London2Paris.co.ukThe 2009 London to Paris Bike Ride

So there have been lots of people saying how interested they are in completing the London to Paris bike ride in September. But as always with these highly challenging events, actually getting people to commit to doing it takes some time as there is lots to think about and consider and the reality of taking part in such a challenge can be quite overwhelming. Most will decide against doing it but there is always a few who are really up for it.

A few of us had the chance to meet up yesterday to chat a little about the trip and what equipment is needed and of course what training is needed.

So, in terms of “the team”, we now have the first 4 confirmed members and the date has been set for the London to Paris bike ride.

The team so far:

• Alan Bull
• Apple Bull
• Scott Metcalf
• Ed Moore

The date: Thursday 17th September 2009

Unfortunately, Darren Clarke was not able to confirm that he will take part in the bike ride. Although, if you do change your mind Darren, there is always room on the team for you mate!

I’m expecting a few more people to confirm over the next few days and shall post back then with details and will update The Team page shortly after!

If you’re reading this and are interested, then please let me know. The more people the better I say!

I have been asked a few times this week, “who’s crazy idea is it to cycle from London to Paris!”. So thought it might be an idea to add it to the blog.

I got an email in March (just before my holiday) from the British Heart Foundation inviting me to get a team together to complete the London to Paris bike ride in September 2009.

Whilst I really liked the idea, I didn’t think too much about it at first, but whilst on holiday Apple and I started to think about it more seriously and we both thought that it may be worth aiming for and was sure that we’d find some friends who would also be interested in taking part.

Unfortunately, after deciding that we’d find out more about it, I was told that the trip was fully booked as the numbers are limited. They have did have another new date planned because of the popularity of the trip, but it seemed too soon to train properly for (August).

So, instead of waiting till next year – and in that time probably manage to talk ourselves out of the idea – we tried looking for other organised cycle rides from London to Paris before autumn and it gets to cold and wet to want to even consider such a quest. Many of the ones I found were either too soon to train for, too expensive just to take part in or if an organised charity bike ride – the minimum sponsorship level seemed out of reach.

We didn’t want to just give up, I think it’s good to push yourself every now and then. Therefore, we started thinking that it might be an idea just to get some friends together and go it alone.

We might still end up joining and organised event if we can find one, but the plan for now anyway is to organize our own trip.

Now we’ve finally made the decision to go ahead and cycle from London to Paris in September 2009, I am finally – a whole week later – only just getting to grips with the idea. Now we’ve said yes, it all seems so real and there’s just seems so much to organise and do now.

As many of those looking to ‘join the team’ live in different areas I decided to use my web skills to create this blog for all of us to use. It took me quite a bit of time after work this week to get it all setup, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the long run. The idea is to create one central resource for all of us to keep in contact, and track our progress during training and the event itself.

Hopefully, the content we all add here may help others thinking about cycling from London to Paris in the future. It would be great for those who have already completed this route to get in touch and give us any handy tips and advice – I think we’re gonna need all the help we can get.

So far 6 of us have provisionally agreed to take part, and talking to a few people about the event this week, a couple more have taken a serious interest in getting involved too which is great – the more of us the better.

So as you can imagine, it’s been a busy week all around but things are starting to take shape now. We have a rough date in mind of when we want to start the trip, a very basic route idea, and training – however informal – has now begun for most. Well thinking about when to start training anyway!

That’s right, now that we have all agreed to complete the London to Paris bike ride in September this year it’s now time to do some serious training and preparation and actually complete this challenge.

This blog has been set up by one of the team for all of us to report on our progress through training and of course through the cycle trip itself. Expect many random posts, comments and pictures and videos as we put ourselves through hell to complete this trip is just under 4 months time!