Tim Walpole's fundraising page

[lt]p style="text-align: center;"[gt][span=text-decoration: underline;][b][lt]span style="color: #0000ff;"[gt]I DID IT[/span][/b][lt]/span[gt][/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt][span=color: #0000ff;]I completed the ride successfully, despite the wind and rain – and occasional abuse from onlookers.[/span][/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt][span=color: #0000ff;]It was a great experience to be involved with a couple of thousand riders all with one cause. It was also amazing the response of the majority of people on the streets and the other road-users.[/span][/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt][span=color: #0000ff;]I managed to complete the 52 miles in 3hrs, which I am really pleased with. This included some long climbs and a lot of traffic lights – most of which seemed to be on red![/span][/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt][span=color: #0000ff;]The total pledged to my charity collection has been awesome[lt]span id="_marker"[gt] and i have been very touched by people's generosity.[/span][lt]/span[gt][/p][p][span=text-decoration: underline;][b][lt]span style="color: #000000;"[gt]I’m off to see the lights![/span][/b][lt]/span[gt][/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt]Well after many years of prevaricating as to why I shouldn’t do numerous forms of exercise - other than getting up in the morning and lifting a fork of food or glass of drink above elbow height - I have finally taken the plunge and done something about getting a bit fitter.[/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt]I thought I’d better do something for charity to give me an aim, so I had a look at all the glamorous events around, such as; the London Marathon – too much running, riding the Cresta Run – too cold, swimming the Channel – too wet! After much deliberation, I finally decided that cycling was the way to go. So a bike was arranged and I was up and ready to get on the road. A couple of short rides made me question the sanity of what I’d decided, as I was unable to even get up the hill out of the town![/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt]The next thing was to set a target and after looking at various events, I decided on signing up for the ‘British Heart Foundation Night Ride’. I thought that the sight of me sweating in Lycra was not something to be thrust on the public, so an event under the cover of darkness suited the situation perfectly![/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt]Unfortunately training was halted prematurely due to a bout of Campylobacter (although this did help with rapid weight loss) and a visit to the hospital for a small operation to my shoulder, but now I’m out and about and ramping up the miles. Thanks to a birthday and some nice things from friends and acquaintances, I’ve got nearly all the gear – although as the phrase goes still little idea![/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt]This is not the longest cycling charity event - the route is approximately 52 miles – but it is one of the more unusual ones. It starts inside the Trafford Centre in Manchester and passes through Walkden, Chorley and Preston, before joining the coast to enter Blackpool through Lytham St Annes. Finally it finishes at Blackpool's Tower Headlands, near the famous Tower, and Blackpool has kindly agreed to keep both the Tower and the famous Illuminations lit to help guide us to the finish line, so it's a case of seeing the light at the end![/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt]The 2012 Manchester to Blackpool Night Ride gets underway late at night on the 29[sup]th[/sup] September, just as the Lancashire pubs and clubs are spilling out on to the streets and hopefully ends before the sun rises the following morning.[/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt]For more details on the [url=http://www.bhf.org.uk/research/mending-broken-hearts.aspx]BHF[/url] and more info on the [url=http://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events/bike-rides/city-to-coast-bike-rides/manchester-to-blackpool-bike-r.aspx]Night Ride[/url] There's still a chance to get involved and join in with this year's ride.[/p][lt]p style="text-align: justify;"[gt]Through Virgin Money Giving, you can sponsor me and donations will be quickly processed and passed to charities. Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and will claim gift aid on a charity's behalf where the donor is eligible for this. I really appreciate all your support and thank you for any donations and special thanks to [url=http://www.craft.se/]Craft[/url] and [url=http://www.wiggle.co.uk/]Wiggle[/url] with their help in getting me on the road.[/p]