I was meant to be cycling the Tour De Yorkshire 2020 4 staged route exactly one day after the Pros raced it, covering approximately 612km and around 9632 meters of ascent to raise money for Alzheimer's Research UK. Due to COVID-19 the actual race was cancelled and with it so was my own ride. COVID-19 is going to be in our lives for sometime so enough of putting the brakes on so to speak and time to re-evaluate and get my own two wheels back in motion which I also now feel is safe to do so. Lets do this, but bigger, harder, better and all for Alzheimer's Research UK. So here goes...........

 I will still be cycling the 4 staged route exactly as the Pros should have and will still be solo, self sufficient, self funded on every stage and my wife will act as my swanny. However I will now be riding the actual transfer between the stages rather than getting a lift as well adding approximately 416km and around 5172 metres of ascent to the actual 4 staged race. This means I will cover over 1000km and 14800 metres of ascent in 9 days. The actual TDY stages and transfer routes I will be riding can be found below. I will be starting my ride on Thursday 2nd July 2020 and finishing it on Friday 10th July 2020.

Thursday 2nd July - Transfer Stage Home to Beverley 84.3km/400 metres ascent           

Friday 3rd July - Stage 1 Beverley to Redcar 176.5km/1718 meters ascent 

 Saturday 4th July - Transfer Stage Redcar to Skipton 123.1km/1441 metres ascent    

Sunday 5th July - Stage 2 Skipton to Leyburn 124.5km/1747 meters ascent 

Monday 6th July - Transfer Stage Leyburn to Barnsley 129.7km/2123 metres ascent             

Tuesday 7th July - Stage 3 Barnsley to Huddersfield 134km/2863 meters ascent 

Wednesday 8th July - Transfer Stage Huddersfield to Halifax 16.51km/378 metres ascent         

Thursday 9th July -  Stage 4 Halifax to Leeds 177.5km/3304 meters ascent

Friday 10th July - Transfer Stage Leeds to Home 62.8km/830 metres ascent.

Though I am no stranger to a big day out on the bike I have never come close to attempting a challenge as big as this. I have not stopped training since the cancellation of the TDY so I felt I needed to make it even harder for myself given the cause I am doing it for and I will be giving it all I have got to complete it and raise as much money as I can for a charity that is very close to my heart. The suffering on the bike will be nothing to what a person with dementia and their families have to go through. The idea for this challenge  came as my dad was in the last stages of dementia, struggling to swallow any food or drink. Its a disease that I watched slowly rob him of any independence. He had been in a care home for the last 4 years with a disease slowly and painfully killing him. What made it worse was he wasn't even 64 years old yet when he passed away on 27th January 2020. My Nan also died of this terrible disease in January 2019 (my dads mum). And though she had the support of her loving husband that I am sure prolonged her life a lot longer, dementia still did its thing. Robbed her of her memories and independence slowly until she could do nothing for herself like my dad.

If I could change one thing it would be for dementia to never happen at all. We are a very long way off that but Alzheimer's Research UK is the UK's leading dementia research charity, dedicated to causes, diagnosis, prevention, treatment and a cure. They fund a broad range of research projects to understand dementia and drive us towards better diagnosis, preventions and treatments. With your help they can make great progress. Every penny you can give really does help.  

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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.