Turning away good money

When I started putting the word around that I was thinking of doing LEJOG (the acronym shorthand for Land's End to John O'Groats) I got three pretty regular reactions. 

1) Really ?
Said in a tone of voice that always sounded a little too close to scornful for my liking.

2) Why ?  
Which was not unreasonable but for which I tended to have two answers; 'why not' or 'because I'm clearly having a mid-life crisis'...depending upon my mood and who I was talking to.

3) What charity are you riding it for ?
On the logical basis that no one would do it just for fun.

I have to say that rather selfishly, I'd just fancied having a go. But the Charity question was raised so often I started to think that perhaps I'd been a little too-self centred. People were literally trying to thrust money into my hand for whatever good cause I wanted to nominate, and there I was, turning them down. As a result, they often looked baffled or hurt. Or both.

Maybe, subliminally, I didn't want the extra pressure. After all, if it went pear-shaped, I could quietly slip off and few people would be any the wiser. 

A cycling advert, rather than an advert for cycling 

So I had a think about it and came up with Kangaroos. Not the bouncing, boxing, Ozzie-emblem,  pouched-up, Skippy-type Kangaroos ... but a small Charity based in Mid-Sussex that does great work for mentally and physically disabled kids and young adults. 

One of those kids is my nephew George. He has been dealt a pretty tough hand in life as he was born with something called Angelmans Syndrome. Rather than explain the details here, google it. Suffice to say, it is tough for him and his family.

Kangaroos provides George and other kids and yound adults with leisure activities, after school clubs, holiday clubs, short breaks and respite care for families. They provide the sort of fun activities that are rarely available for those with special needs.

So now however tough it might by for me (saddle sores, rain, stiff knees, sunburn, headwinds, rain, men in white vans, vicious dogs, rain, punctures, getting lost, rain, dreaming of clean clothes and no doubt crying like a big girls blouse and wishing I'd kept my mouth shut and never mentioned John O'Groats) I have an added motivation to man-up.

As you can see from the picture, I've got some jersey's made up with the Kangaroos logo and the stated ambtion of Lands End to John O'Groats on the back - so that when I am inevitably hooted at by passing cars, I can kid myself they are hooting in support and not about to side-swipe me into a ditch. 

If you'd like to make a donation, please go to my Just Giving site. Or if you see me out on the road, I'll happily take cash !

http://www.justgiving.com/mickslatter