Cycle speedway is raced on short dirt tracks on bikes with no brakes, and physical contact is allowed. 

On September 14th I'll be doing it. 

Those who know me will be aware I'm more of a fair weather cyclist, occassionally commuting to work, although the bike hasn't been out of the garage in at least a year. I have never competed in a race before, bike or otherwise. 

Last year I went to see some cycle speedway at Wolverhampton's East Park, so this year when Twitter chatter started up about a local charity race, my ears pricked up. A few tweets and emails later, and I find I'll be racing along with local blogger James Clarke from WV11.co.uk and 14 others, at an event organised by Wednesfield Aces speedway team. 

I also believe the cause is a really great one, supporting BallsToCancer where your donations will contribute towards their aims:

[...] firstly we want to open a male only contact point for men and boys who have been diagnosed with cancer and their families, we also want to fund a education programme for teenagers to help them understand and take away the taboo of talking about testicular cancer and asking for help, and thirdly we want to fund research into treatments and ultimately a cure for this horrible disease, we will be talking to Oncologists and hospitals to ascertain which laboratories are the ones we should be funding.

Please sponsor me if you can!

If not you're of course welcome to attend the event and cheer us on, and help tend to my grazes. More details can be found on WV11.co.uk and I may also be discussing it on Twitter: @jezturner