July 2nd, 2010:

It started in early June when I began cycling to add a fitness routine into my life. My main goal was simply to lose some weight. The first time and first week, I only made it 5 miles and I was really disappointed in myself. I am bit ambitious. The second time and second week, I made the full 8 mile loop that I had mapped out from my home. I felt empowered! I was so excited that I had made it. By the end of that week I had 24 miles under my belt. I was cycling every other day and feeling good about it.

Then my mate Lesley said she'd like to cycle with me because she would also like to lose some weight. So on my third week Lesley began cycling as well. I was so proud of her and impressed because the first day she made the full 8 mile loop! She was even ready to add mileage to our ride. That Wednesday we rode 11 miles and by the end of the week we'd rode 27 miles together.

My 4th week and her 2nd got a little hectic with life and we only managed to squeeze in a 7 mile ride together. My children had begged me to cycle to school, so I got in an extra 10 miles, 2.5 miles four times adds up! However, Lesley and I were not to be put off. We've researched routes and picked up some maps and we're ready to go again!

Lesley helps her parents out at the George & Dragon Pub in Snailwell, and as cyclist have come in for a drink and what not she's been asking them about the routes their taking and so forth. Her Dad as also been helping her come up with ideas for different routes we could take. Needless to say, the talk at the pub as been about us cycling and some mentioned to Lesley that we should try to do a sponsored ride and donate the money to a charity. Enough said!

I agreed and Lesley looked up the JustGiving website and called a Charity today! Now here we are with our 28 mile ride already planned out and this time we are not just cycling for our health, but the health and well being of others. We hope you'll join us by donating to this charity and cheering us on.

Kindly,

Tonya & Lesley

 

July 3rd, 2010

We managed to squeeze in an 8 mile ride this morning. Took us a bit longer than normal. I don't know if that is from the fact that we were unable to get out as much this week or because of how tired the heat makes you! We're ready to go again Monday morning though. We are going to aim to ride each day instead of every other and extend our mileage each time. We know we can do 12 and I did 20 last Saturday just to see if I could. It was hard and I was exhausted the rest the day, but I made it. So I think Monday morning we will start out on a 12 mile loop and just keep adding to it before our big ride! Hopefully, we can not only extend our distance, but our personal endurance and speed.

July 5th, 2010

Did our 8 mile ride this morning. We were doing really good, keeping it above 10 mph until Lesley's gears got all messed up. We finally got that sorted and now I think we will be ready to go again Wed. morning. We've been sponsored 85 pounds so far, 34% of the way there. Lesley says if someone sponsors 100 pounds before 12 a.m. she will double the mileage...guess that means I'd have to do it too - cheeky girl! Oh, well...is for a good cause right?

July 13th, 2010

I know its been a few days since last updating this, so I thought I'd take a few moments to do so. Lesley & I have had a hard time squeezing rides in lately, but we're still cycling every chance we get. Lesley has began cycling from her house to the George and Dragon and back home, every day to help her parents ou in the pub. So she is trying to catch up to my mileage :)

I am not able to ride for 3 days due to a surgical prodecure I had done today. I plan on attempting a short ride possibly Sunday to see how I handle it - then getting back at it Monday morning.

Lesley and I will have to work hard to get rides in between then and our 28 mile ride. The kids will be out of school next week and my mother in law will be arriving and the end of the month I'll be in Paris - so we just going to have to work hard to squeeze those rides in.

However, we have passed our target goal of raising 250 pounds for St. Nicholas Hospice Care!!! And now we are hoping to reach the next level of 450 pounds before August 14th. In our folder of information sent to us from St. Nicholas Hospice Care it says this:

"We are grateful for every pound you raise" and provides us with this list:

5 pounds - could pay for a patient to enjoy a tasty, wholesome meal at the Hospice.

10 pounds - could helps us to buy a set of bathroom towles for patients. Fresh, clean bathroom linen is just part of the service.

50 pounds - might pay for a patient to receive a therapy session with a trained Physiotherapist or Occupational Therapist to help their rehabilitation.

140 pounds - is how much it cost to fun a St. Nicholas Hospice Care Nurse for a day to provide care to patients.

