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WHEN your mum and dad live 4000 miles away, you don’t really expect to find them at the roadside

when you’re cycling across America for charity.

But that’s what happened to big-hearted Scot Sam Brenkel after parents Ivan and Lesley decided to play a joke on him.

The couple jetted to Chicago and tracked Sam, 23, down as he pedalled across Iowa.

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Then dentist Lesley pretended to fix a puncture on her bike on the verge while Ivan hid his face with a jumper and filmed Sam as he approached.

The proud mum said: “It was brilliant to see him and even better to film his reaction.

“He did a double-take and said, ‘No way’, and threw his bike down in the road.”

Lesley and Ivan spent three days with their boy before heading home.

Sam is cycling 3500 miles from Seattle to Boston to raise money for kids’ hospice charity CHAS.

He’s been on the road since August 11. And Lesley and Ivan, of Aberdour, Fife, decided to fly out and give him a boost after he hit “a bit of a rough patch” in North Dakota.

Lesley said: “It’s 500 miles and there’s nothing there. He was struggling to find food and not feeling particularly well.

“Sam’s not even a cyclist – he just fancied the challenge and wanted to do something for charity. He had a practice in our garden before he set off and he was struggling to stay on if he had to signal.”

You can follow Sam’s trek at http://samacrossamerica.wordpress.com/blog/ . To donate to CHAS, visit Sam’s charity page at http://www.justgiving.com/Sbrenkel