Some of you may know that last October I was gravely ill with pneumonia. It was a self inflicted conditions brought on by heavy smoking, drinking too much, leading an increasingly sedentary life style and working silly hours whilst under the weather. When I got out of hospital I felt that I had better stop the smoking at the very least and make an effort to get fit.

I had cycled everywhere as a kid and even into my early twenties so it was the obvious choice. I had also seen, over the last 15 or so years, the mysterious sign outside the village of Beatock which is in the photograph. I had asked about it and been told by someone that it was part of the Glasgow to Toulouse cycle route so I decided, on a whim, that this is what I would do. With no real idea about how it was going to pan out I told everyone that cared to listen that I was going to do this and asked them if they wanted to come along. Most said no (sensible and honest) some said yes through a fog of alcohol and then wriggled out of it and one stuck to it, Paul Sutherland. Since then we have both been cycling a silly amount of miles in training for this and on the 29^th of August we will be leaving George Square on our bikes to make a 1,000 plus mile treck through Southern Scotland, England and then France.  We will be carrying all our luggage which adds about 25kg to our bikes and should arrive thinner and rather sweaty in Toulouse on the 12^th of September.

Hopefully you will all put a little bit of money towards Sports Relief so that as well as doing myself some good we can also help a few others.

Oh and the person who told me that there was a Glasgow to Toulouse cycle route was lying and I have blindly believed them until a few months ago!