Hello Again!

Give me two minutes to ramble on about my next two-wheeled challenge, please...

Last year's effort was the spin across America which went well: you raised £8000 for Mamillan Cancer Relief and Trinity House Hospice. Good on you.

The 2012 plan is simple: to cycle the 11 worst days of the Tour de France! Like I said, simple but far from easy, as you can see at http://rdmh2012.blogspot.co.uk/ ...my blog.

For every £500 raised, I will cough-up £100: go on and cause me some financial heartache!

The idea is to benefit Leukeamia & Lymphoma Research and also the North West Air Ambulance: this is the page for L.L.R.. Put bluntly, the purpose of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research is to beat blood cancer. About two of the most chilling words there are, no?

Their life-saving research is focused on finding causes, improving diagnosis and treatments, and running ground-breaking clinical trials for all blood cancer patients.

The challenge for me is way, way worse than the 33 days behind bars of a year ago. This time we go to ride up the mountains of The Alps and Pyrenees i.e. the worst bits of the Tour de France, starting in Geneva on Sunday 19th August: I've heard it might be a tad warm at that time of year!

Anyone who has followed the Tour de France or suffered a coach transfer to a ski resort will know just how bloody long and unrelenting these climbs are. Names like Alpe d'Huez, D'Aubisque, Tourmalet, Hautacam, Luz-Ardiden are enough to raise a sweat without even leaving your seat!

If you want some numbers then here you go:

- We climb 120,000 feet over the 11 days. That is more than the 2012 Tour de France will climb in 21 days!

-  In 11 days we cycle over 330 uphill miles at an average 8% gradient: that's the same distance as London to Glasgow!

- To put some perspective on all this, Mount Everest stands at 29000 feet. On day 3 we climb 15000 feet. Excuse me?!?

That's not the worst of it either: the Alpine 'jaunt' runs from Geneva and ends in Nice six days later and is timed with a cut-off point for those beer'n'pie-loving tourists amongst us. Erm, is it me or is it a bit warm in here?

Actually, it does get worse again: there will be an online facility for you good people to track and scoff at my (lack of) progress during that first week. Details will follow in my blog at http://rdmh2012.blogspot.co.uk/ .

After collapsing in Nice and being revived by an ice cold 1664 or similar, we then drive over 500 miles on the so-called 'rest' day to begin the second bit of this beasting in the Western Pyrenees near The Atlantic, only to end almost at The Mediterranean five days later. Once again, 1664 or similar may well feature...

This is no picnic by anyone's standards so please, please see if you are able to make it all worthwhile with a donation: you can do it in person, by post, online or by text. 

For every £500 raised, I will cough-up £100: go on and cause me some financial heartache!

Text, did I hear you say? Why, yes indeed Sir:

 
Your text would look like this: RDMH99 £5 and you send it to 70070. The amount that you kindly donate (any amount you can) then is either added to your phone bill or taken off your PAYG balance accordingly.

There is no charge for the text and you don't pay VAT on your donation either, so it really is win-win!

ps...don't forget to go for the GiftAid option too!

Right, now for some small-print blah:

1) JustGiving won't flog or share your details.

2) J.G. will send all of your donation to Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research without any delay.

3) They will make sure that they reclaim GiftAid on every eligible donation (i.e. a U.K. taxpayer), so please do tick that option if you can.

4) I'll be trying to keep a blog going at http://rdmh2012.blogspot.co.uk/

5) Please visit my other page at http://www.justgiving.com/totm to keep the North West Air Ambulance flying and saving lives.

6) Bless you!

Once again, every £500 raised, I will cough-up £100: go on and cause me some financial heartache!