Hello and thank you for visiting our fundraising page.

We are going to cycle from London to Paris (470km) over four days in July to raise as much money as we can for Macmillan Cancer Support.  We are trying to find the time for training (up to six hours a week at the moment) as we realise the ride is going to a quite a challenge and rather more demanding on our bottoms and thighs than we had imagined!

Sue is actually a veteran of this sort of thing having clocked up 300km in Tanzania two years ago as a charity fundraiser. Helen is a complete novice.

So, why are we doing it?  We are both GPs and have seen what an enormous difference Macmillan Nurses make to the lives of our patients living with and dying from cancer, and when Helen found out she had breast cancer last year she was grateful for the support and advice the Macmillan nurse offered  before, during and after her treatment. It is frightening, confusing and worrying when you are told you have cancer and to be able to talk to someone who can give both practical advice and emotional support is tremendous.

For Helen the ride is to celebrate being fit enough to do it after her treatment, and for both of us it is a way to say "Thank You" to all those amazing Macmillan Nurses out there.

Every £1,000.00 we raise will fund a Macmillan Nurse for one week, so wouldn't it be great if we could fund four-one for each day we're cycling from London to Paris!

Please dig as deeply as you can and sponsor us online.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: Macmillan Cancer Support will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.


Many thanks for your support.

Helen and Sue

19 weeks to go........

and the training's going well although work does rather get in the way! It'll be better as the days get longer.  Training high spot so far has been taking delivery of our go faster Trek road bikes. Carried Lance to 7(?) Tour de France victories so we're hoping some of the Armstrong magic will come our way. Training low point definitely cycling back from Barrington in the driving hail-although on the bright side every bit as good as derm-abrasion for the face and completely free!

16 weeks to go......

and the training slowed down rather by school holidays and foul weather, but still plenty of miles covered in the gym. High spot this week is without doubt the ovewhelming generosity of all our supporters and we want to say a big thank you to you all.  A special mention for Charlotte who organised a hugely sucessful Easter Egg tombola at school (thank you ,Charlotte XX) and also Fran who ran a raffle at work to add to our total (thank you Fran-and also thank you for all those lovely cups of tea over the years!XX).

13 weeks to go.......

and we're slowly increasing our mileage and average speed. We try to cover 30 miles 2 or 3 times a week and our average speed on today's ride has nudged over 12mph.  Why is it ,though, that when you're on a bike the wind is always against you?!  The fund raising is going very well so again a big thank you to you all for your generosity.  Thank you in particular to the Shefford Somerfield shoppers where we did a collection last saturday and raised £360.00.  The weather was kind (chilly but no rain) and it was lovely talking to so many people who had had first hand experience of the great work Macmillan does.  We wish them and their families well.

Next week training will be shifting up a gear and we will be starting some longer rides so its to be hoped the soft saddles and padded shorts continue to perform.  Watch this space!

12 weeks to go........

and we are flying!  We're now aiming to cover 40 miles twice a week with a short 25 mile ride once a week.  Training has been helped by the end of the hockey season, so Mick a friend who is also heading to Paris in July ,is now cycling with us.  As chief route planner (what is it with men and maps?!) he has taken us on some great rides and afterwards produces a summary of how far, fast and steep we've gone (usually with an exhortation to go further, faster and steeper!). Sometimes it's hard to find the time but we are really enjoying ourselves. The weather seems to be perking up at last, and the wind has dropped, no doubt contributing to our 13.6 mph average today!

Thanks again to all our supporters-its good to watch the inexorable rise of our total. Some creative/dodgey sums on the part of two of our sponsors (thank you Simon and Gill!) has given us an idea. Is another £2256 possible? That would actually take our total to £5000- with the extra £1000 funding a fifth nurse who could provide some well deserved holiday cover for the original four!  With your help and a few more fund raising ideas that we have in the pipeline, we think we can do it.

