Fund Raising Total

Its taken a while to get the dribs & drabs in of pledged sponsorship & certain individuals still haven't paid up, but I have decide enough is enough & closed off my London 2 Paris Sponsorship of 2009 for Action Medical Research.

My Fund Raising Total is £2,637. 63p

I really feel a major sense of achievement firstly inn raising this amount of money & second for completing the event. Its the first time I have done anything like this & I really have to thank family, friends & work colleagues for helping me along my journey.

This event has now spurred me on to achieve much more on my bike, on a personal level of fitness & to do more fund raising events in the future.

Fund Raising

Its been a while since I posted on the Pedal to Paris but the final date for banking fund raising for this years ride is on 21 September. Donations & various funds raising has been taking place over the past 2 months since we completed the London to Paris event.

This has included a Tombola stall which raised £85 & the Ricoh Photographic Society did a portrait photo session raising £255 both at the Ricoh family fun day, my Eiffel tower bottle brought in a further £52.60. Pledges from friends & work colleagues have been rolling in steadily and my total fund raising currently stands at a fantastic £2,564.63.

I will post the Grande Total next week after the 21st Sept.

The End of the Road?

The "End of the Road" - you must be joking.

The "Pedal to Paris" Blogspot was just the start & was compiled to keep friends & family in touch with my preparations & journey to Paris, this road has now been cycled & I feel that a new beginning is in order.

I now have an ALL new blogspot "Wheel Spokes & Pedal Strokes" - Sue will be joining me on the road as she prepares for next years London 2 Brighton - look out for her postings.

www.wheelspokesandpedalstrokes.blogspot.com

If "Carlsberg" did Messages....

This could probably be the best message in the world...

Earlier this week my 10 month old niece "Erika" - who lives in Japan - spelt out the message "Well Done Uncle Ian" with soft lettering from her play mat [ably assisted by Mom "Yoshiko" & Dad "Andy"] - who's a clever girl!

So What's Next?

With the London to Paris bike ride now a fading memory - what's next? It certainly doesn't end here - Mike & I are planning to do Rourkie's Cat & Fiddle Challenge -on October 4th - 55 miles around Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire & the Peak District which includes the infamous 7-mile Cat & Fiddle climb.

So that's for starters - what about the future?

1. Continue with the cycling on weekends & to work & back - is a given - maybe cycle Shropshire following my old Football team "Telford Juniors"

2. Mike & I have coaxed Sue & Clare into taking part in next summers London to Brighton charity bike ride [assuming we all gain entry].

3. I am thinking of doing a series of Sportive [100 milers] - not specifically for charity but more for the personal challenge - I'm sure Mike will be up for the challenge.

4. What about the "Etape de Tour" - Wow! now there's a challenge - a stage of the Tour de France - & one I would dearly love to take part in & conquer.

5. A Team charity ride - on the same basis as this years L2P - a nominated charity ride but entering a team of 6 - 8 people [if we can find enough fool hardy souls to join us] -

So Loads to think about & the planning starts here - Look out for further update

The Anti-Climax - Back at Work

After the euphoria of completing the London to Paris bike ride its back to work. Whilst we have been taking part in the ride of a life time [did I mention it was 340 miles in 4 days] - it just seems strange that everything else has been carrying on as normal - our cycling bubble has now been popped & normality reigns.

However, I do feel like a bit of a celebrity as loads of people at work are interested in how things went on the ride, I really should have prepared a slide show, it would have saved me having to repeat myself every 10 minutes.

Day 5 - The Journey Home

Euro-Star was excellent leaving Paris & arriving at St Pancras bang on time - had a heart stopping moment as we walked through St Pancras station - I couldn't find my wallet & had to sprint back to the train - Luckily it was under my seat - close one!

That was the good part of the journey, what followed was wasn't particularly good - a 1 1/2 hour wait at St Pancras for our transfer, then a 1 hour journey through central London to Kingston to retrieve our bikes, followed by a 4 hour drive M25 -> M40 -> M6 up to Nantwich & Mike's house - eventually arriving at 1.00 a.m. Sue & Clare were waiting with a cup of tea & a weary smile having arrived earlier via flights from Paris.