Bravo! Encore!

240 miles, a great bunch of people, a few saddle sores and a record amount of money raised for The Big Issue. Hurrah!

As you know, Kate Allsopp and I (with only a little coercing) took the plunge and signed for The Big Issue Foundation’s London to Paris Bike Ride in January. I must point out that at this point we had neither a functioning bicycle, nor the general fitness to pull off a ride to the local shop. Neither of us had any prior knowledge of bikes or cycling, nor quite what this was going to take. As it turns out we would be cycling up to 100 miles a day. Since January we have been on a steep learning curve; everything from changing an inner tube and surviving London’s bus lanes, to map reading and the most effective padded pants! It’s been a big project for us and I know you’ve all heard a lot about it - so thank you for your patience.

21st July - the big off - came around rather quickly; 140 cyclists and their steeds arrived in London. At 9am we rolled off with an impressive support team in tow; 14 guides, 4 medics and a team of vans & support staff loaded to the gunnels. Between us we transported over 200 spare inner tubes and more than 400 sets of lycra down to Portsmouth and across rural Northern France. Consuming huge stocks of cereal bars, energy drinks and later on baguettes, we steamed through to Paris in three long but incredible days. A combination of the seven birthdays celebrated during the trip, and the forecasted ‘torrential rain’ taking pity on us, kept spirits at an all time high. In our team alone we had men and women in their 20s to their 60s; a dairy farmer, a lawyer, a super market trolley fixer… even a Reverend! The camaraderie amongst cyclists was incredible – they really made the trip for us.

This was The Big Issue Foundation’s largest ever bike ride, in fact its largest fundraising event to date. Between all of us we forecast to raise a whopping £200,000!

Kate and I would like to offer you a very humble thank you for your generosity – we were able to raise over £2,000! You have all offered us so much support, not only in terms of sponsorship but also through getting involved – helping us buy our bikes, fix our bikes, learn to ride our bikes, coming on training rides with us, providing a bed & sustenance at the end of a long journey, listening to our endless bicycle related wittering, advising on bottom protection… the list goes on. It’s been great to have so many of you involved and we are very, very grateful. You’re all super!

A special mention must go to the many Allsop(p)s who have been incredibly generous with their sponsorship and support, despite never having met either of us. What a philanthropic breed! We look forward to meeting them all the annual Allsop(p) convention next year!

Much love,

The Allsop(p)s