“One day, 250 miles” it said; the Facebook post that is. Nope, that’s a step too far for me, I thought. However the more I considered the possibility the more I came to the conclusion that ‘It might just work’! So here I am, committed to completing a 250 mile ride within the confines of a single day.  The date; Friday 8th July in just under two weeks time.

There will be a small group of us, I think the final count will be 5 or 6, basically it’s the mad minority who can summon up the courage needed to savour the challenge.  The Grand Départ will take place in Peterborough’s Cathedral Square at around 3AM in the morning, no doubt seen off by a handful of the square’s resident pigeons and maybe an odd drunken reveler left over from a heavy Thursday night’s partying.

The route will then take us out into Norfolk where a seaside tour will see the small band of brothers take in the sights of Hunstanton, Sheringham, Cromer, Great Yarmouth and Lowerstoft before finally heading back in land.  Then with plenty of miles still separating us from our goal, (that’ll be the square again, yes, it’s a loop) we’ll push on through the town of Thetford with it’s surrounding forests and finally across the flat fenlands to return to where we began some 20 hours earlier.

Of course I couldn’t let an opportunity like this go by without raising some money for a good cause at the same time.  And so I am pleased to announce that I will be raising money for WaterAid as part of this challenge.  With this in mind can I encourage you to visit my Just Giving page here (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Matthew-Smith141) to donate to this extremely worthy cause.  In the developed world we often take water for granted and as a cyclist I (and you if you cycle) know just how precious water can be when you find yourself lacking.  WaterAid work to provide people all around the world with clean, sustainable water supplies and sanitation, something that ought to be a right for all of us.

So that’s my next challenge officially announced to all.  I plan to have some kind of tracking active during the ride if you wish to follow our progress on the day and you can be sure this won’t be the only post about it on here.  Also keep your eyes open for twitter updates too.