UPDATE No1 - Thanks so much to all of Dave's friends for the superb effort so far. The gel-filled gauntlet has been thrown down... Paul has finally managed to persuade a total stranger to take a pic for this page - and now with only a couple of days to go he's revised the overall target, and is tapping up all his friends and colleagues for cash big style. Dig deep my friends...trust me, I will be. PC

OUR STORY Dave Beech and his oldest friend, Paul Carter, have decided to launch a final, futile attack on their mid-life crises.

By summoning the spirit of Ernest Shackleton, but clothed in the body of Ray Mears, these two road warriors will be cycling between Calais and Nice in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity.  They hope to cover almost 1,000 miles in 2 weeks starting on 18 May.

Most of us will know someone touched by this disease so it's important we raise all we can to help make our families, and future generations, a little safer.  Every penny raised will go straight to the charity so please give generously.

We'll be updating this site regularly over the next month so keep an eye on it, particularly if you have an interest in gear ratios and lycra.

So, two middle-aged fat blokes doing strenuous exercise in a foreign country - what could possibly go wrong?