Thank you for visiting our fundraising page.

We are riding our bikes from London to Paris in the summer of 2008. The plan is to raise £2500 for the everyman campaign, in memory of our Dad, who passed away in 2006 from cancer.

We both miss him a great deal, and feel that this is a good way to remember a lovely man, and also to raise money for a worthy cause.

Please support us, as we try to achieve our target.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to donate: The Institute of Cancer Research & Everyman will receive your money electronically and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in Gift Aid will be added to your donation at no cost to you.

Many thanks for your support.

January 2008. A massive thank you to all of our family and friends who have donated so far. It really is quite inspiring for us to see how many people are prepared to give their money to support us in our venture. It makes us even more determined to make it to Paris in one piece.

Training is going fairly well, although the cold and wet weather hasn't helped too much. We are both currently doing around 20 miles in our longest training sessions of the week. That sounds (and feels) like quite a lot, but we have something like 300 miles to cover when we start the event for real in a few months time!

February 2008 This month has been a difficult training time for us both. The cold has made it tough, but we have decided that the wind is most definitely the worst element to be faced with. Lloyd managed a 30 mile training ride, with a break. Unfortunately he was a bit sick when he got home. Craig managed 25 miles without a break but found walking and the stairs particularly tough the next day. Following the initial excitement, we have both realised that this challenge is actually going to hurt quite a bit. We are keeping to about 14 miles an hour as an average speed at the moment. Working this out, we will spend approximately 7 hours a day for 4 days sat on a bike saddle. That alone is going to be sore enough, without all of the peddling.

March 2008 Between us, we needed to raise £2200 to be able to take part in this challenge. We thought that we would set ourselves the target of £2500 as a very challenging target. We never expected to reach this amount of money in such a short space of time. So, we have decided to try and be very greedy and go for £5000. We know this is a huge amount of money and that we may not make it that far, but it would be an amazing achievement to raise that much money for such a worthy cause.

Another huge thank you for all of the sponsorship that we have received so far. The generosity that everyone has demonstrated in giving to the everyman campaign in memory of our Dad is really quite humbling. That, along with the messages left on this site make us both realise what a special man our Dad was, and how he touched the lives of so many people.

In terms of training, Lloyd has been having problems with the clip in shoes and pedals that he has purchased. Unfortunately, he is sometimes unable to unclip the correct foot in time, and falls over. He is comfortably above 30 miles in his longest stints, and is now concentrating on hill work in preparation for the longer inclines. He is planning to hit 50 miles next month. Craig has ridden from Reading to Oxford for work (about 30 miles) , but then found himself a bit tired and unable to concentrate properly. The plan by May is to be able to ride home again at the end of the day. Training has focused on developing speed endurance and trying to get average speeds up towards 15 miles an hour.

April 2008. Ouch!! Whilst on a training ride, Craig had an altercation with a Van, breaking a finger on his right hand. this was made all the more painful, as he was 18 miles away from home, and had to do the rest of the ride with a broken and bleeding finger. The strapping stopped training altogether for a couple of weeks, and only really got back on the bike at the end of the month. 44 miles in one day, now the most in any one day. Lloyd has been working on strength and developing his technique. He is getting into the nutrition side of things, and is becoming a bit of a sports science geek. (Craig has always been a sports science geek.) We are planning to do a ride together at some point in May, and are both planning to top 100 miles over the two days that we ride together. This will give us the impetus to kick on with the training as we approach the ride.

May 2008 The first main achievement of May was breaching the 50 mile barrier. Craig did this in a cycle to work and back in the same day. Unfortunately he hadn't fueled up on carbs adequately and was so hungry when he got home, that he ate twice his own body weight. The highlight of May was a couple of days that we spent training together. We managed a good chunk of miles over the two days and were both really pleased with the pace that we were able to maintain. Saturdays ride clocked up nearly 40 miles, with only one stop, in well under 3 hours, sticking to an average pace of 15.6mph. We won't manage this pace over 3 days that is for sure. However, we both looked particularly fetching in our lycra shorts, with tour de france 2007 race leaders kit on.

