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Cyclist completes wheelie spe-shell 100km ride in a day

Cyclist completes wheelie spe-shell 100km ride in a day

Thursday 10 August 2023

Cyclist completes wheelie spe-shell 100km ride in a day

Thursday 10 August 2023


Durrell's Tortoise Takeover has seen people of all ages race to collect as many sculptures as they can this summer – and some are coming up with their own unique tortoise challenges.

Neil Gray, who works for Morningstar and runs the Instagram @jerseycycleci, made collecting every giant tortoise into a one-day 100km bike ride.

In 2019, Neil Gray devised a route to visit every gorilla on the Go Wild Gorillas trail together with his fiancée.

"There are more in town this year," Neil said.

"Which I think is a great think because it means people who can't get out in buses and cars have tortoises in town."

 
 
 
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Some tortoises were harder to access, Neil said, including halfway down La Rocque Pier, in St Catherine's Woods and at Devil's Hole. 

Neil said: "I just had to walk the bike down to the bottom of Devil's Hole. That was probably the most challenging."

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Leaving at around 7.30am, Neil rode about 107km, making it home around 1pm.

Compared to the 40 gorillas in 2019, this year's 50 giant tortoises meant that Neil had to work quicker, taking pictures and logging his finds in the app at the end of the day.

 

Pictured: Neil's 107km ride mapped on Strava

Neil's route took him past every single large tortoise on the trail - and he completed it on Wednesday 12 July, meaning he was early

"It was just a fun way for an adult going out on a their ow and not looking quite so weird," he said, adding that he had struck up conversation with curious people along the way.

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Pictured: Shell-f Reflection was one of his favourite tortoises.

He was even early enough to have seen Puffling in its original Sorel Point location.

Neil added that cycling the tortoise trail took him onto different roads than where he is used to riding.

A regular at Jersey Rouleurs, he is used to 50 to 60km rides - though he said he cycled much more before having his son.

"We have got so many great lanes, the roads are great," he said.

Asked which tortoise was his favourite, Neil said he enjoyed Shell-f Reflection, located at Le Moulin de Quétivel (designed by The Beach and sponsored by Standard Bank), as well as The Jersey Royal at St. Martin's Village Green (designed by Hannah Jayne Lewin and sponsored by PwC), and Sanctuary, designed by Gabriella Street, which was chosen by Princess Anne in her role as patron at Durrell.

Other people have mentioned that they would like to imitate Neil's ride, but to his knowledge, no-one has done it yet.

TIME TO EXPLORE...

The official Tortoise Takeover trail guide can be found in the July edition of Connect Magazine – you can read the digital edition below...

Express is proud to be the media partner for this year's Tortoise Takeover. Sign up to our daily news email for all the latest updates. 

READ MORE...

MEET THE TORTOISES #1: A berry good shell-ection of sculptures

MEET THE TORTOISES #2: Strike a cosmic connection with a p'tit pal

MEET THE TORTOISES #3: Dodo you like to explore? From Eden to Eco Ninjas...

MEET THE TORTOISES #4: My tortoise family and other sculptures

MEET THE TORTOISES #5: Keep going, as the trail keeps growing

MEET THE TORTOISES #6: Will you be the 'lucky one' as the trail continues?

MEET THE TORTOISES #7: Good enough to eat?!

MEET THE TORTOISES #8: Live slow...die old?

MEET THE TORTOISES #9: Life in plastic...it's shelltastic?

MEET THE TORTOISES #10: A 'Royal' visit...to the Tortoisphere

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