As a lot of you lovely people will know I love a challenge!  Something that will take me out of my comfort zone, as that is why we have them.

So I have been planning my next one for some time and with a lot of thought to something that could be unachievable, as I want to show case what the human mind and body can achieve. 

So here it is, I am planning to cycle 1000 miles over 9 days, which equates to 111.1 miles per day for the full 9 days. I want to get as many people involved on the last day as possible so I will cycle 117.5 miles for 8 days then have what I hope will be a massive group ride on the 9^th day for 60 miles.

I am just finalising the last of the routes I will be doing, as I am not taking the easy option of them being flat every day. As with most people that cycle I have a love hate relationship with hill climbing therefore, I will be trying to get as much elevation gain over the course of this epic challenge as possible. Once I have put all the routes together, I will release them with start times and an estimated time of finishing for those that would like to join me during part of a route or the whole day.

A lot of people may be asking WHY? As many will know after leaving the Army after 23.5 years, I found adjusting to civilian life extremely hard which had a massive effect on my mental state. I may have seemed to come across as the ex-confident Sarjant Major but that was a mask as my family and close friends knew. I was suffering with mental health issues and did for a long period of time and over that time it did get worse. A main contributing factor of this was completely stopping fitness, as I just did not have it in me to motivate myself. I also did not want to be around people, as I did not want to seem weak as I had many moments of just breaking down, for what I look back at now for no reason.

Without going on about the ins and outs of it I had a moment of ‘you need to get a grip Stuart’ as I could see it was affecting those that I love particularly my wife Kelly, who has always been my rock. So, I got into my car went to see one of my closest friends and just cried my eyes out for a few hours while they sat and listened (to those two incredible friends you were my angels that day). After that day I went and sort help with the incredible charity MIND who do some absolutely amazing work to what I call a disease but a disease that does not have a magic pill to cure you and is also indiscriminate to who it infects. MIND are there 24/7 for those that need help and be that short-term pill as they were for me in my time of need.

My pill as I realised is fitness so why not try to raise a bit of cash for an amazing charity doing something I am passionate about, but even more so, to raise awareness for this crippling disease as I can guarantee at some point in life deep down, we have all been affected with a mental health issue.

I will soon be putting up a just giving page but I do understand that times are extremely hard for many people now, so please only contribute what you can, if you can. Could I also ask that we spread this everywhere as it may help encourage someone to go and get that help or open up which is what I want more than anything.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.