Whilst the cycle ride from London to Paris had nothing to do with Type 1 Diabetes as such I was raising money for INPUTDiabetes so here’s a little bit of information about how it went.
Fundraising
Initially I set a target of £320, one pound for every kilometre of my trip. This seemed like a good idea for me as I guessed I’d have some tired dark moments where it would be an effort to turn the pedals and the thought of raising another pound for just one more kilometre would spur me on. Luckily this never happened.
Initially the uptake for sponsorship was slow and I was worried that I wouldn’t even make £100 but towards the event itself sponsorship poured in and exceeded my target.
I raised £511 which will turn into £623.75 including GiftAid.
A key thing is that I never felt under pressure to raise this money, I didn’t have to pressure people to donate just so I could reach a target set by a charity, as is the case with organised London to Paris rides. These targets are generally £1500 minimum sponsorship for a trip like this.
How much did it cost?
£200.
Yep, that’s all.
If I’d gone on an organised event I would have still had to pay £100 up front.
The price included all travel costs, all accommodation costs and some food but not all. It doesn’t include any extra bike bits (pannier, rack) or clothes you might need to buy.
How did the trip go?
Honestly I don’t think the trip could have gone any better: the routes worked and we never got lost; our bikes didn’t break; the accommodation was superb; we all had a great time.
One unknown for me was how I would feel on days 2,3 and 4 having to get up and get back on the bike for several hours. Each morning though I woke up fresh and ready to get cycling again, excited about that day’s ride.
For more information take a look at the new blog I created all about the trip, particularly the Trip Reports area.
Fancy trying it yourself?
If you can cycle 50 miles at 10mph you can do this trip too. None of us trained to be able to ride the full distances day after day – see this training page for more info – and as you’ve got all day to cover the distances the pace can be quite slow.
I’ve created a new blog which details all the routes, the planning, the costs and reports about each days’ rides here: London to Paris Cycle Ride.