At the end of June I will doing two huge cycle races in order to raise money for Prostate Cancer.  For those of you that know me, cycling (sober) 85 miles uphill one weekend and 120 miles the next sounds like utter madness ... well it is but the cause is amazing and the person that has asked me to cycle with him, David Hillier, should be an inspriation for all of us. 

In 2002 David, a very dear friend, found out he had terminal prostate cancer and was given 2 years to live.  Despite having some experimental chemotherapy and radiotherapy time passed and he was told he had six months left to live.  He continued to stay amazingly positive and set himself goals, he called them "things to stay alive for".

He started riding his bicycle as the oncologist thought it may help him, to think of it as a treatment so to speak.  Since this time David has done several bike rides raising several hundred thousand pounds.

Miraculously late last year Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York gave him the all clear so we are going to celebrate in style, with a 120 mile bike ride; in fact the first stage of the Tour de France.  This should take a mere 8 hours, assuming I can keep up a 15 mph average.  Just to make things a little tougher, other than there is no rolling bar on this route, David and I are going to do an 80 mile ride the week before; this is also is a very challenging route with three 500m hills, two of which are UK category 1 climbs.

We all have to make sacrifices in our life and for me this is going to be a very tough challenge, but nothing like the challenges that some people have.  The strength and courage David has had over the passed few years is just amazing.  Please donate whatever you can for this amazing charity.

Thanks,  Gavin.  

(NB I have changed the first race to cycle with David on the Dragon Ride, which is tougher than the original race)