The protein shake that Lloyd has supplied us with is absolutely delightful, creating a really pleasant gel in your stomach that releases proteins throughout the night. I think it may have steroids in it, because, despite the rubbish taste and general feeling of nausea it creates, there is very little muscle pain the following morning. We have completed something approaching 800 miles each in training for this challenge, equating to the distance from Colchester to Castelfidardo (824 as the crow flies). Now theres an idea for the next challenge!?! Perhaps we should get this one out of the way first.

We have both spent something like £1000 on paying for this trip and getting all of the kit ready for the bikes. This seems like a lot of money. However, it is pretty small compared to the £5000+ that you, our friends and family have raised in support of this appeal, and in memory of our Dad. We are so humbled by the donations and support that we have received from every one of you. It means a great deal to both of us, as well as to Mum and Tara. On Saturday, if  we make it to Paris it will be almost 2 years since we lost our Dad, and this makes the venture even more poignant for all of us.

June 2008 As I write this, there are only a few days before we leave. Being the stubborn souls that we are, we have taken issue with the event organisers, who want us to start in Croydon on Wednesday morning. We have decided that if we are cycling from London to Paris, then we are going to do it properly, starting from central London. So, we start on Tuesday eveng at 7.00pm from Tower Bridge, ending up (hopefully) in Paris under the Eiffel Tower on Saturday at 5.00pm.

This will be our last update before the ride. This weekend will be spent on a last training ride. (We are both planning to hit 75 miles on Saturday), and then a final service and check of the bikes. I will get online and let people know how we are getting on throughout the ride, if I can. If not, I'll update this page when we return. 

Thanks so much, once again, to all of you for your friendship and support. 

Right Then. That was that. An amazing few days. We both trained hard in the run up to the ride, clocking 75 miles on the last ride the weekend before we left. We could wait no longer. Here is a brief summary of how the days went

Tuesday. London to Croydon. 58mins. 12.66 miles. Both headed into London, where we met up with Colchester MP and long time family friend Bob Russell. Bob started us off outside the Houses of Parliament, so that we could both feel that we had done the full ride from london to Paris. Mum and Tara were there as well, for an emotional start to what would prove to be an eventful short ride to Lloyds place in Croydon. Only 13 miles, and anticipating less than an hour on the road, we were cut short after only a few miles, by an idiot motorist, who opened his door as Lloyd went by. Fortunately he saw him just in time, and swerved, minimising the impact. However, some damage was done to both the bike and Lloyds confidence.

We made it to Lloyds, had some food and packed, trying to minimise weight and share the different necessities between the two of us.

Wednesday Croydon - Dieppe. To lunch - 3.35 hours, 44.5 miles.  Not a lot of sleep. Up very early and away to the meet in Croydon. We were given the maps and briefing, and then it was off. A semi-deliberate attempt to be the last out, meant that we were in fact the last to leave. An undulating ride through Surrey tested us both, as we pushed our way to lunch. To Dieppe. 1.40 hous, 22.5 miles. The ride after lunch saw a great hill to get the legs working, but we managed some serious speed on the road to Newhaven. We all stopped together, and managed to have a pint before we boarded the boat. A spot of food, and some sleep on the boat saw us arrive in Dieppe. We had a short ride (30 mins, 3 miles) through Dieppe to our hotel, in a group of 120+. By the time we got to bed, it was gone 1 and we'd had a long day in the saddle.

