UPDATE:

We Made It!

Well we did it. Along with 4000 or so other people, over 81 Miles with 2000ft of climbing, in a grand total time of 6 hrs 5 mins and 20 secs. A little below the official pace time but we dodged the Broom Wagon!

Weather was great in the end, cool for most of the morning with the sun coming out later on. Glorious blue skies and sunshine at the top of Schiehallon. There were no major incidents or breakdowns between us, although Jaimz did have to be pushed up the hills from about the 70 mile mark. Phil even came 26th overall in the King of the Mountain competition.

Huge thanks to everyone here who donated, you were all extremely generous and we wouldn't have hit our target without you.

I'm off to have a long hot bath and a snooze!

Dave

UPDATE : WE'VE ALREADY HIT OUR ORIGINAL TARGET OF £600 SO WE THOUGHT WE SHOULD BE MORE AMBITIOUS AND BUMP IT UP A BIT.  IF WE CAN MAKE £1000 BY THE TIME WE GO THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL.

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS ALREADY DONATED!

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page for Macmillan Cancer Support and the Etape Caledonia.

Who we are : 

Mike Brown -  The youngest of the Brown brothers.  Has been known to ride into the back of parked cars while  going up hill.  

Phil Brown - Middle brother and cycling nut.  Hobbies include spending 2 hours a night on a static bike watching        cycling videos and trying to justify spending his bonus on a new set of wheels to his wife Cath.

Dave Brown - Eldest, most sensible, wittiest and best looking of the bunch ( guess who wrote this bit ).

Jaimz Smith - Dave's son, the youngest of the group and cycling novice.  Still isn't sure about this cycling lark,  especially the  amount of lycra involved.

Chris Hinitt - The madman rode from Lands End to John O'Groats with Mike.  It wasn't the ride that was mad, it was spending two weeks in close quarters with Mike!

What we are doing :

The Etape Caledonia!  An piece of cycling lunacy that drives two and a half thousand like minded souls to ride 80 miles around the Scottish highlands near Pitlochry to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.

Why are we doing it?

Mike and Chris previously raised money for SANDS by riding from Lands End to Jonh O'Groats and due to illness and injury Chris had to drop out but vowed to return to Scotland to finish things off.

At the time of the ride Our Dad (Mike, Phil and Dave's) was seriously ill having been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, but was still able to provide great advice and support including organising a donation for Chris and Mike from the Liskeard Lions Club, of which he was a long standing member.

When Chris approached Mike this time round and suggested the Etape he was a little reluctant to agree until he saw the event was sponsored by Macmillan.  After a brief conversation with Phil and Dave an agreement was reached that we would do this to raise money for the charity that had offered support to us, mum and dad during his illness.

Dad was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in January 2007 and following this underwent a great deal of treatment at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.  It was during this time that the Macmillian Nurses were first introduced to us and it was through them that arrangements were made to move dad to Mount Edgecombe Hospice.

Whist at the Hospice Dad was able to receive one to one care and the help they provided was fantastic and made a real difference to us all.

During this incredibly difficult time Dad was reassured that he would be spend last days without pain surrounded by his family and he died peacefully in August 2007.  

Since making this pact to compete we have spent the winter sat in our garages on Turbo Trainers spinning away endless hours and miles to try and get race fit, for most of us there is still some way to go although I'd like to think we'll all do better than Jimmy Carr!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

UPDATE : Unfortunately thanks to some careless driving by a complete stranger Mike is not going to be able to take part, having been knocked off his bike while riding to work last week.  Although he's not seriously injured it's enough to mean he won't be riding again for a while.