The reason we wanted to raise funds for Parkinson’s specifically, is because both of our parents developed it throughout their lives. Our mother lived with it for over 30 years. While painful to see, it did teach all three of us brothers about resilience and ‘getting on with life’.

So, we rode for 16 days and over a thousand miles (or 1,600km if you’re in metric) and we’re not the strapping young whippersnappers we used to be. It was hard, there were most definitely days when we could have given up. Steep end of day rides and good old British weather played a part in that.

The continual encouragement from friends, family and colleagues, remembering why we were doing it, meeting friends both old & new along the way, seeing money come in for two remarkable charities, and that fraternal bonding time all played their part in pushing us (sometimes slowly) towards the John O’Groats finish line.

The British countryside is beautiful, travelling minor roads afforded us views we’d never seen before and gave us a greater appreciation for the natural beauty. You can find more pictures of the ride – some not overly flattering – here.

If you’d still like to donate you can do that for Just Giving UK here or Just Giving Australia here.

Thank you to everyone who met and supported us along the way. Thanks for the bacon butties.

Thanks to all our friends, colleagues and families. Steve, Ian and I couldn’t have done it without you.

Thanks to Natalie and her team at Fleet World for covering our adventures.

And finally a special thank you to Steve and Ian for agreeing to do this with me. 18 days I wouldn’t change for the world… but maybe shallower hills and better weather.