To Paris and Beyond - The Journey Begins Here

So after getting an email a few weeks ago by a group of events management students at university, I was quite tempted to get involved in a triathalon. Only thing is, my gym doesn't have a swimming pool, and I didn't fancy going to find a pool for a few weeks training before the big day. They had an option of group triathalons instead, and I immediately warmed to this with a friend. He was due to take on the running section of the challenge, whilst I definitely wasn't slow in taking up the biking section. However, our downfall was a swimmer, who we ultimately couldn't find, and didn't attend the competition.

Skip forward to now, and after receiving another email - this time from my Student's Union RAG (Raising and Giving) Society - promoting a bike ride from London to Paris. I'd heard of this already from a close friend and member of RAG, who said the idea was in the works. Obviously, the works got into motion and the plan has been devised. The cycle ride would see me first travel to London (admittedly on a train) before setting off en-route to Paris in a 3-day spree that would see me accumulate over 200 miles.

The whole thing's for charity, which makes it twice as good knowing I can do it for a good cause as well as fulfilling a growing sense of adventure with this escapade, and already me and a friend are planning fundraising events to raise £1,500 between us (£750 each) for the epic adventure in July - and with her knowledge already of fundraising and my lousy history of trying to, hopefully we'll just about get there too!

Given I've always jumped at the opportunity to go anywhere on two-wheels when legs or engines are perfectly acceptable substitutes, this challenge is one I'm well up for, and after buying a set of fresh, top-of-the-range road tyres for my bike, I'm already taking every opportunity I can to get back in the saddle.

Since I heard about the event, I've gone on three bike rides in the past four days and from rough memory, these were of 19 miles, 9 miles and 7 miles. Fair enough, I haven't quite amassed the sub-200 miles I'll achieve in four and a bit months time, but it's a start. From here on in, training has began.

I will also be making a blog on my journey. I tried doing one every day before my half-marathon in 2009, but this got a bit boring after continously posting daily.... so even though updates may not come daily, albeit extensive (to save readers time and eye-power), they'll still serve as a platform to provide news of the whole escapade. Web address will be up as soon as the blog goes live, so until then keep checking back.

Let the good times roll...