Thanks for visiting my fundraising page. This year, as we're all a bit hard-up due to the dire economic state, I am trying to get your money by upping the stakes and so did 12 events (road and off-road), listed below with their links so you get some idea of what I did to part you from your hard-earned cash.

Since I last updated you I’ve been through the 3 hardest of these events - The Big One of TransWales, the Kielder 100 and the South Downs Way...and, as it turns out, the final one, the Dark Peak Challenge, was easily as hard!

The charities I’m hoping will benefit from your largesse will be the British Heart Foundation, the Parkinson’s Disease Society and WaterAid. These all have particular personal significance, but I’m sure have a wide resonance. This page is raising money for the Parkinson's Disease Society.

The events I've done come to nearly 1,700km / well over 1,000 miles in all, I reckon – good value or what?! Wouldn't it be good to say that 1,000 miles of cycling raised £1,000 - and we're nearly there! Feel free to sponsor me by event, per kilometre, only if I do the whole lot, whatever might take your fancy and whatever you feel you can afford. And don't forget to GiftAid it if you're in theUK!

Many thanks for your support,

Adrian

o/r Winter Challenge, West Laverton: 4th Jan [50km - http://www.spambiking.co.uk/events.asp ]

o/r 25^th Hell of the North Cotswolds, Winchcombe: 5th April [50km - http://www.honc.org.uk/ ]

r Cotswold Spring Classic, Cirencester: 13th April [105km - that was >really< hard!! http://www.cotswoldspringclassic.co.uk/ ]

r Forest of Dean Spring Classic, Monmouth: 3rd May [137km: 14 “Category” climbs, which reduce pro roadies to walking... http://www.forestofdeanspringclassic.co.uk/MapsRoute.html what was I thinking when I entered this....?! Here’s a link to a review outlining its full hideousness:- http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/CycloSportive_Forest_of_Dean_Spring_Classic_article_142679.html ]

...and it was duly hellish, I have to say... great day out

r Tour de Taff: 10th May [Cardiff-Brecon on the Taff Trail http://www.tafftrail.org.uk/route.html c.88km - Welsh Water WaterAid event, world famous in Dwr Cymru ;-) ] Lovely to see the trail unfold through the valleys from the industrial south to mid-Wales - at a fast pace too!

o/r Set2Rise, Erlestoke: 23rd  - 24th May [12 hr enduro organised by the SPAMBiking guys who do the Winter Challenge, tight’n’twisty course – several laps? Maybe!] Possibly the best enduro course ever - over all too soon, sunset and sunrise were beautiful. 4 laps / 65km (the team of 4 did 14 / 225km overall)

r Highclere Sportive Magnificat, Newbury: 7th June [202km, 3,000m of climbing – after doing the Etape Anglais I thought this would be just as much, er, fun! http://www.everydaycycling.com/edc/events/events_2009/20090607_highclere_castle_magnificat.aspx ] A wonderful route from Newbury down onto the South Downs via Winchester and back up from Petersfield, did 210km in the end (took a wrong turn - added value!). 9hr 30m in the saddle, slow but steady...

o/r Twentyfour12, Newnham Park, Plymouth: 25th - 26th July [24 hr enduro – even more laps, maybe double! Best 24hr event I did last year, hope it’s as much fun this year. http://www.twentyfour12.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=51 ] As ever this was a wonderful event even if the weather wasn't being kind - very mellow but high energy stuff - did 5 laps of the 17km course

o/r TransWales 16th - 22nd August [Back to the land of my fathers for 7 days, covering 550km and 16,500m of climbing – see this link! http://www.mtbtransuk.co.uk/wales/stages.php The biggie that I will have been trying to get some hint of fitness together for... and if this goes OK it’s TransRockies at some point...] This was "character building"! Some great experiences, you find out a lot about yourself when there's nothing left in the tank and 20km of black route to go before the day's end...achieved a sort of Zen state at one point. Achieved notoriety by featuring in a What MTB photo on the bikeradar site!

o/r Kielder 100, 5th September: a different proposition from the TransWales, this was a 100 mile (160km) event but in one day... http://www.sip-events.co.uk/kielder-home.html Starting at Kielder it went across the border to the Newcastleton 7Stanes trail centre and back, via a series of looping trails mixing fireroads with super technical black runs, and all grades in between. Attrition was high, only about half of the Vets riders made the timing cutoff in order to finish in daylight. Despite my Iron Man bro-in-law's heroic efforts (he'd had 'flu' earlier that week) we missed it too so we "only" ended up doing 100km rather than 160km. Unfinished business for next year!

o/r South Downs Way, Winchester - Eastbourne 3rd - 4th October: 160km of sun-baked chalky/flinty trail, with a tail wind to boot - heaven! Even the walkers were (mostly) friendly, the weather was that good. What a lot of turnstiles! A first for me, cycling off-road in this part of the world glimpsed while on the Highclere Sportive, and not the last.

o/r Dark Peak Challenge, Edale Peak District: 11th October [A British Heart Foundation event, 45 or 67km TBD - will see what the weather is doing! http://www.bhf.org.uk/get_involved/take_part_in_our_events/event_finder/view_event.aspx?ps=1000359 ] Well as it turned out, the weather was truly biblical, with rain and 85+kph gusts on Mam Tor threatening to blow me off the edge. Very technical 67km course which was great fun. Throw in a dodgy transmission, a forked fork and a snapped chain and it was all good stuff!

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Parkinson's Disease Society gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.