11 weeks to go......

and we're still on a roll!  We're finding time to get the miles in and are keeping our average speed up over the longer rides, so on target for July.  Thank goodness Helen has finally finished the Lance Armstrong biography she's been reading so we're hoping not to have to listen to her discourses on power-to-weight-ratios, displacement of air and getting "on the razor" as we huff and puff along any more!  As always many thanks to the continuing generosity of our supporters, including colleagues who came to our Educational Meeting which raised almost £300.  We hope you enjoy the chutney/marmalade etc and possibly even learnt something!  We look forward to the return match.

6 weeks to go.......

and the training's going well. One 50-60 and two 30-40 mile rides a week and the hills are DEFINITELY getting easier.  With our average speed now consistantly hovering around 13.5 mph, making it to Dover in time for the 5 o'clock ferry on Day 1 is looking like a real possibility!  We had our first puncture last week (Helen's) which isn't bad as we've covered over 2000 miles between the two of us.  We were enormously impressed by Mick's engineering skills getting the wheel off, innertube changed and bike back on the road before we'd even finished eating our emergency rations!  Many thanks to everyone who has sponsored us since our last update, including the members of the Marlow Four Seasons Club who we've never even met, and our long suffering colleagues who sat through and politely feigned interest in this week's presentation, bought more chutney and increased our total by £185.  For the record (as people keep asking) the shorts and saddles are very comfy, but the former not entirely flattering.

3 weeks to go.....

and its hard to believe that Departure Day is almost here. Sue has shown a hidden side and is alredy preparing lists (albeit mental ones) of things we must take.  Pleasing to see passports and spare inner tubes feature, but for the most part it's hair products, and matching accessories, motivated we suspect by having won the Glamour Award on her Tanzanian trip!  Helen is determined to find room in her bag for a travel kettle and English Breakfast teabags. Fundraising continues a pace with thanks to the Royston Somerfield shoppers who added £230.87 to our total last saturday and our friends and colleagues who continue to add their names to our sponsor forms. Training also going well although 4 punctures in one day (sunday) was a bit much.  Thank you to Catherine who collected Mick and his bike when we eventually  ran out of both inner tubes and patience.

1 week to go ......

after all these months training, its hard to believe that this time next week we'll almost be in Paris. Of course we're looking forward to the finish-cycling down the Champs Elysees to the Eiffel Tower will be tremendous (likewise the glass of something chilled, fizzy and French we hope will be waiting for us), but equally we will be sorry that it will all be over.  We cannot believe how much we have enjoyed taking on this challenge.  From those early days of cycling in the winter rain with numb hands and feet, struggling to get our speed into double figures, to the recent summer rides in the glorious sunshine whizzing along with average speeds up to 16mph. What a blast! Also we have been genuinely overwhelmed by the generous support we have had for Macmillan and hope that we can reach or maybe exceed our £5500 target.  A final thank you to everyone at Trisports, Letchworth-your advice has been invaluable and your patience impressive!

Fingers crossed that the weather will be kind next week and our trip puncture free!  If we can master the software we hope to get a picture of us at the Eiffel Tower on the site so until then Au Revoir Londres-Bonjour Paris!

post script....

so we made it and what a great 4 days we had on the way.  The cycling was straight forward (no punctures and we LOVE hills!)  and what a great group of fellow Macmillan fundraising cyclists we were with.  We honestly enjoyed every moment from the early morning start at Blackheath on Day 1 (definitely a good move on Helen's part to alter the pre-booked alarm call from 5am to 5.30), to arriving at St Pancras at the end of the trip (inspired suggestion of Sue's to finish at at the Champagne bar). 

Our fundraising total has surpassed our wildest dreams so a final big THANK YOU  to everyone who has supported our venture. The money we have raised will allow Macmillan to help people with cancer.

We are feeling a little bereft now we are back so clearly need to find some thing else to channel our energy and enthusiasm towards.  Sue wants to swim the channel, but Helen's keen on something alpine on a bike....... who knows, but when we agree you'll be the first to know!