Cyclists taking part are - Nigel Byrne, Michael Chambers, Richard "Bugs" Freeman, Julie Smith, Marcus Creaser, Ryan Sutherland, Gareth Beynon, Rob Demain, Simon Broyd, Dave Roberts, David Smith, Hannah o'Neill, Gareth Stanton, Carl Green, Tim o'Gorman, Paul Docherty, Neil Cook, Stewart Collier, David Fryer, Mark Shears, Steve Grainger, Nick Bacon, Adam Rudd and Rob Bacon.

We are raising money for Caudwell children and Maya a 3 year old girl soon to be 4 living in Olney near Milton Keynes who suffers from a very rare and life limiting genetic condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).  

When Maya was diagnosed her parents were told that not only will she never walk but there is a good chance she wouldn't live past her second birthday!  Maya is much tougher than that and now aged three is trying to have a normal life by seeing friends, going to mainstream school and enjoying her hobbies. Well managed she has a good chance to enter early adulthood.

Children with SMA are living longer and fuller lives with the help of assistive technology such as ventilators, power wheelchairs, and modified access to computers. These mitigate the effects of SMA upon the individuals' daily lives, allowing them to participate in the community like everyone else.

We want to help Maya lead a longer more fulfilling life by raising money for specialist equipment such as, a power assisted wheelchair and a cough assist machine.  Equipment like this increases Maya's independence and will help her to become an independent adult. 

To raise money we have decided to cycle 550 miles from Le Mans  via Paris and back to Olney in Milton Keynes, via the South Downs, North Downs, part of the Olympic cycle route, the Chilterns and then into Olney over 6 days in June 2012.  We are not cyclists; most of us are ex rugby players and we are funding the costs of this trip ourselves, as we want every penny raised to go towards Caudwell Children and Maya.

Caudwell Children is committed to changing the lives of disabled children across the UK by providing specialist equipment, treatment and therapy as well as its annual Destination Dreams holiday and family support services. They will provide Maya with the chair she needs so we are raising money for them. You can find out more about what they do on their website, http://www.caudwellchildren.com/

Please support our Ride for Maya by giving generously, every penny will help. To see how we are getting on please visit our website, www.b2bcycle.co.uk.

SMA is an inherited (1 in 40 adults unknowingly carries the gene responsible) neuromuscular condition that affects nerve cells in the spinal cord. Messages from the brain travel down the spinal cord then along motor neurons to the muscles telling them to move. In SMA, these messages are blocked or distorted which causes the muscles to waste away (atrophy).  - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_muscular_atrophy