Daisy: When I was 8 I asked for a bicycle for my birthday. The big day came and my parents presented me with a small, wrapped box...No bike :(

I was devastated but tried desperately to hide my disappointment. Mum and Dad love a little practical joke, so as I opened the box to find the keys to the garden shed, I squealed, ran to the end of the garden and found - at last! - a brand new shiny birthday bike. 

Most of us are lucky enough to have had happy, healthy and safe childhoods, with little appreciation or even knowledge of what the opposite looks like. Sadly though for too many children across the world, the opposite is their reality.

In a few weeks time, Ryan and I are doing the Prudential Ride100 to raise money for UNICEF and their children in danger campaign.

Though that bike and me became great friends, cycling has – until now – been more of a pottering-through-Cambridge-with-my-wicker-basket vibe than a move-over-Bradley-Wiggins one. Training continues to confirm that 100 miles is going to be a huge challenge. Needless to say, this is an incredibly worthy cause that I have no doubt will get me through the miles when the lungs and legs begin to fail me (about 20 miles in then...)

Any donations / sponsorship / words of advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you! Just £10 buys enough exercise books, pens, pencils, textbooks and other school things to support the education of a child for a whole year.

Ryan: Those of you who know me may be reading this and questioning whether 100 miles is a sufficient challenge. Unlike Dais, I’ve done a few of these types of events before, though not quite this distance and without the distractions of central London’s sites. However, the challenge for me is perhaps not entirely physical – I have taken on the role of coaching the cycling newbie, and so rather than focusing on miles per hour, position in the race or when to eat my next jelly baby, I now have to think about not making conversation on hills, how many times Dais will fall with the bike still attached to her, and when she’ll eat her next jelly baby. First world problems, undoubtedly, but training has been fiery to say the least. As the saying goes: hell hath no fury like a woman trying to learn how to cycle long distances with cleats in a short period of time… or something like that.

The work that UNICEF does around the world for children who are in danger, in disaster zones, maltreated, malnourished, abused, exploited, unwell and even at risk of dying – scenarios that we are lucky enough to have never considered part of childhood – is invaluable and needs constant funding. 

12p buys a polio vaccination to protect one child. £20 buys mosquito nets to protect 7 families from deadly malaria. £500 buys two water pumps to provide clean and safe water to a school or whole community. 

Children are the future; let’s make their worlds safer and supported.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCBW-uFuiKU

Love and thanks,

Daisy & Ryan

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