I've completed my bike to Brighton challenge….

I have completed my bike to Brighton challenge on my tandem.  Tim, Kate and I cycled the distance of about 62 miles in around 6 hours.   We left at 8.30 in the morning.  After battling through the London traffic, a minor detour somewhere in Bromley and various adjustments to the bike, we made it to some quieter country roads where we could pick up the pace.  We seemed to encounter quite a few hills and took a breather after struggling up Ditchling Beacon, a big hill  about 10 miles outside Brighton.  From there it was downhill most of the way to Brighton and we had a well earned break on the beach when we arrived about 4.30 pm.

Thank you for all of your support.

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World championship

The IFDS world Blind Sailing championship will be held in Miura City, Japan between 24 May and 1 June 2013 on J24 keelboats.  Details of the event can be found at: http://www.2013worldblindsailingjp.com

 This event is for teams made up of an equal number of sighted and visually impaired sailors.  There are three series of races in this event each for sailors with different levels of vision.  Each country can enter one boat with four sailors in each series of races. The crew for each boat is made up of 2 visually impaired sailors to helm and mainsheet, and 2 sighted sailors as foresail crew and tactician.  I have been selected to helm in the B1 category (i.e. least vision). 

GB Blind Sailing teams have done well in the past and GB is currently ranked second in the world from the previous event 4 years ago. 

Blind Sailing selected the team an arranged coaching and training weekends leading up to the event but has not received any public funding to support the team going to Japan.  With only 5 weeks to go until the event, we still need to raise funds to cover the cost of accommodation and other expenses, without which some members of the team will not be able to go to this event.

My "Bike to Brighton" challenge

I have decided to cycle my trusty, but very old, tandem from Greenwich to Brighton – a distance of about 62 miles.  This is much further than I have ever cycled in a day and will be a big test of stamina for me.  I estimate that it will take between 7 and 8 hours of cycling, depending on the level of traffic and whether the tandem stands up to such a long journey.  This isn't part of an organised event, but I will have 2 friends cycling with me – Kate on the front of my tandem and Tim on a separate bike to provide moral support, tea/chocolate? and to make sure that we don't get lost on route!

 We are aiming to bike to Brighton on Tuesday 7 May.  Wish us luck.

What will sponsorship go towards?

The acommodation is approximately £650 per person.  We are short of about £3350 to cover the cost of accommodation for the sighted members of our team and an additional £2,600 for the rest of the team.  My target is to raise £2,000 towards the accommodation costs of the sighted sailors but  we do need to raise more funds as a team so any sponsorship whether great or small are welcome.

So please dig deep and donate now.