Seb and Rupert Boris-bike from Paris to Cambridge

11/09/2016

Well, who'd have thought it - we actually made it! It's been an absolutely ridiculous week, but we're both so delighted to have made it, and the current amount raised sits at just under £2000 which is absolutely phenomenal. Here's a photo of us both at the finish line, along with one of the founders of Future Talent. Thank you all so much for your support - it really has helped us through the endless miles of French countryside and the ever more painful inclines. Paris to Cambridge 2016 - complete...!
If anyone would still like to donate, any amount would be hugely appreciated: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ParistoCambridge2016. Thank you!

11/09/2016

We are officially within 15 miles of Cambridge! Can't quite believe we might actually complete this - if anyone happens to be in Cambridge do come and celebrate with us as we arrive at King's (and perhaps at the Eagle later on, if our legs will carry us that far...!)

09/09/2016

Well, here's something that many thought would never happen - we made it back to England! Having put 50 miles on after arriving in Dover, we now sit just 80 miles away from Cambridge, and it looks like we might actually make it...!
The Boris bike replacement service had been active during our final three days in France, and we were promptly greeted with a replacement for Boris. At the second naming ceremony of the trip, we welcomed the newly christened Ken to the Boris bike adventure.
Here's a shot of the deceased Boris and the everlasting Sadiq awaiting their return to the UK in Calais yesterday...!

06/09/2016

Unfortunately, the puncture in Rupert's tyre from yesterday was too large to be repaired, so we had to continue with just one Boris bike. But never fear - in the pursuit of utmost faithfulness to the cause we duly stacked the spare bike with an extra 10kg of weight to raise it to the 23kg of a Boris bike, as well as Rupert limiting himself to using only 3 of the 24 gears; no easy way out here! We'll take it in turns to use the Boris bike until we return to England, and two extra bikes will be awaiting us upon our return...
After a 30 mile morning, we decided to carry on an extra 10 miles past the planned day's end - sadly for us, 9 of these 10 miles happened to be uphill... So here, for your enjoyment, is a lovely photo of a beautiful French church, our one remaining Boris bike (Sadiq, if anyone was wondering), and a rather tired cyclist. 2 days down, 5 to go!

05/09/2016

Very happy to report day one has been pretty successful as we arrived in the late afternoon at our stopover point of Bresles. Unfortunately one of the supposedly "unpuncturable" tyres was beaten by a tiny shard of glass just five miles from the end of our ride. We have attempted to repair it and will find out if we have been successful in the morning but if not, we have a backup bike which will fill in until we can get a replacement Boris Bike on Friday for the UK stage of our trip. Many thanks to those who have liked the page and indeed to those who have donated. Here's a photo of us just before we set off this morning, complete with four working wheels!

04/09/2016

Well, here goes...! Arrived in Paris earlier today, and the bikes (fondly christened Boris and Sadiq at our highly elaborate naming ceremony earlier this evening) are waiting in the warmth before their first ever French outing tomorrow. At 8am tomorrow we will battle our way through the Parisian rush hour to kick off 7 days of furious pedalling in the bikes' mighty third (and highest...) gear, honing in on King's and the finish line. We'll try and post updates as often as possible - wish us luck...!
uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ParistoCambridge2016

22/07/2016

As we reach 50 days before we set off for Paris, we're delighted to launch the fundraising page for the trip! Having attended Future Talent's London event and seen their work first hand we're really excited to be supporting them, and are really looking forward to getting going. Please do consider supporting us, and them, as it's such a wonderful charity. The link to the page is below, and every little helps!

uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ParisToCambridge2016

Sebastian Johns, Rupert Scarratt is raising money for Future Talent. Sponsor them with Virgin Money Giving.

11/07/2016

Yesterday we were lucky enough to be invited to one of Future Talent's flagship events, a performance given by their newly formed orchestra in London. It was amazing to see some of the children the charity supports playing (far better than either of us ever could...), and to meet the people in charge of it all; an experience to spur us on through Northern France, we hope! Fundraising page to follow later this week!

06/06/2016

Hello everyone, and welcome to this page, the home of a truly ridiculous venture devised in the mind of a man not exactly renowned for coming up with good ideas, a certain Seb Johns (and one that was deemed an excellent one by the equally puzzled mind of Rupert Scarratt).

The idea: to cycle from Paris to Cambridge to raise money for the wonderful charity Future Talent, an organisation that supports musically talented children who cannot afford to pursue this dream. So far so good, however...

The twist: to cast aside all thoughts of using 'proper', sensible bikes, but rather to use ones famous for their weight, lack of comfort and general inability to travel any moderate distance - the wonderful Boris bike.

And so, on the 5th September we will set off from the Eiffel Tower and, all being well, arrive in the welcome embrace of Cambridge just 6 days later. Anyone who knows us will be aware that we are both rather more at home in the choir stalls than on a bike, and that the thought of cycling over 500km on a bike that weighs nearly 35% of our weight fills us both with dread, but we're somewhat committed now and it would be great for it to all be worthwhile!

Fundraising website to follow, and we'll keep you all posted with our planning and training (or worrying lack of it) here, as well as updates when the fated time finally arrives.

Paris to Cambridge 2016 is go...