Pedal 2 The Metal: Meet the Cyclist Riding 1000 Miles Between Metal’s Biggest Festivals For Charity

O.B (center) riding for Pedal 2 The Metal

Norwich to Wacken, Wacken to Bloodstock. One hell of a bike ride. The concept of an 1000 mile bike ride is considerably unfathomable to pretty much everyone, especially as I write this slap bang in the middle of UK furnace season. However, for the past few years, Laurence 'O.B' O'Brien has been making the pilgrimage, a positively unique way of getting to experience two of metal's greatest open air festivals, all for the name of charity too.

"I really love the work [the Sophie Lancaster Foundation] do"

"I am insaniac," OB laughs when I catch up with him over Zoom to talk about the challenge. "I ride a pushbike from Norwich to Wacken Open Air festival in four days, and then after that I ride from Wacken to Bloodstock in five days.

"So my friend did it in 2019, and we were meant to do it together in 2023. Initially it started as a bit of a 'Hey man, want to do this thing with me?'. But then he didn't, he became very unwell, and so I was like, you know what? He's done it his own, I'm going to do it on my own. And everyone kept asking me, 'Oh, who you are raising money for?' It's like, I'm not, I'm just doing it. So I was like, maybe I should get sponsorship and raise some money for a charity."

The chosen charity for this year is the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, registered in 2009 to combat prejudice and intolerance, especially to those within alternative subcultures. It's a charity that resonates with many throughout the scene, sadly still having a vital role to play almost 20 years later.

"Every year we seem to be getting bigger and bigger with a little more reach"

"I was having a really bad day when I got off the ferry [in the UK]," O.B reflects for a moment, "And I ended up stopping off at this pub. I was talking to this lady and I was talking to her about the foundation, and she basically said that her daughter was bullied because she was a mosher. She was into metal and she dressed a little bit differently, and, you know, now she just covers herself in tattoos. And I was like, you could've described pretty much any of my friends. And she thrust a fiver in my hand and said, here you go. That's a donation for your charity.

"Prejudice and hatred isn't - you're not born with it. You pick it up from somewhere. And the best way to tackle that is education. So [the Sophie Lancaster Foundation] are going about it the best way. But yeah, just be bloody nice to each other, that's the easiest thing to do. It's great that there are people out there like the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, that you can talk to if you experience this kind of hate, if you've been singled out, discriminated against because of the way you want to express yourself. They're full of advice. And they go around communities and schools and things like that just to teach kids and young adults that just because someone wants to express themselves and dress and act a little bit differently, doesn't mean you should treat them any differently. So I'm absolutely all for them. I really love the work they do."

You can now donate to Pedal 2 The Metal

O.B kicks the ride off on the 25th July, starting at the Bell Hotel in Norwich. "I'll go there for an early lunch and fill up on carbs, go round the back, and then push off and that's it. I think I've got a couple people joining me on the first day, so that's quite exciting because it's nice to chat with people.

"It's a solitary fundraising event, but the thing that encourages me to do it every year is the people I meet along the way. It's the human aspect of it that makes it worth doing, especially like providing the raising the money for the charity."

As we look to wrap up our conversation, O.B takes another moment to reflect on the journey. "Bloodstock is my mecca. I've been going to Bloodstock since 2017, going religiously. It's a great vibe, great people, great bands.

"It's the human aspect of it that makes it worth doing"

"That first year I did [Pedal 2 The Metal], it was just more of a case of can I do it? And now it's become a big thing. Every year we seem to be getting bigger and bigger with a little more reach. There's no big team, I am just one guy on a bike."

Donations are now open via a JustGiving page, and anyone interested can directly get involved with the ride.