She's an incredible character, but she sprained something in her knee near Coxwold. I had to do a rescue mission down there and bring her back. Then we had to go to A&E. At this point she couldn't bend her knee without a lot of pain and we were having to carry her in and out of controls.
However, after 30 hours, and having got back to being able to limp by herself, she set of north in the early hours of yesterday morning. She's still intending to ride to Edinburgh and back anyway!
This was the last post I've seen - https://www.facebook.com/groups/392520757598601/permalink/749912455192761/?comment_id=749949708522369¬if_t=group_comment_mention¬if_id=1501688221214296
Vedangi is very motivated, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her appearing in long distance events in the near future. She even has plans to go for the round the world record.
Probably worth copying for the Facebook-phobic:
Vedangi Kulkarni
August 2 at 3:18pm
I just wanted to give big thanks and several hugs to all the volunteers I've come across so far. I mean, I didn't have a clue of how to read the cue sheet! A volunteer at St Ives literally explained it to me, line to line. I was running late due to several punctures. They changed the rear tyre and help me sort that issue too. I was asked if I've eaten enough food and would be fine to continue, considering the fact that I'm quite a young rider and was supposed to cycle alone through everything ahead to catch up with the next controls before the closing time. When I got into an accident and had to be taken to A&E, every single volunteer at Thirsk helped me out through it all. At a point, I couldn't even stand or walk and as any sane person would suggest, they did their bit to convince me to stop and get back to London to get my knee sorted. I agree, I've been extremely stubborn and decided to continue. Right from Marcus- who drove me to the A&E and back, Eshaa- who literally helped with everything she could, Mariana- who helped me tape my knee, Tom- who tried his best shot at convincing me to be practical, and every other volunteer at Thirsk who helped me out from getting onto the airbed to charging the phone to serving the food, Thank you! Once I cycled to Barnard castle, everyone was already on their southbound way and I already had DNFed. I still am given a bed here, the medics have been checking the injury and everyone has been the most helpful they could possibly be. In spite of the DNF , I am planning on cycling to Edinburgh and back to London. Everything's gonna be closed, I'm well aware of that. And even after considering all that, the volunteers here have been absolutely amazing. The masseuse, the volunteer who's trained at Reiki, the familiar faces from Loughton who are working really hard to keep everyone motivated and make everybody feel home!
A big shoutout to all of you guys who've been really very nice to this really unusual and limping and almost over-optimistic young lady. Thank you! Y'all are angels!!
- Vedangi