Thursday Dieppe to Liseux. To lunch 3.15hours, 46.33 miles. We woke to awful weather. Hammering down with rain. An awful start to the day. We were soaked to the skin within a few hours of leaving Dieppe. A puncture scare with some shrapnel in a tyre didn't slow us down, the continental gatorskins doing their job and keeping us pumped up. It was still cold and wet y lunch, and we didn't hang anout, pushing on near the front of the pack. After lunch 3.13 hours, 41 miles. We had got into the swing of things, keeping up a decent pace, and riding with a variety of different people. This was really the highlight of the trip. Ticking off the miles, whilst chatting to a couple of lads from Ipswich, or a bunch of Irish fellas, all raising money for different worthy causes. We arrived in Liseux tired but happy in the first 20 of the day. We had kept to almost 13 miles an hour. In the evening, we found a bar, and a group of about 20 of us idulged in an international tournament, the Irish winning eventually!!

Friday Liseux to Vernon. To lunch 4.10 hrs, 55 miles. We were last out of Liseux in the morning. Our tired legs took a while to get going as we pushed up a assive hill. We kicked on at a good pace in the pouring rain, soon overtaking most of the group, and getting ourself towards the front of the group again. Then, disaster. A missing sign caused us to take a wrong turn, ending up a long way off course. We were at the front of a group of 40. Almost a third of the trip were lost. We eventually sorted out the map and got to the break, but by this time we were at the back of the group. However, it was getting brighter and the few miles between break and lunch were pretty easy. Some great roads, and some good pace. We were both angry that we'd got lost. To Vernon. 1hr 47 mins 22.5 miles. A short ride after lunch, but quite a tough one, with some very difficult hills. We arrived in Vernon, with time to spare to have a few beers before dinner. Another really good day. Both exhausted, but excited that we had almost made it to the end.

Saturday Vernon to Paris. To lunch 3 hrs, 38 miles. Speed was starting to drop, as we moved towards lunch. We had to stop a couple of times, and were getting a reputation amongst the rest of the pack for stopping half way up hills, against the conventional wisdom of working your way through it. An excellent lunch again, in some really hot weather in a layby. To The Eiffel Tower 2.50 hrs, 27.4 miles. With the finish line in sight, we sped along the first part of this final leg, eventually having to slow down with the the traffic as we got closer to our goal. We finally stopped a few miles from the Eiffel Tower, so that we could wait for the slower members of the group and all ride in together. Time for a beer or two!! The final few miles were quite slow, but not something we minded. Riding as part of a group of 120 through the streets of Paris was an experience we will never forget. Parisiens clapped as we rode the Champs Elysee. We rode with a lot of different friends, many of whom were struggling with the emotion and enormity of their achievements. Everyone had done this ride to raise money for a worthy cause, and most had very personal reasons for doing so. It made the atmosphere something I have never experienced before, and cannot adequately describe.

The finish line was something that will always stay with me. We had ridden the whole 310 miles (almost 24 hours on the bikes) together, and as we rode the last few metres we reached out and held hands, crossing the finish line as one. We were physically and emotionally drained, and could not even get off our bikes before we hugged and cried, overcome by the feelings of relief and elation. Mum and Tara were waiting there to share these very special moments with us. Time for some champagne, and to reflect.

So this arduous journey was over. When things got tough, which they did on a number of occasions, particularly when we got lost, and when the rain made us very cold and wet, we were able to rely on each other. We could push each other on, and to remind ourselves of the reasons why we were there. I could not think of anyone else I would rather have done this ride with than my brother. A great experience, and made all the more special because we did it together.

We did this ride because we could, and to remember our Dad. We know he would have been proud of us, and that he would have probably said something like 'bugger me, what do you wanna do that for' if we'd told him of our plans, before then supporting us all the way. Thanks Dad, even when you are gone, you inspire us to live our lives the right way, and to try to make a difference. You were a truly memorable, devoted and loving Dad. We will always miss you.

We cannot recommend this bike ride highly enough. It is difficult. But it an amazing experience. We will almost definitely do something like this again. The physical challenge, the knowledge that you have so many people backing you and that you are raising money for such a good cause, keeps the legs pumping when the going gets tough.