We must be close to 48 hours of sitting on stationary bikes - but we got there!  🙌 

We had our doubts, but since the last post, Mr Moores has smashed out a ride of 111k late last night then another 80k today, Coach Jamie did another 42k today and the Nuttall family put in an awesome family effort of 150k! That means we didn't just reach St Andrews, we overshot by 45k!

​That was a great team effort to achieve a very ambitious (and slightly odd) goal. We said at the start that the festive 500 is often planned and not completed, so 2 out of 3 is something to be proud of, and for the team to come together and the Nuttall family to roll their sleeves up at the end to make sure we hit our target is just great - what a lovely end to a challenging year!

Now, surely that's worth a donation to 5 great causes - here's the link once again. 
Thank you very much to all those who have already donated, it really has been a motivation to watch the totaliser grow as we have been going. We have hit our £500 target, but wouldn't it be brilliant to overshoot again - and this time by more that 45 kilometers!

First the good news - Mr Tom made it over the 500 line today with an epic hilly route including a virtual Alpe d'Huez - Chapeau! 
The bad news is, Mr Moores finally realised that it's quite a long way to St Andrews!
​So here's the thing, with Mr Tom's 142k today, an extra 50k from Coach Jamie, a very generous 50k from Mr Tom's family, and a 100k effort from Mr Moores, we find ourselves at 1283k all in. That's 338k away from St Andrews, somewhere South of Barnard Castle. 
Can we get there for Hogmanay?

Coach Jamie made it across the line today. A quick look at the other posts will show you that there are no prizes for guessing who is the bookie's favourite to cross the line next!

Only 43Kms so we are still in the outskirts of London.

Another crazy hill day for coach Jamie today and a hilly 50k for Mr Tom. That leaves them both with a chance of finishing on their next ride. As for Mr Moores ... if he finishes on his next ride, it's going to be a long one!!!
On the road to St Andrews, we have made it to London, still a way to go!

Less effort today, but we keep getting closer! The end is in sight (for coach Jamie and Mr Tom at least!) but the legs don't believe that the last few days will be easy!

As for the road to St Andrews - we are spending tonight half way across the channel - at least it beats being stuck in the Brexit traffic!

We are getting towards the half way mark now, coach Jamie chose a hilly route today which took 4 hours and nearly brought him to tears, and after 9 hours in the saddle, Mr Tom is starting to wish Santa had brought him a rubber ring for Christmas!! On the bright side, Mr Moores has made a start - the team is rolling!

On our road to St Andrews, our 635 kms takes us to the outskirts of Lille with fewer than 1000 kms to go!

So, it turns out there are other things that need to be done on the 25th of December! Still, Mr Tom managed to bag an incredible 100kms - chapeau!

We are getting closer, tonight we are somewhere around Châlons-en-Champagne on our road to St Andrews.

And we're off!
​Well, 2 of us are; it seems Mr Moores has made an early start to the mince pies and a late start to this challenge, but we have every confidence he will be up and rolling once Santa has visited and left him all manner of sporty presents!
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The road to St Andrews? Our 240km takes us to somewhere around Chaumont tonight, seems we still have a long way to go. Better get the sprouts on to boil overnight and catch some shut-eye!

A huge thank you to Kevin and Nicky Gilbert (founders of the SOA charity) for your generous donation!
In fact, you have given us an idea, we will track our progress here each day by adding our kilometers and virtually travelling to see you in your new home in St Andrews. All going well we will see you there for "Hogmanay" (New Year's Eve in Scotland).

With the current restrictions, our amazing CDL charities are feeling the pinch at a time when the great work they do is needed more than ever.

We are looking to raise as much as possible over the festive period which will be spread evenly between the five charities. 

Not for the first time, we have decided to ride bikes to raise money, but for the first time ever, we have settled on the depths of winter to take on this challenge. As it's winter, we are allowing ourselves the luxury of an indoor trainer, but 500k can get pretty boring in the spare room!

The challenge? We have between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve to cover 500 kms ... each! This challenge is fast becoming a tradition among cyclists, but has never been taken lightly and is often attempted without success.

We will keep you updated on our progress here and look forward to seeing the donations to these amazing charities clock up as fast as our kms!