London to Paris

I took part in the Action Research London to Paris Cycle Ride charity event between the 23rd July and 27th July 2003. The ride was a challenging and enjoyable experience for a very good cause. Action Research fund many forms of medical research and are dedicated to preventing and treating disease and disability. They have been involved with many medical breakthoughs, including the polio and rubella vaccines, ultrasound scanning and hip replacements. A list of Action Research's previous achievements is available on their site, along with details of their current projects. The charity tries to improve the lives of men, women and children everywhere. It may be the case that one day you, or someone you know, will benefit from the work carried out by Action Research.

I paid £100 to cover Action Research's costs and signify my commitment to completing the event. The minimum sponsorship required for taking part was £1000, of which £375 covered event expenses. Obviously I wanted to go beyond this target and raise as much money as possible for Action Research. In the end I managed to raise a total of over £1600 from generous sponsors.

I followed a training schedule in preparation for the trip and kept a weekly diary in comparison. I also kept a training log of the total mileage and "time in the saddle".

On the trip, I wrote a little diary so everyone would know how it went. It took a while to put together, but I wanted to try and make it as entertaining as possible ;) There are a few pictures included but you can see them all in the full photo gallery for the trip.

C2C

I first completed the Coast to Coast cycle route back in 1997. This was a great cycling/camping trip with extended family, as can be read in the diary I recently typed up. I would love to get out on this route once more, but things seem to keep getting in the way. Maybe I can organise it sometime this summer! My bike is relatively worn out now though, this might be the excuse I need to invest in a new one.