THE FIRST RDF CYCLE BRITAIN CHALLENGE ...
Lands End to John O'Groats - 9th to 19th June 2005:
One Man, His Bike and Some Fetching Lycra Shorts.

This is Aled Jones (not that one). He's going to cycle the length of Britain in just 10 days.

He's doing it to to raise loads of money for the Foundation, and because its a challenge. Find out why and how below - or just get your wallets out and sponsor him now!

The Idea
I had the idea to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats (the UK 'End to End') about 4 years ago. Aside from the challenge of covering all that distance under my own steam I thought it was a great way to raise some money for a very worthy cause.

The charity I am supporting is the Rwenzori Development Foundation which runs development and conservation projects in and around the Rwenzori National Park area of Uganda (think 'Gorilla's in the Mist' territory).

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For me, to be able to give this charity a substantial amount of cash - hopefully enough to support a small project in its entirety - is reward enough for hauling my lycra-clad behind up the length the country. Take a minute to check out the Foundation's main website and see what they've done to date.

The Route
Lands End to John O'Groats is a classic route for walkers and cyclists. It is also the longest distance that you can travel from one end of the UK to the the other before falling in to the sea.

There is no fixed route for getting from one end to the other. The most direct is about 1,300km, but I will be taking the 'scenic' route, avoiding busy roads most of the way, which is 1,520km.

Click here for a map of the UK and a rough outline of where I'll be heading. For those who are interested, I've taken the route from "Bike Britain" by Paul Salter.

I'm giving myself 10 days to complete the route, which means I'll have to average over 150km per day (ouch!). To put this in perspective, that's about 7 hours of cycling each day for ten days straight. This is fairly ambitious as I'm no Lance Armstrong and I only got my first road bike at the end of last year. But the challenge is part of the attraction, right? Plus, I hope that my undoubted suffering will encourage people to be more generous!

Start: Thursday 9th June 2005 - Lands End, Cornwall
End: Sunday 19th June 2005 - John O Groats, Scotland

You'll be able to follow my progress through the wonder of technology - texts and (hopefully) pics and video clips will be posted on this site. Come back and check after the 9th June! Just click on the "Check Aled's Progress" icon on the right.

Slightly Worrying Facts

• Route Distance: 1,520km
• Hours of cycling per day: 7 hours
• Calories burnt each day: 5,500 kcal (that's about 24 mars bars)
• Sweat produced, daily: 7-8 litres (eeuwww!)
• Highest Climb: 1,500ft - the Kirkstone Pass, Lake District (Canary Wharf is 771ft…)
• No. of punctures: watch this space…(anyone fancy a bet?)

The Support Team

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The intrepid support car and driver

A BIG thank you has to go out to Vic, my step-dad, and Emma (the future Mrs Jones) who have selflessly given their support. Emma has been (and continues to be) a great help in this endeavour - from encouraging me with my training (and putting up with my absenteeism at weekends!) to planning the logistics and fundraising. Vic has offered to to be my one-man support team on the ride itself - he'll be chief motivator, mechanic, coach and provider of food and water (he might also be lucky enough to massage my thighs at the end of each day...lucky him). In all, he'll be covering almost 3,000km by road (including the journeys to and from the start/finish), so spare him a thought too.

Without both of these amazing people this whole thing wouldn't be possible.

The Target
As I've already mentioned, I hope to be able to fund an entire Rwenzori project, or even a couple of projects if I raise enough money. Not only does this mean that the Foundation can get going with it as soon I've raised the cash, but it also means that anyone who generously decides to sponsor me will know exactly what their money is going towards. Watch this space for more information about the work that your hard earned cash will be supporting. Please also check out the charity's main website (Click Here) to see the type of work they do.

My minimum fundraising target is £1,500. I hope to boost the final amount through additional donations from my employer and from other organisations and donors - updates on this will be posted here as fundraising progresses, so don't be a stranger, come back to check how I'm getting on. Also, once the project is underway you'll be able to see how your money was spent.

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If you'd rather sponsor me in a more traditional way, then please complete and print off this donation form (click here to download the form in .pdf format) and send it along with your cheque made payable to the 'Rwenzori Development Foundation' to Rwenzori Development Foundation, 25 Heber Road, London, NW2 6AB.

AND FINALLY ... Making the Challenge Carbon Neutral
All the driving that Vic will be doing kind of goes against the idea of using a sustainable, human-powered mode of transport which is also part of why I'm doing this ride. This is why I'd like to make the RDF Cycle Britain Challenge "carbon neutral" i.e. offset the carbon emissions that will be produced. The support car will produce approximately 2 tonnes of CO2 over the 10 days, and I think we all know by now that CO2 is a major culprit in contributing to climate change.

Various organisations now exist that allow you to offset the emissions related to driving a car, taking a plane etc. (e.g. by investing in forestry and/or renewable energy projects around the world). It’s not a perfect solution but in the absence of a “zero-emissions” car it’ll have to do. Details of the offsetting method that we opt for will be added once we’ve organised it

Thanks also to the following companies for their generous support ....
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Anquet Maps
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Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative
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Science in Sport energy drinks