As many of you know, I am riding a stage of the Tour de France on Monday 11 July. It is only 109km but it involves a lot of climbing, including the 2,556 metre high Col du Galibier, the highest point the Tour goes to anywhere in the Alps. It finishes at Alpe d'Huez, which has 21 hairpin bends up to the summit and is 14km at an average 8% gradient (not too bad on its own but quite tough if you've already done six hours riding to get to the bottom). In total it is the equivalent of cycling half way up Everest in a day.

I am raising money for Coram's Fields, a seven acre park just for children in Holborn (centre of London). It is a charity and does a lot of fantastic work for children in the area...find out more at http://www.coramsfields.org/ I am specifically raising money for new sports equipment for Coram's Fields, which they badly need.

Many thanks to anyone who donates....large or small contributions are all massively appreciated.