290 pounds - could allow a patient to visit Orchard Day Therapy to enjoy a day of care and relaxation in a social and supportive environment.

450 pounds - is the cost per patient for a day on our Ward providing them with or respite care in comfortable surroundings. On average patients stay with us for ten days.

3,500 pounds - might buy a 12 week course for a patiend in Orchard Day Therapy, giving them chance to experience group support and individual care.

4, 350 pounds - is the amount of money we need every day to keep our Ward running.

We have passed the 290 pound mark and are now hoping to reach the 450 pound mark.

Thank you to all of you who have supported us with donations and kind words of encouragement. We are looking very forward to our 28 mile ride and are thrilled to be able to help St. Nicholas Hospice Care continue to provide and promote compassion and care to those in need.

Tonya & Lesley.

 

August 5^th, 2010

Obviously it has been awhile since I last updated this and it is now less than 2 weeks before our 28 mile ride! Are we ready? I’ve no idea! I’m looking forward to it, excited to do it, but our training sessions have been rather limited since the 13^th of July.

I had surgery and was unable to ride for a few days and then school was let out for the summer, so our morning rides after school drop off have been not working. My mother in law also came to visit us here in England and went on family vacation with us to France. So in the midst of training there has been a surgery, company, and a vacation! Needless to say I’ve got work to do!

Lesley and I have decided to try a few evening rides to continue our training before the big day, now that things have calmed down around here and we can actually ride again. It will be nice to get back out there.

Today, I added up just how much we’ve been sponsored for this ride and I am shocked to say we are only £21 away from reaching £500!!! Our goal was only £250 and I’ve not changed that goal. I enjoy seeing how much over it goes because I thought that £250 might have been too much to ask to begin with. It’s only a 28 mile ride, but the support we’ve received has been AWESOME! To those of you who have sponsored us, you ROCK! And we THANK YOU so much!

If you received the Newmarket Journal this morning then you probably noticed us on the front page! Joined by Lesley’s Dad who has decided to become a bit competitive…

If you did not receive the newspaper let me fill you in on the details. Lesley and I began this adventure just to lose some weight and then it was suggested to us to do it for a charity as well, so we thought why not and got it going.

Lesley’s parents Les and Eileen are the Landlords of the George and Dragon Pub and as customers would come in, they would ask, “So do you think Lesley will make it?” I am pretty sure he was telling them, “No!” It’s a wonderful support system that girl has got let me tell you.

So there it started and it continued to spiral with Les giving Lesley a hard time, father/daughter love you know. Actually, they remind me of a set of siblings bickering all the time and you just want to put them in time out or worse. However, I believe Lesley said to her Dad, “Let’s see you do it then!”

Apparently Les was up for the challenge. As he decided he would and that he would do 32 miles and raise £1000 for the Air Ambulance!!! Not only that, he has convinced my husband David to take the day off and ride with him…talk about some competition! Wife against Husband and Daughter against Dad…heck of a thing we’ve got going here.

I believe the customer’s of the Pub are enjoying this just a little bit, because they’ve joined in on taking the mickey out of Les and have decided that Les will not make it and that the Air Ambulance will have to come rescue him! You really got to love the support around here! It’s great fun.

So now that you know the details here are the current stats:

Who/When

Riding

Mileage

Target

Raised

Tonya & Lesley

August 14^th

The Jockey’s Trail

28 miles +

£250

£479

Les & David

August 26^th

Making up his own route

32 miles

£1000

£209.50

Now then Lesley & I have been training for this ride if you want to call it that. We’ve been riding to get fit and it turned into training for this ride. Les plans to do his ride with no training and I am assuming my husband David will have no training either.

There is not a set time limit on these rides. Personally, I would like it not to take all day! I have ridden 20 miles and it took me 2 hours. So I would like to do it in at least 4 hours anything less would be just amazing. My concern would be getting lost as we’ve not yet ridden the Jockey’s trail. We do plan to a better feel for it before the actual ride.

So if you would like to get in on the competition and sponsor one of us, preferably us ladies, we would greatly appreciate it! You’ve already done more than we expected and we thank you so very, very much.

Tonya & Lesley