Following a staff training day at the start of January a group of teachers finished the day with a prolonged stay in a local pub. Next day they arrived at school and announced the plan to form a team to do the London to Brighton bike ride!

I had to join them, the chance to raise money for a great cause and achieve a significant challenge within the support of a team. Although I have done some cycling before it had mainly been with the family and always on psychopaths, so quite a lot of training was needed.

I reassembled my road bike, bought in the 1970's when I had just joined the merchant navy, which had spent the past few decades in various lofts and sheds; if it can make it - so can I!

I will be riding in memory of my dad who passed away a couple of years ago following a heart attack. He taught me to ride a bike and was a keen cyclist in his youth.