Cyclist

Name: Oli Broom

Age: 29

Nationality: British

Religion: Cricket and cycling

Favourite Food: Rice

Favourite Song: Harrisburg by Josh Ritter

Favourite Film: The Beard Film

Mantra: "Pedal like hell"

Hello, and thanks for visiting my website. "Cycling To The Ashes” is my attempt to spread the cricketing gospel, to raise plenty of money for two very worthy charities, to test myself to the limits and to see parts of the planet I have always wanted to see. What better way to see the world and to meet its people, than on a bike, and with a cricket bat?

I grew up in Cookham, Berkshire and went to school in Buckinghamshire and then Oxford. In 2003, I graduated from Durham University, where I studied French and Spanish. During the preceding year I had spent 8 months as a student in Grenoble, France and 4 months as a gardener in Spain. While my time in France allowed me to get into the mountains to do plenty of skiing in beautiful villages like Chamrousse and Les Sept Laux, the Andalucian hills inspired me to jump on my old mountain bike and get exploring. I began planning an extended tour of North Africa after university, but the bright lights of London and a good career were too alluring, so I went to Cass Business School to do a masters degree in Property Valuation and Law in 2003/4 and got a place on the graduate scheme of global property consultancy Knight Frank, where I qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2006. I resigned in July 2009 to allow more time to plan “Cycling To The Ashes”, an expedition that will provide me with a change of direction, and a chance to realise two dreams - undertaking a long-distance cycle expedition, and seeing England and Australia do battle for the The Ashes in Australia.

I am relaxed but pretty ambitious and driven. Sport has dominated my life, and from my experience captaining Berkshire County Cricket sides in my youth, to being a member of successful university sports teams and running the London Marathon (in an embarrassingly poor time), I appreciate the drive and effort that will be needed during this very tough journey.

When I'm not in the saddle, I am looking forward to meeting the people (and cricketers) of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, and teaching school children of all ages about a sport which they may not have heard a great deal about. I have chosen to tackle the expedition alone as I want to meet as many local people as I can on my route - an important and fascinating aspect of any long distance journey. I recently spent ten days cycling through northern France, as a training exercise and a holiday to see friends; if the people of northern France are anything to go by, I expect the locals to be one of the highlights of the trip.

Bye for now, and if you feel like getting in touch then it would be great to hear from you, so please do!