2012-04-01 - Fool's Errand Sportive

I got an email about this new sportive on 1 April. I quite fancy it. Anyone else up for it?

---[INDENT]Hello

We’re getting in touch as you rode the Dulwich Paragon’s Ride of the Falling Leaves and thought you might be interested in a new event we are helping with. This is a one-off email and please rest assured you are not on any new mailing lists about to be spammed!

We wanted to let you know about a ride called The Fool's Errand, a 120k Sportive on Sunday April 1 2012. It’s being organised by a local charity and along with a couple of other Paragonistas I’m helping with the planning and organisation, sharing our learning from The Ride of the Falling Leaves. We’ve been happy to get involved, as the ethos of the ride is similar to that of our own event – the principal one being that it’s not for profit.

*The ride starts and finishes at one of the charity’s own centres, Margaret McMillan House, on the top of the North Downs and is mostly on quiet country lanes and roads through the spectacularly beautiful countryside and picturesque villages of Kent. With the first shoots of spring appearing there couldn't be a better time to see the glorious sweeping valley views, green hills and distant horizons. *

*The route itself is a challenging 120k with 1500 metres of climbing. Heading first south-east into the rolling hills along the Medway valley it then turns west onto a fast, undulating stretch across the Kent Weald before taking you north past Bough Beech reservoir and up the notorious Toys Hill. Sweeping down again into the Westerham Valley the route then turns east to Otford and the tough climb up Rowdow. After a gentle descent into the Darenth Valley, the route heads towards the finish with some short, sharp climbs back to the start on top of the North Downs. One feed/toilet stop around the 70k mark and a water/toilet stop 20k before the end. There will be ample parking, accommodation and hot food available before and after the event. Rail connections are also nearby. *

*The charity is Widehorizons, based in Eltham, south London, which aims to inspire children and young people predominantly from Greenwich and Lewisham, through adventure. They provide a range of courses for children and adults, school and youth groups all designed to use adventure as a vehicle for learning. *

It’s going to be a great ride, with all proceeds going towards this fantastic local charity. Here’s the link, if you want to sign up and please pass this on to your fellow riders.

If you have any direct questions, please speak to Alex at Widehorizons (alex.brooks-johnson@widehorizons.org.uk)

Regards

Bob R (Organiser, Ride of the Falling Leaves)
[/INDENT]Entry form here

1st April eh?

Yup. It's a real ride. Here is an approximate route:

http://app.strava.com/runs/fools-errand-sportive-recce-ride-2077899

Looks like a decent ride, never joined a sportive before and the charity is very local to me... thanks for posting.

Please bump this a couple of times Shannon? I'm useless at organising myself, but it's in the diary. I'd like to enter given the right diary conditions.

Be good to see you again. It is not local to me, but I like the route/organisation. I might stay with a friend in Orpington, otherwise it means getting up at stupid-O'clock to drive down.

Yeah, you too. I've heard only good things about the Paragon. The kids activities sound good too. Though I will be very slow over 125k, I expect my family would be super bored by the time I'm done!

Hello all,

I am currently helping out with the event organising for the Fool's Errand,we currently have over 100 riders joined up and with the free family activitiessuch as; archery, climbing and pond dipping it is guaranteed to be a great day.If you would like to sign up please follow this link http://www.riderhq.com/events/foolserrand or to get in touch for more details email me on nicola.mcgerty@widehorizons.org.uk

Happy Riding!

Are you using the Times New Roman font by any chance?

Not too sure what happened there! Hopefully it is still readable!

Hello all,

I am currently helping out with the event organising for the Fool's Errand,we currently have over 100 riders joined up and with the free family activities such as; archery, climbing and pond dipping it is guaranteed to be a great day.If you would like to sign up please follow this link http://www.riderhq.com/events/foolserrand or to get in touch for more details email me on nicola.mcgerty@widehorizons.org.uk

Happy Riding!

ftfy

(when you cut and paste from word or something like it, paste the text into notepad to strip away the formatting then copy from notepad to here)