On Your Bike: Early-bird offer for Isabel Hospice's Bishop's Stortford ride

Isabel Hospice's annual sponsored bike ride in Bishop's Stortford is back for a ninth year, offering something for every level of cycling prowess.

Taking place on Sunday May 27 and starting and finishing at the rugby club at Silver Leys in Hadham Road, adult cyclists who sign up for On Your Bike before March 5 will pay £12 instead of £20. For children, the entry fee is £8.

Last year’s event featured 490 cyclists and generated £17,000 for the hospice.

Once again, there is a choice of three distances.

A 25k (15.5-mile) circular route, ideal for families, takes in the pretty villages of Manuden and Stocking Pelham before heading back through Patmore Heath and Farnham.

The 50k (31 miles) mirrors the 25k route at the start and then takes riders on to Clavering, Upper Langley Green, Anstey, Great Hormead and Brent Pelham before rejoining the 25k route just before Patmore Heath.

If you are looking for a challenge, the 100k (62.1 miles) covers the 25k and 50k rides before splitting from the 50k route at Clavering, through Brent Pelham, down into Great Hormead and on into Barley. You will then cycle to Saffron Walden via Wendens Ambo before looping back round towards Clavering, where you will rejoin the 50k route and head for the finish line.

Event organiser Beth Hardy said: “Every penny raised from On Your Bike will help us care for more people in Bishop’s Stortford and the surrounding villages who are living with a terminal illness.

“We plan to care for more people than ever in the next five years and want to help people earlier in their journey, not just in the last few weeks. To be able to do this, we’re expanding our services, including those [at the St Barnabas Centre] in Thorley at our Living Well with Isabel Thursday sessions, so any sponsorship you can raise on top of your entry fee is vital to the work of our doctors and nurses.

“It’s going to be a really fun day, with music, refreshments and a bar at the finish line. There will be chip timing, sports massages for a donation by Injury Active Clinic and a bike mechanic to make sure your bike is in tip-top condition for the ride.”

If you don’t fancy cycling but would like to be involved in the fundraiser, you can marshal along the route. Sign up before March 5 for an early-bird discount at www.isabelhospice.org.uk/onyourbike or call 01707 382500.

Isabel Hospice staff and volunteers care for people in eastern Hertfordshire living with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses.