Firstly I am riding the Norwich 50 mile event on Sunday on 27th May on a Tandem. UPDATE:  It was a lovely warm day with about 4,000 riders out on the course and we completed inside our target with 50 miles in 2 hours and 25 minutes.

Secondly I am riding from South London to Paris on a Brompton Folding bike from 30th May to 3rd June.  UPDATE: After 27 hours of actual riding time over 5 days we cycled up the Champs Elysee at about 8:30pm on Sunday 3rd June.  We covered 236 miles - some of the UK sections made me wonder if we had inadvertantly strayed off the National Cycle Route and onto the course for the Olympic Mountain Bike Race!  However, even my mother, who had never ridden  more than 40 miles in one go before managed to complete the entire course, which I put down to my very modest pace setting!

Thirdly I am riding from a few miles outside of Paris to London (well, inside the M25!) on a racing bike on 9th and 10th June.  UPDATE: We made it back in one piece.  Fortunately the weather never ended up being as bad as forecast!  

 

OK, I know what you are thinking.  The Norwich 50 miles is not very far for an eccentric and obsessive cyclist like me.  But doing it on a Tandem with my "soon to be an old age pensioner" father for stoker (that means on the back) is a rather more challenging prospect.  Actually it is much worse for him than for me but it will be pretty painful all round and we hope to get round in less than 2 hours 30 min. 

So why the folding bike all the way to Paris?  Well, I am riding in support of my sisters personal challenge.  She is a bit of a strange novice cyclist - she is afraid of roundabouts but not afraid of climbing mountains of the Tour de France!  Also, she has never mended a puncture in her life.  We are riding along the Avenue Verte a low traffic and off road cycle route.  As my mother is also riding some of the route the pace will be glacial and therefore the folding bike will make it a bit more of a challenge.  It has 16 inch wheels so I will probably be carrying it over some of the horrendous cycle path surfaces on the UK side of the route!

Then, after a few days holiday near Paris, I will be back to familiar territory in the saddle of the racing bike.  My father and I are riding from our accomodation North West of Paris back to the ferry at Dieppe on Saturday 9th June and then to London the next day.  

So for me it is a great, if slightly painful, way to spend a few days.

However, I thought it seemed a bit daft to do something like this without raising a bit of money for a good cause.

THAT IS WHERE YOU COME IN IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO!

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