London to Paris - the hard way

In September, we will be attempting to cycle from London all the way to Paris. Admittedly there is a ferry journey involved, but Simon is hoping to find Angela some kind of aquatic bike to do the crossing - or at the very least find her an exercise bike on board to make up the mileage. Even if you subtract the ferry journey it is still almost 300 miles of cycling (in 4 days) as we are taking the scenic route to Paris (not as “la cornielle” flies). Also you have to bear in mind that Ang doesn’t tend to cycle if it’s raining (her hair gets wet) and she comes from America, where the bicycle is still viewed with suspicion as being associated with “socialist” countries (such as the UK). Furthermore, unlike most cyclists in France we will be attempting to do this feat without the help of any performance enhancing drugs (BALCO aren’t returning our calls). 

We will of course be seeking advice from our cycling consultant (Roger) about our training regime, although we draw the line at wearing one of those dodgy lurid spandex unisex outfits that seems to be a cycling prerequisite. Simon is yet to be convinced of the advantages of shaving his legs, although he may need all the help we can get. Also, as much as we would like to ride on some kind of top of the range monococh stealth machine, we will unfortunately be using bikes that cost about as much as one of the pedals on Roger's bike (sadly that is not a joke - it is some pedal though).

We may consider picking up our bikes and running the last few yards for dramatic effect (it is probably safer having seen the driving in Paris).

The event is for Church Mission Society (Ang’s work) and the target is a rather large £2200! So any donation (large or small) is more than welcome (you are welcome to make your donation anonymous if you would like to). Unfortunately we need about 75% of the target by June so if you're able to help us by then it would be greatly appreciated!

Your donations will be going towards worthwhile causes such as helping underprivileged villages obtain clean water and gain self-sufficiency by learning to make water filters out of environmentally friendly, local materials that are cheap enough for people to afford. Likewise CMS supports Neema Crafts, an organisation based in Tanzania, which employs disabled people who would otherwise be unemployed and reliant on the charity of family or street begging in order to survive. If you would like more information about CMS, please visit their web site at: www.cms-uk.org.

Thank you so much for your support!!

Logistical information

For some reason they kindly changed the route recently and increased the distance by another 40 miles. I think they figured 250 miles(!) was clearly too much of a walk/cycle in the park for a load of novice cyclists who aren't fit enough to  manage more than a mile at a time.

Dates: 10-14 September 2008.
Cycling distance: 290 Miles (approx)
Target Amount: £2200

# DAY 1: London to Calais (via the North Downs): 95 miles
# DAY 2: Calais to Abbeville (via Desvres): 75 miles
# DAY 3: Abbeville to Beauvais: 60 miles
# DAY 4: Beauvais to Paris (via St Denis): 60 miles

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