Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

For a while, I have felt like I should contribute to DB's excellent charitable effort. Both this years' charities are great causes, but I feel particularly close to Cure Leukaemia, as my sister (Liz) died from Leukaemia in 1998. At the time she caught the disease, the remission rate for the particular strain she contracted was 0%. She fought bravely, and became the person who survived the longest after diagnosis, by a significant factor (she survived 10 months, and the previous record had been 4). During that time, she had a little period, where although the disease was clearly winning, she was able to live away from a hospital. She threw parties for her friends and family, she climbed Vesuvius (only from the car park, but that was far enough) and she tried to tick items off from her bucket-list. This last little bit of life was achieved only through the efforts of charities like Cure Leukaemia. This year being the 20th anniversary of her death, it seems like it was serendipitous that one of the charities of year works to improve survival rates from this awful disease.

I started cycling with the aim of doing something like this, after I was inspired by my wife and her friends doing an overnight charitable walk. (I was logistical support, and spent several hours hanging out on Clapham Common in the middle of the night. It was a memorable night.)

I took up road cycling in 2017, so I feel that the challenge of cycling 150 miles in 2 days is a sufficient one for someone of my level! We'll start in Stratford, east London, on Friday 1st June, and spend the day cycling to Harwich in Essex. We'll spend the night on the ferry over to the Hook of Holland. From there we'll set off for Amsterdam the following morning, arriving on Saturday evening.

Sorry about the naf picture. It was 2 degrees with a 20mph wind! I wasn't feeling warm enough to take a better one!

Please donate a little to these excellent causes!

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.