When Adam Stone was just four years old his parents bought him a shiny new Raleigh Drifter bicycle.

“I remember being so excited as all my mates had bikes,” said Adam. “From that day my parents could hardly keep me off it.”

The bike sparked a passion for cycling that has seen Adam taking part some of the country’s most challenging rides, from Coast to Coast to London to Brighton.

But last month Adam faced his biggest and most emotional journey yet - riding 979 miles over ten days from Lands End to John O’Groats with 13 inspirational team mates, including two who are living with terminal cancer.

By Claire Cooper

Born in Switzerland, Adam experienced travel from a very early age, moving to Uganda at the age of two. “My father worked in banking as a modern linguist, so we moved around a lot,” he said. “In Uganda we lived four doors down from Idi Amin, and I can remember seeing him go past the house accompanied by his burly armed guards!”

At the age of four Adam moved with his family to Belgium and acquired his first bike. “We lived in a little village, so everyone cycled everywhere!” he said. “It was a great place to learn to ride.”

By age 11 the family had been posted to Montreal in Canada and Adam began to cycle longer distances.

“When I was 14 I would cycle across Montreal, from one end to the other, on the Trans Canada highway,” he recalled.

“When we later moved to Holland I would head to the coast so I could cycle up and down the dunes.”

It was while studying at Imperial College in London that Adam began to enjoy cycling as part of a group.

“In the late 80s and 90s we cycled all over London,” he said. “I was told by a cycle courier that if you didn’t get knocked off your bike within the first three months cycling in London you never will! I didn’t and so far have managed to stay in the saddle. I’ve been knocked off in Haywards Heath but never in London!”

After graduating Adam moved to a village outside Cambridge where his parents were living, cycling 16 miles a day to and from work and with friends at weekends. “In 1996 I moved to London and, for a while, swapped my cycle for the tube. I also met and married my wife Claire.”

A move to Sussex in April 2005 saw Adam get back in the saddle.

“Claire was offered a job at the Body Shop headquarters in Littlehampton, so we began to look for a house in Sussex,” Adam recalled. “We picked five houses to view, including one in Scaynes Hill. The owners told they were moving to Lindfield, which we had never heard of. As they were the second people who had mentioned the village we thought it must have something going for it so we’d take a look.

[Full story in the November 2019 issue of Lindfield Life]