The idea of the ride came about, over general office chit chat, by a couple of us back in April 2008. The main reason for the ride was for something cheap to do over a bank holiday weekend, but upon reflection we were going to set off on this epic journey just for something to do, then we thought we might as well do some good for others while were at it. We decided to ride for charity and raise as much money as possible for sick children who aren't as lucky as us. This is where Derian House Children's Hospice came in to the equation. Derian House cares for children diagnosed with terminal illnesses and also gives support to the children's families (more details about the hospice can be found at www.derianhouse.co.uk). So we set to it and asked around a few of our colleagues in the office to see if they would be interested in joining us....after a week or so we had six of us who said they'd like to give it a try.

So, with a team of six confirmed riders, we all started individually to organise weekly training rides along our local stretches of the towpath to get us all in shape for the challenge. We decided on a date for the ride, Saturday 23rd August 2008.

Oh, and the reason we're called Team Wynsors.com is that we all work at www.wynsors.com (buy online lol) Head office in sunny Bacup.

It's not going to be fun as we intended. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is the longest canal in Northern England at 127 miles long. It passes through 91 locks with a summit level of 487 feet. The six of us (male and female) who are taking on this challenge, need to be fit, that goes without saying but upon research and test runs taken the surface of the towpaths are so varied from tarmac, limestone, dirt tracks to long grass which saps your energy very quickly and places, is not good at all, it's hard work riding the rough stretches and our bodies are going to take quite a pounding at times. The constant peddling is hard enough and your knees take some hammer, but the vibration through your wrists is the thing you notice as well. There are no hills to freewheel down, apart from the locks, so you are pretty much peddling the whole route and the repetitiveness of this can affect.

So here's where you come in (hopefully). We are looking for your support so tell all your friends and families cause as you can see it's a great charity!

Derian House Children's Hospice is a Registered Charity - Registered Charity Number 1005165

Once again thank you for your support.