Update: Apr18 - so there has been intermittent training including strength conditioning and cycling but nothing prepared me for a ride around YORKSHIRES hills a couple of weeks ago with Paul. 

My last ride was in 25deg heat in Singapore with a large peleton of slightly rotund gents aka the #rawhides so in 2deg, on hills and weighing at least a stone more, going was not good. I was very happy for the cuppa tea stop. No roti parata but it was a lovely cuppa. 

Week of holiday with my fav in-laws has left me several kgs heavier but not the real training starts. LIFE IS A SPRINT NOT A MARATHON!! 

Update: Dec17 - this is now a join effort with Paul Radcliffe, who has zero social media presence other than tweeter account @therealhaddock. Therefore Im helping him on the fundraising path!

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From Nick(me):
As a boy I loved history and Huddersfield Town FC. The History of WW1 and WW2 at QEGS was taught with incredible fervour and interested me a great deal more than most other subjects. Especially PE...

Sadly Huddersfield Town were languishing in the Third Division throughout most of my adolescence but I still went to watch them. Little did I know that as a young chap, huddled freezing cold in the cowshed, my future wife was gazing down from on high with her Grandad in the Director’s box!

In 2018, my two childhood passions can finally collide! This wont just be a cycling challenge for me... its also a challenge to return to a degree of slender so there will be regular weight updates throught training as well!! Target weight is 185lbs (I chose pounds as its relevant!).
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The details for Huddersfield Town's 'Pedal for Pounds 9’ bike ride, in association with Made by Cooper, have been revealed!

Revealed at a special evening event at PPG Canalside on Tuesday evening, this season’s route will commemorate the lives of six Huddersfield Town players who were killed during service in WW1 on its 100th year anniversary.

The cyclists will be tasked to travel from Lille in France, through Belgium and back to Huddersfield Town to raise money for the Keep It Up campaign, which generates funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the Huddersfield Town Academy. Click here to find out how much was raised for the Keep It Up campaign last season.

The journey will begin at 4.45am on Wednesday 9 May 2018, when the cyclists will department from Huddersfield Train Station to London Kings Cross, before catching the 8.54am Eurostar to Lille. If these plans change then we will make everyone fully aware of the situation.

Later that day, the cyclists will leave Lille at 1pm for a 75 mile journey visiting the memorials of Edward John Didymus, Leigh Richmond Roose and Charles Edward Randall’s along the way.

On Thursday 10 May the cyclists will travel 89 miles across France into Belgium. Along the way the resting places of Sidney James and Larrett Roebuck will be visited before everyone attends the Last Post at Menin Gate at 8pm that evening.

Day three will see the cyclists race to Zeebrugge for the overnight ferry back to Hull, whilst visiting the final resting place of former Town player Ernest George Kenworthy, the ride stretching 97 miles.

The leg back to PPG Canalside is the longest for the riders, spanning 87 miles from Hull via York back to Huddersfield before finishing at PPG Canalside for pie and peas, alongside a celebration of the ride.

In total the ride stretches to 442 miles and the cyclists will have their annual lap of honour around the John Smith’s Stadium, this time at the Club’s final home game of the season against Arsenal.