in aid of The Choir with No Name

Tour de

Choir with

No Name

Cycling 300 miles from Liverpool to Brighton to raise money for the Choir with No Name, choirs with people affected by homelessness

Tour de Choir with no name

Would you like to join us, on one or more Days?

We'd love to have enthusiastic people cycle with us. You'll need to get to the start line, and back from the destination on your own.

We'll be setting off between 8am and 9am each day, to make the most of the day.

You'll also need to bring your own provisions and make sure you have insurance (this is not a Choir with No Name run event, but an 'in aid of' event for Kate and friends).

How we got here

If you know me a bit, you might know that around 10 years ago, I got massively into cycling. I signed up for the Ride London 100, bought a second hand bike from eBay and started preparing for the 100 mile cycle I'd just signed up for.

On race day, I turned up (on a new bike as my eBay purchase was stolen three weeks before the race), in converse pumps, with an incredibly stylish bum bag in lieu if a saddle bag (before bum bags were fashionable again - how did that happen), and having only managed my longest distance of 60 miles until the day. There were some sniffs from more experienced cyclists on the start line I can tell you.

None the less, I got round. I was so pleased with my achievement. As the 'fat kid perpetually chosen last for the school PE team', I've never felt overly comfortable in sporting environments, and that made the success at Ride London even sweeter.

Not long after, I joined/helped to form the St Margaret's Cycling Club in my local area and was so pleased that they were so inclusive, welcoming inexperienced cyclists and those highly seasoned MAMILs with equal gusto.

Three more Ride London 100s, several long distance, multi-day trips and many many Sunday cycles with the WONDERFUL St Margaret's Cycling Club later and I was in danger of becoming a MAWIL myself. Then I moved to Amsterdam where my cycling continued, albeit primarily on a omafiets sit-up-and-beg bike, but I still made it out into the Dutch countryside on my road bike. There, I discovered that the absence of hills is not necessarily easier - the Dutch hills equivalent is the WIND, which, with nothing to slow it down, can whip across the country with considerable force, particularly when you're cycling directly into it!

Roll forward to 2018 and I move to Sheffield. As a seasoned cyclist the seven hills of Sheffield are initially no concern for me and I start cycling up and down the hills to and from work, thinking I'm getting a great opportunity for hill training without even trying.

But then, cycling down West Street, I slip on some tram tracks and cut up my knee. In itself not a deal breaker. But, a few weeks later, I'm cycling to Rotherham and a car turns across my path, I smash into it, bounce off (apparently leaving an impressive handlebar indentation, according to the paramedic), smack into the tarmac, manage to stagger to the side of the road where I promptly pass out.

After an ambulance trip to the good old Northern General, the conclusion is that my injuries are not serious. Road rash on my shoulder, some swollen but not broken fingers, a couple of broken teeth and a split lip, and a few weeks of concussion, but nothing more serious. What was more serious however was the impact on my dedication to my new found love of cycling. I've been out a few times since but never recovered the same level of love for the sport. I miss it.

So here I am, keen to get back into cycling and needing something to motivate me that will overcome my reticence to go cycling from my house which is a 200m climb up from the city centre. What will motivate me? Well, a love of the charity I work with, of course, The Choir with No Name.

in aid of The Choir with No Name

So here we are...

In September, I will be cycling, with two other people, from Liverpool to Brighton, taking in five of our six choirs for people affected by homelessness. It's 450km from start to finish and we'll be doing the trip in five days. And, we're aiming to raise £5,000.