We have made it!  The whole way through to Sennelager (and then a very long minibus ride back!).  We are tired and bruised (well Olly is anyway) and need sleep, but will recant our experiences on this site in the next day or two.

On 28th Sept, we will be setting out to complete 350 grueling miles between and Sennelager in , over four days.
First stage to ( Approx 90 miles) 28/9/10
Second stage to (Approx 105 miles) 29/9/10

Third stage to (Approx 105miles) 30/9/10
Final stage to Sennelager (Approx 45 miles) 1/10/10

More information about the event can be found here:

http://www.thecharitychallenge.org.uk/

Thank you all for the sponsorship so far.

Training, a few things we've been up to, and more:

Mon 27 Sept: pack and drive down to Dover to meet the rest of the team for the crossing to Calais.

Sat & Sun 25/26 Sept: last minute prep, purchases and pasta!

23rd Sept: Erwin is resting and carbo loading while Will and Olly sprint around the reservoir for the final training effort!!

22nd Sept: Will and Olly are joined by Mr Stage Racer™ himself - Mark Stubbs - for a run against the clock around Hanningfield Reservoir. This allowed us to confirm that all our training has improved our speeds and wasn't just masochism ;-)!  Will is now the proud holder of the fastest time.  Mark also achieved an excellent time for his first trip round the course, managing to avoid getting lost (unlike a certain other person managed last year)!

19th Sept: Met up with some of the guys we are doing the ride with. Managed 74 mile which involved several climbs over the Surrey Hills, including the highest point in South-East England. Our legs are now jelly!

11th Sept: We all rode to Saffron Walden and back, managed 67 miles in 4 hours. A few firsts today, Erwin got our first puncture on the way back and we got rained on for the first time! Thanks for the coffee and biscuits half way round Dad.

4th Sept: Will and Olly do 53 miler round Chelmsford, we improved our 50 mile time by 13 minutes to 2hr 47. Quite impressive considering our hangovers! Erwin did 40 odd miles up in Yorkshire on Sat and was then dropped off at Cambs on the way home and told to cycle home (Gail you are a hard taskmaster).

28th Aug: Our first long ride out together, went to Burnham on Crouch, managed 50 miles in 3hrs despite a nasty headwind on the way back.

21st Aug: Erwin rode around the South Downs, Will did nothing as he was at V festival and Olly trained with the Essex Road guys on Sunday.

21st July: Will and Olly go out on a "casual" afternoon ride in the countryside around Chelmsford. Unfortunately not many pubs were open! 44 miles clocked up.

18th July: Will did London to Southend, 58 miles at a more pedestrian pace than the day before.

17th July: Essex Castle 50 miler, our first proper distance ride round north Essex. [Will, you've missed out my managing to fall off and injure myself!  That incident was courtesy of a bit of stupidity and some nasty gravel, let's hope I don't try out my stunt-man credentials in Europe! - Olly :-)]

Olly's initial thoughts on the challenge:

It is now a while back that Will and Erwin first dropped into conversation the idea of a charity cycle ride through Europe.  Sounded interesting, I thought.  I then found out that we were talking about cycling well over 300 miles!! 

To put that in perspective, that is how far Glasgow is from Chelmsford... Paris is only 215 miles away! 

Needless to say, I was a little concerned.  Still, after perseverance from Will and Erwin I was persuaded and coming round to the thought of constant pedalling for 4 days!