Me again.Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

This year I am trying to raise cash again for Michael Sobell House; the hospice where my father passed away two years ago.

On 5 June I will be setting of to the Alps to attempt some fantastic cycling climbs which include:

Col du Colombiere (1501 metres)

Col des Aravis (1486 metres)

Croix Fry (1467 metres)

Alpe d'Huez (1860 metres and part of the Tour de France).

So, yes Ventoux was higher (1912 metres) and the the Pru was longer (100 miles) but this ride combines both height and distance, and it all has to be completed by end of play on Sunday 8 June for our return flight from Geneva.

This is why...

Some of you reading this will be familiar with  my story having sponsored me for the Pru Ride 100 last year and Mt Ventoux the year before that. But, just to recap...

You may know that sadly my dad passed away in January of 2012. For the last three years of his life he had cancer.

For much of that period, he spent every Thursday at Michael Sobell House, a hospice affiliated to Mount Vernon Hospital where he met other inspirational people in the same boat as he and who would continue to valiantly fight this disease. Initially, he was very, very reluctant to spend time in a "hospice". But, after going for the first time he immediately made some good friends, and found the staff to be exemplary in their care.

He was an extremely social man but, unable to go out on Saturday nights with mum as he religiously would in previous years, he would look forward to his Thurdays at MSH with great enthusiasm.

He was first diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2009, and within a matter of weeks he had his stomach out. After a few complications, he recovered and over the next two years he was almost like a young man again as you will see from the video on the Ventoux page.

But then it came back,  on his aorta this time so surgery was out of the question. Instead he underwent chemotherapy and tolerated it very well. Sadly though, the cancer spread and following a rapid deterioration he died peacefully with our family at his bedside the day before his 75th birthday.

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