A Year From Now...

Hello and Welcome!
So, this is my first post on my 'Pedal to Paris' blog. Exactly one year from today I will be starting a London to Paris cycle ride to raise money for Exeter Deaf Academy - hoorah! For those of you who know Anthoney, he'll be taking part too, as will other colleagues at the Academy and anyone else we can persuade to join in! I must also say a huge thank you to the Cyclists Touring Club in Exeter who have already been enormously supportive and who will be helping us as we start to do some proper training.

The Ambition:
Cycle from London to Paris in 4 days. That's 300 miles in 4 days. 80-90 miles a day for the first 3 days and a final 57 miles to the finish on the final day. Just a bit of a challenge then!

The Reality:
Up until now I've made a bit of an effort to get out on my bike and a couple of attempts at doing longer distances. The first of these was a ride on the Tarka Trail which involved a lot of not very steep but seemingly never ending hills. It was a very hot day and with drink stops and a lunch stop it took a long while to complete the 22 miles we had set out to do and made achieving 90 miles in one day seem impossible!

The second was a ride to Dawlish Warren on Sunday. This was much flatter and despite the rain and getting covered in mud, I actually quite enjoyed it! Again, this ride was around 22 miles. This took 2.5 hours in cycling time, plus some rest stops. Not a bad place to start I guess, but still a long way to go...!

The First Big Challenge:
My first major challenge will be a Coast to Coast event in October. This will start at Warren Farm on the North Somerset Coast and we will cycle just over 50 miles to Clyst St Mary. After a night under canvas (in October - I must be mad!!) we'll cycle into Exeter and then swap our bikes for canoes and paddle to the Turf Locks. This is also a fundraising event for Exeter Deaf Academy, with the funds raised going towards tents and other equipment for students taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme. If you'd like to sponsor me for this first bit of madness, you can do so on my justgiving page: www.justgiving.com/amandadenham1/ Thank You!

The main fundraising page for the London to Paris ride will be up soon and we'll be planning some events and welcoming other fundraising ideas, so do watch this space! I made the mistake of leaving my camera behind on Sunday, so I can't post pictures of the cow that blocked our path, or of us eating our sandwiches sheltering outside a shop in rainy Dawlish Warren...but I shall be taking my camera on future rides, so I will post up evidence of all our hard work together with points of interest along the way.

Hope to do the next ride on Sunday...so I'll keep you posted. Be sure to rap my knuckles if I start making excuses...!