Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I'm delighted to have an opportunity to raise funds for McMillan Cancer Support. As a GP in Cumbria, I have had reason on many occasions to appreciate the work that our McMillan nurses do with my patients.

The Fred Whitton Challenge is a thing of legend. It's the original cyclosportive, it's still run entirely by volunteers to raise money for McMillan Cancer Support and several smaller charities, and it's still one of the hardest events in the amateur sporting calendar. 

It's also local to me, and for the past three years, I've helped out as a volunteer while my husband has done the ride. I've always said that I have no interest in riding the route alongside over a thousand other cyclists ... until this year, when I decided I'd take part just the once, both to try to raise lots of money for the event's charities and to test my own cycling on the route.

It's not going to be easy for me. I promise that I will suffer, and I'm such a weak cyclist that I'm likely to be out there suffering for a long, long time so if you're paying to see me suffer you'll get good value for money. If I manage to ride up the first part of Honister Pass it'll be one of my better days and if I manage to ride up the top part of Hardknott Pass it'll be a miracle. 

But I'm not riding on a LOOK AT ME! I'M MAD, ME! ticket. Endurance is my thing, I have a good record of completing events of more than 100 miles, I know every inch of the route, I'm doing the training and I have no doubt that I can finish.

If I don't, for whatever reason, I promise that I'll ride the route as a Four Seasons Challenge at the earliest opportunity afterwards so that you don't feel you've donated for nothing.