Stephen McNallys 12 Hour turbo challenge for MND

Many of us have turned to the turbo and the imaginary worlds of Zwift and RGT Cycling during the current crisis but usually we tolerate about an hour or two before body and mind give in!

Next Sunday the 3rd of May club member Stephen McNally will be attempting a 12 hour turbo Zwift spin to raise money for a cause close to his heart - MND.

For full details on what madness Stephen is proposing, how you can cycle with him during the 12 hours and how you can donate check out the article on the home page of the club website: WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE

Stephen will be riding on Zwift from 7am to 7pm on next Sunday 3rd May. He will be doing loops of Watopia's "Out and back again" route and will welcome anyone who wants to ride along with him at any time during the day. 12 hours is a long time, so ideally we'd like people joining him to be spread out across the day.

Ride with Stephen

It's very simple to join Stephen at any point in his day's ride. Just use the Zwift "Ride with.." function, like this:

1. On the Zwift Companion app on your phone find and follow Stephen McNally if you're not following him already.
2. On Sunday, when you want to ride with Stephen, log in to Zwift as usual.
3. At the Zwift page where you usually select your route, select Watopia.
4. In the list of riders in the centre bottom part of the page, Stephen's name will be at or near the top. Click on his name so that it is highlighted.
5. Click "Ride with Stephen" at the bottom.
6. Start pedaling immediately.

Zwift will take a few seconds to load, and then you will be teleported to just in front of Stephen, wherever he is at that moment. You need to start pedaling immediately as the initial automatic speed matching only lasts a few seconds.

The "no-drop" function is not active, so it's up to you to adjust your own speed. Stephen will be riding at a steady relaxed pace so it should be easy to stay near him.

At junctions you don't have to do anything. Zwift will automatically put you on Stephen's route.

Talk to Stephen

You can use Discord to type and talk to Stephen and others at any time during his 12 hour ride. Log in to the Orwell Discord channel as normal and you will see an invitation to the special channel we've set up for this. Just click on the invitation.

It isn't necessary to be on Zwift to use Discord, so you can send Stephen encouraging messages at any time.

Unlike our usual Orwell Discord talk channel, this new Discord channel is not limited to Orwell members.

Sunday's Orwell group ride

Next Sunday's regular Orwell Zwift ride will operate as normal, but it will be arranged so that Stephen rides with us for that part of his 12 hours. All you will have to do is to register and join the Zwift meetup in the usual way when arrangements are published here on the forum.

If you want to see how Stephen is doing during his epic 12 hour ride on Sunday you can use Zwift's "Just watch" function. It's very simple. You don't need your trainer or bike, just your computer, your phone, and a Zwift account. Follow these easy steps:

1. On your computer, start Zwift and log in. No trainer or bike or any sensors required.


2. On your computer, on the sensor pairing page click "Just watch" at the bottom right of the screen.


3. On the Zwift Companion app on your phone, on the "Game" page, tap the search icon at the top right of the screen and search for Stephen McNally. Select the one with the Irish flag and the Orwell jersey - the others are imposters!


4. On the Zwift Companion app on your phone, you will see Stephen's Zwift profile. Tap on the blue "Fan view" button near the bottom of the screen.

The main Zwift screen on your computer will change to show Stephen as he rides through Watopia. You'll see "Watching S.McNally" near the top centre of your screen, and you'll see the usual Zwift data including total distance and elapsed time.

Don't forget to join our Orwell regular Sunday Zwift spin tomorrow at 11.05am to ride with Stephen for an hour and half. Register for the group ride as usual here:

Part of the message is hidden for the guests. Please log in or register to see it.

And as in the posts above other ways you can support are:

• Join Stephen and ride along on Zwift for a while at any time of his 12 hour ride between 7am and 7pm.
• Talk to him on Discord at any time between 7am and 7pm.
• Watch his progress on Zwift.

See the posts above for details on how to do any of those, and you can donate to the fundraising for the IMNDA at www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/11384993_12-ho...cling-for-imnda.html

Stephen was up an at it earlier than planned this morning! He had just under 3 hours done by 9.30 and only 9 more to go!!

If you are on Zwift then don’t forget you can join the club spin to ride along with him or you can drop in any time during the day. Also - don’t forget to support IMDA if you can too please.

Epic! Well done Stephen, and the many people who supported him today.

[Screenshot by Emma C.]

Animal.

Hi all,

So it’s around 36 hours since I slowly and painfully climbed off the bike, and although still stiff and sore, I’m starting to feel somewhat normal again!

I’m so glad that Sunday 3rd May is over, and I’m also very glad that the event has been so successful in terms of money raised for the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association.

I have to thank many people - Louise (PR manager), Barry (IT manager), and Georgie (social media advisor) :-)

I’d like to thank all the people who rode along with me, and for the banter on Discord all day long.. from early bird Eugene at 7am, until the very end at 7pm, when I was accompanied by Louise, Aideen, Barry, Declan and Hugh… There were so many others, so I’m not going to even attempt to name names (you know who you are etc..) but I think Fionn Sheridan and Paul Kane deserve special mention, these two loons rode 6 and 7 hours with me, respectively… thank you all!

However, without question, biggest thanks go to everyone who took the time to make a donation to the IMNDA, there have been so many contributors from within Orwell. It’s been overwhelming, and quite humbling, what a fantastic club of people!!

The good news is that the ‘idonate’ page will stay open for another while, so if anyone hasn’t got around to it yet, or knows someone who might consider making a donation, there’s still time. All donations, however small, make a difference, and are appreciated!

www.idonate.ie/12hrsforIMNDA

Although not an Orwell member, I’d like to also thank my son, Aidan, without whom this just wouldn’t have been possible. Aidan spent his day tending to my every need, refilling bottles, feeding me, helping with social media stuff etc.. he had a busy day!



Also, chapeau to the inspirational under-age Orwell members, Olga, Roisin, James and Daragh, who have all done some incredible feats for charity in recent days.

Thanks,
Stephen.

Some stats:
- 12hrs, 1 min
- 335km
- 2667m climbing
- 64,890 pedal revolutions
- 5,707 Calories
- 11 x bottles of water/electrolytes
- 1 x plate of sandwiches
- 2 x Tesco microwave pasta dinners
- 3 x gels
- 12 x figrolls
- 1 x 14” pizza and a cold beer (afterwards)

Hi all,

Massive thanks to all the Orwell members who have generously donated to the IMNDA, the response has been phenomenal, we have raised over €4,000 so far!!!!

The ‘idonate’ fundraising page will be closing tomorrow night (Wednesday 13th May). If anyone would still like to make a donation to this worthy cause, please do so in the next couple of days..

Thanks again for the many generous donations to-date!!

www.idonate.ie/12hrsforIMNDA