Dear all

As the attached photo and title to this webpage would suggest, I am graduating from my 12 months obsession with commuting to and from work by bike, to the big league of a 300km cycle ride from London to Paris in support of a medical research charity.

The longest ride I have done to date is 35km up to the in-laws in Hertford last Xmas eve and that nearly finished me off! Needless to say a little training might be in order for this one. The plan it to leave London on the 3rd July with around 50 - 75 other riders (Jon Sutton from LBS being another who talked me into this whole caper) and all things being equal I will wobble into the city of lights on the afternoon of the 6th; I am not prepared to be any more specific regarding my arrival time!

The journey is to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation which is an excellent charity dedicated to finding the cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications www.jdrf.org.uk. JDRF is the world's leading charitable funder of this type of research.

Needless to say all and every donation of any size will be greatly appreciated and in return I promise to afterwards forward photos of me in excruciating pain and exhaustion as I get toward the end of the trip.

If anyone has any questions or ideas (legal) for additional ways of getting you to part with your hard earned money please give me a shout or email edward.stanger@firstprotocol.com but otherwise thank you in advance for your very kind donation.

All the best

Ed