Hi & thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

2 years ago I read a couple of facts - not that strange for a Researcher, but they were facts I couldn't get out of my head. The first is that in Lesotho, over 35% of the adults are infected with HIV and the 2nd is that a mother with HIV has over a 98% chance of passing it on to her unsuspecting baby. The brighter side of these dreadful stats, if there could be, is that a simple and relatively cheap injection, reduces the likelihood of passing it on, to less than 2%. I had to do something and Enduro Africa, has enabled me to do just that and help some of these people and other South African's.

On October 16th, along with 80 other like minded bikers, I am taking part in Enduro Africa’s ‘Ride for Life’.  A charity off-road motorcycle ride, which encompasses 1 in 4 climbs, dusty hot trails as well as 73 bridgeless rivers to cross and other uncharted territory.  In addition to being an extremely tough physical and mental challenge, I will also spend a day helping to transform a children’s school in one of ’s poorest areas. 

For those of you who have never ridden an off-road motorbike, I can assure you it's not going to be an easy ride. 2 knee operations, 1 Double Hernia and 2 x-rays aside, most of riding is done standing up on 1*4" foot-pegs. Each day starts around 6AM, with a good 12 hours of riding, times that by 8 days in a row and throw in some fairly basic accommodation/sharing a bed! and it's going to be extremely tough. My kit weighs in at around 18kg, coupled with a rucksack of another 6 kg or so, a temperature ranging from 30 to 6C so it's going to be a little sweaty - I've lost a stone in training, but will probably loose another as we'll be burning around 6000 calories a day and will need 5 Litres of water, just to stay level - that's a lot of Big Macs & Cokes, even for me!

Have a look at last year's short film if you have a few mins :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp6AWJqV-Es

Sentebale means 'Forget Me Knot' - Please help me reach my additional target (beyond the money already raised via Enduro Africa's base cost and guaranteed charity donations). Anything, no small will help, even if it's just the cost of the next pint or 2 you don't really need....

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thanks loads

Simon / Gaz