During his backpacking year in Australia Andy met a cyclist who was cycling from Perth to Sydney.  At the time such a journey seemed alien and impossible to someone who found even climbing stairs a tough workout.  As the months went by and the weight fell off, the idea began to surface that maybe the “new” Andy could now be able to even consider doing this cycle.

The motivation for the ride comes from his desire as a novice cyclist, an everyday guy, to do an epic cycle.

Andy’s brother, Hugh has been and continues to be involved with The Burren Chernobyl Project’s Orphanages and adult asylums in Belarus.  Over the last two years Hugh has travelled to Belarus as a volunteer and returned with horrific tales of poverty and hardship.  Andy was really affected by the stories, pictures and by meeting the people behind the charity. He began to fundraise for the charity and through various fundraising activities has raised almost €10,000 for The Burren Chernobyl Project over the past year.

Andy began to realise that combining the two ideas was a perfect marriage. The decision was made to take on this immense challenge, cycling almost 4200km across a continent – single handed without any support.

Andy hopes even though times are tough for everyone at the moment, that people will be inspired and get behind him, supporting a beginner cyclist on his epic journey across Australia for a truly worthy cause.