WE DID IT ..... AND DID EVERY LAST KM IN HATS, TIGHTS AND FACEPAINT!
This year the challenge is to cycle some 300 killometers from the Cenotaph in London through the Menin Gate in Ypres, and on to Brugge in Belgium. (approximate route is in pictures)
Chris Hipwood (Chutney), Mark Hamblin (Radar) and Grant Howard (Plant), will be joining [probably the back of!] a rather large Peloton of like minded lunatics to try and finish the distance in 2 days.
Previous routes have been London to Paris (quite sore after) and Cork to Galway (very sore after), but we finished them both and this year the ride has a remembrance theme – cycling past several WW1 cemeteries, and visiting WW1 memorial sites when/if we can walk again on the Saturday.
Ordinary 2 Extraordinary (http://www.o2e.org/) have organised this event, in their quest to challenge normal people like ourselves to get out of the comfort zones, and push them to the limit in order to raise awareness and funds for children’s charities. As with all O2E events, we are completely self funding, so all money raised goes straight to where it's needed most.
O2E’s chosen beneficiaries for this year are Demelza House Children’s Hospice (http://www.demelza.org/), and Get Kids Going (http://www.getkidsgoing.com/). Demelza provide hospice care for over 450 children in Kent, East Sussex and South London with life-limiting illnesses – the only such hospice in the South East. Get Kids Going is a national charity giving young disabled people the opportunity to participate in sport through support and the provision of specially built sports wheelchairs. Both charities very worth causes and the pain endured on last year’s ride raised in excess of £100k - we’d love to top that this year for these fantastic charities.
This year, the three of us have [stupidly] decided to add a slightly different touch – and complete the ride dressed as smurfs, complete with the least aerodynamic hats possible - expertly created by Grant. Check out the picture to the right to see his work in progress!
So please, if you would be so kind, give generously and make a genuine difference to the lives of some very deserving children. We aren’t asking for a lot, and sums of any magnitude will be gratefully received.
Dig deep please Guys and Girls. You will be rewarded with some truly hilarious pics and accounts, of that you can be sure!
