The observant among you will notice that there is a daft bloke in the picture on a little bike while everyone else is on proper bikes. Well, the daft bloke is me and the bike is the Brompton folding bike that I will be riding to Paris.

Why? I hear you cry.

Because whenever I talked to people about cycling to Paris they weren't really that impressed.They saw it as something I could do easily. So I upped the ante.

The Brompton will be a lot harder, while it's a great bike for a 5 mile commute it's a dreadful machine to attempt 355 miles in 4 days.

On my racing bike I can maintain 18-20 mph without too much trouble. On the Brompton it's more like 12-14 mph at a push, so I'm going to have to spend 50% more time in the saddle.

So please dig deep, I'm only making it difficult for myself so you feel compelled to give more money to the cause. If we raise the money, children will benefit and you can't say fairer than that.

Thanks,

Adam