Colchester United

The plan is to cycle from the Club’s training ground at Florence Park to Brunton Park for Colchester’s final fixture of the 2012/13 season against Carlisle United.
Robbie writes...

. www.justgiving.com/colutct In the meantime, if you wish to donate to Robbie's fantastic cause, you can donate online at

. media@colchesterunited.net He details below his plans for that week - if you are interested in being involved in all or some of that ride, please contact us on

As April arrives, Robbie is now planning for the final assault on his fundraising with a cycle ride to Carlisle United on the final week of the season.

Starting with a bike ride to the opening game at Preston at the start of the season, he has subsequently run to every home game this season in his quest to raise thousands for this fantastic charity.
Throughout the season, U's chairman Robbie Cowling has been fundraising for the Teenage Cancer Trust in memory of U's fan Emily Begg.

I have already had a number of requests from fans that would like to join me and the more the merrier. If anyone else would like to complete this cycle ride with my brother Richard and I and help us to raise as much money as possible for Teenage Cancer Trust then you are more than welcome to come along.

I use the TomTom Satellite Navigation App on my iPhone to direct me and I program it to select the most appropriate route for a cyclist.

This application does not allow me to export the route so I cannot provide an exact route but below, I have provided the starting and finishing locations for each of the five days.

The iPhone works great as a SatNav device but if you wish to follow suit then be prepared to use every break to find somewhere to recharge the phone.

Most days I aim to cover around 80 miles and I plan to achieve that by averaging around 14mph when cycling and breaking the day up into the following four sections:

1. Ride for about 1.5 hours (20 miles) then stop for a 30 minute tea-break.

2. Ride for about 1.5 hours (20 miles) then stop for lunch for about 60 minute.

3. Ride for about 1.5 hours (20 miles) then stop for a 30 minute tea-break.

4. Ride for about 1.5 hours to that evening’s hotel.

14 mph is not an excessive pace but 80 miles a day for four days means you need to be fit not fast.

The following schedule lists the hotels that I have booked for my brother and I but I cannot guarantee there will be rooms available for anyone else. However, it will not be hard to arrange meeting points for the following day’s departure if more than one hotel is used.

Anyone who wishes to do the trip is also welcome to determine their own plan and their own preferred pace. I am sure there are many of you that could do it a lot quicker. The main aims are to get there safely, raise as much money as possible and have fun on the way.

Carlisle is a very friendly club and I am sure they will help us to provide safe storage for bikes and luggage during the match.

However, anyone joining us will have to consider how they get themselves and their bike back home after the game.

Departure:  Florence Park at 10am.

Destination: Premier Inn, Peterborough (Norman Cross A1(M), J16), Norman Cross, Peterborough, PE7 3TB

Distance: 78.6 Miles

Departure: Premier Inn, Peterborough (Norman Cross A1(M), J16), Norman Cross, Peterborough, PE7 3TB

Destination: Best Western, West Retford Hotel, 24 North Road, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 7XG (0845 373 0982, )westretfordhotel.co.uk

Distance: 76.3 Miles

Departure:  Best Western, West Retford Hotel 

Destination: St Georges Court, Old Home Farm,Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 3PJ (
01765 620 618) Distance:70.4 Miles

Departure: St Georges Court, Old Home Farm, Ripon, North Yorkshire

Destination: Premier Inn, Carleton, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA4 0AD (0871 527 8206)

Distance: 86.8 Miles

Departure:  Premier Inn, Carleton, Carlisle

Destination: Carlisle United FC, Brunton Park, Warwick Rd, Carlisle, CA1 1LL

3.4 Milesistance:D