Welcome!

As you may know I had an important Birthday on the 1st September and so I am now officially FIT, FAB and 40, especially since I had the cast taken of my broken arm two weeks ago. In order to reclaim my health after 7 weeks in plaster I am going to carpe diem and take part in the Sue Ryder Care London to Cambridge cycle ride on Sunday 6th September. It is a 60 mile ride. 

BREAKING NEWS!!! ...arriving at Finsbury Park at 8.30am yesterday we joined 52 other keen cyclists and were given the route....I was somewhat alarmed to find out the first 20 miles was on tow path along the Lea Valley - with lots of scree and bumps - not great with a recovering broken bone.....however, I had to go forth. With the BeeGees on my ipod and my cycling partner Ben Simms from Sue Ryder International we continued with courage and sustained one puncture - of course I stopped and watched him fix it! After the water stop at 20 miles we embraced tarmac and hills and I lost 10 gears as my front derailer stuck on the 10 gears I didn't need for hills....resulting in sore knees and much swearing, though I think no one heard as I was trailing behind the two front runners at that point. After an obligatory stop for lunch (where we were told to hold back a bit as we were ahead of schedule and the organisers had not yet checked the flagged the route), we set off with vigour and completed the last 20 miles in under one hour! Ben and I came in joint first with one other good long distance rider (although of course it was not meant to be a race) as the Red Arrows crossed the Cambridge sky.....it a wonderful feeling - and I was not too sore to get back on my bike again today and trek the 12 miles to and from work!

So, if you haven't yet managed to donate, please consider doing so! I can tell you from personal experience that your money will be spent to support people in dire circumstances, that perhaps we don't fully appreciate until we are caught up in appalling life events ourselves.

As some of you may know my dad, himself a cyclist, died from Parkinsons Disease last year. I found it almost intolerable to watch him suffer through the end of his illness and the care and support I received from others was crucial to easing my pain.

So, please help me to support others going through similiar experiences by donating and supporting me on this bike ride, which I am going to muster up courage for, given my recovering arm. And, if any of you forgot my 40th birthday, you can make it up to me by donating instead!!!

Please give whatever you feel you can - every penny will encourage me.

Melinda x

Sue Ryder provides specialist, compassionate, end of life care for people with long-term neurological conditions. Each year they provide 4 million hours of care to people living with Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Stroke and Brain Injury.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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.