Updated on Mar 15th 2012 at 10:26 AM from the JustGiving API

Fantastic - target reached already! Thanks everyone, you've all been extremely generous. Still a while to go till the day, so hopefully I'll beat the target by a fair bit!

 

Last year I treated myself to a new bike as I hadn't had one since my last one got stolen back in the 90's. I justified it to myself on the basis that it would pay for itself before too long due to the ridiculous price of fuel as I could use it for the short round town trips and so on, and that it was a 40th birthday present for myself. I soon realised how much I enjoyed cycling, and a much more interesting way to keep fit than running - the scenery changed quicker and I could explore much further afield, not to mention how much easier it was on my knees. Doing the London to Brighton bike ride is a fairly obvious challenge for any reasonably keen cyclist, and something I've wanted to do for many years. I almost did it while I was at university and sharing a house with a cyclist friend who was going to lend me a rather nice bike, but being students we never quite got our act together to do it! Since then my focus has been rather more on career and family, but getting older has made me want to start looking after myself a bit more, hence the cycling.

This is my first attempt at the London to Brighton, and I'm really looking forward to the ride (though maybe not Ditchling Beacon, from what I've heard!), and also the opportunity to raise a bit of cash for a good cause. Any contribution you could make, however small, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading. Here's some blurb from JustGiving:

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.