£1000!!!

Today the total passed £1000 donated on the justgiving page and that doesn't include the gift aid!
I am truly humbled by everyone's generosity. Thank you all very much.


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Fundraising update 1

Wow!!! What can I say except thank you all very much for all of the extremely generous donations that have been made so far. It's only a few days since I emailed details of what I am doing to friends and work colleagues and the total is already up to £840! I'm keen to keep up the momentum so please forward my email or the link to this blog to anyone you know that might be interested in following this challenge or possibly making a donation no matter how big or small. It truly is a worthwhile cause and every penny will make a big difference.

Thank you also for all the messages of support, it has definitely made me even more determined to train hard and complete this challenge.

Right, where did I leave that turbo trainer...


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Training pt2

Evans Cycles offer organised bike rides throughout the country and there are couple I've seen that I'm likely to do. There's one that's run out of Dorking on the 3rd July that covers quite a lot of next years Olympic course, including the infamous Box Hill,  and another from Reading on the 31st July. Both of these event offer three different length routes (30, 60 or 90 miles) with the medium and long routes sharing the same roads for much of the time, so if anyone fancies joining me let me know.

Training pt1

So far so good. I'm managing to get out and do something almost everyday now and the routes I've been doing on the bike are already getting faster and easier as my fitness is increasing. doing 40-50 miles a day is definitely possible at the moment and I've manged to do that on a loaded bike for three days out of four at a fast pace with no problems. 100 miles every day for 2.5 weeks is a different matter though! Lots of hard work still to go but it's heading in the right direction. The running has had to drop off a bit which is a shame but I'm going to stick with it even if it's just once a week for overall cardio-vascular fitness.

The new bike is coming along OK and despite a few teething problems with the rear rack coming unscrewed and the handlebar working it's way loose mid-ride it's proving to be a really nice bike to ride. Strapping a heavy rucksack to the back makes the handling....interesting as it's so top heavy. It's not too bad for now but I really must get some proper panniers soon to lower the centre of gravity a bit.