Lettie’s Ride: A Cycle Across Africa and Europe
The Man behind “Fat Kid on a Bike” Visited the South African Embassy
August 03rd, 2015Last week the South African Embassy in Berlin received a special visitor, Ron Rutland, the man behind the “Fat Kid on a Bike” project. He is taking part in “Lettie’s Ride” which is a project where he will cycle over 43,000 Km over 27 months through every African and European country, finishing at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
The ride is entitled Lettie’s Ride in memory of Lettie Hayes who fought and won a fight with cancer and then lost a subsequent battle with the disease. Throughout his journey he has relied upon the generosity of others and has never once been turned down by people when he has asked for their help despite language barriers demonstrating the open-hearted generosity of people. His Journey has inspired many and many at the Embassy were impressed by his verve and courage to undertake such a project.
He has cycled across all of Africa and has now reached Europe. He has said that cycling has forced him to only take the essentials, as he doesn’t have much room to carry anything. He says that he is drawn to adventure and is constantly drawn back to Africa, a continent he describes as incredibly misunderstood, with a deep and varied history.
Ron Rutland is a big Rugby fan, and especially of the Springboks as he is South African and is ending his journey at the Rugby World Cup 2015 in London, the highest stage for Rugby worldwide.
He is undertaking this project to promote and celebrate health, vitality, mobility, adventure and life. He believes that life should be lived simply and with passion. This journey comes as a result of reading many stories about ordinary people undertaking extraordinary challenges which inspired him to do something different.
References and Links
Rhys Millin, Berlin Global