Cancer.  We hear that word so often, it’s easy to forget just how destructive the disease can be. 

We worry about all manner of things in life, most of the time those worries are a waste of time. Troubles never realised. 

Yet cancer is something to be concerned with. HALF of all British people can now expect to get cancer at some point in their lives. Half! 

There have been many advances made over the years, and millions more people are surviving, and beating cancer. There are some great news stories to be told, and there is a lot of hope for further treatments, and cures. 

However, for a lot of people cancer is the end of the road. We don’t like to talk about it, but cancer kills people. Many people are diagnosed at a stage where the battle is already lost. Terminal illness isn’t a dirty word, it’s a fact of life. 

That’s where people like St Giles step in. Even if someone is dying from cancer, they help them live with that cancer right up to the very end. Until I saw the way people are treated by the team at St Giles, I’d never have believed end of life care could be delivered so compassionately, so professionally and so thoughtfully. It’s a great comfort knowing we have such an amazing facility on our doorstep here in the midlands. 

I thought ST Giles hospice was going to be a scary place. A place dying people are shoved in their final days to expire, away from the rest of the healthcare system. 

I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s a place that the terminally ill get to LIVE out the end of their lives. They get the help they need to be as comfortable as possible right until the last moments of their life. I’ve witnessed this care, first hand and  I’ve been over whelmed with gratitude. St Giles hospice have helped give my family peace during some of our most difficult moments. 

So, that’s the ‘why’... now for the ‘what’ am I doing to try and raise a bit of money for the St Giles hospice. 

It’s going to involve me, a bicycle and some Lycra. 

Over the next few weeks I’m going to attempt 3 separate cycling challenges. 

Starting with the annual St Giles ride from their Whittington base on Sunday the 2nd of September. There are 3 distances available. A 27, a 40 and a 75 mile course to choose from. 

So, the obvious thing to do is try and ride all 3 courses on Sunday morning. I’ll be setting off early, and hope to have the 27 and 40 mile course done in time to be at the start line with everyone else for the 75 miler at 09:00. 

That’s the warm up, then on Sunday 16th September ( weather permitting ) I’m going to try and Everest Boot Hill. Riding the Tamworth RMCC Boot Hill Challenge segment 121 times. Everesting is simple in concept, yet fiendishly difficult at the same time. Pick a hill, then ride up and down it until you have ridden the height of Mount Everest. 29,029 ft... 

Then to finish it off will be an attempt to join Hells 500 High Rouleurs society. I will be attempting ‘the Limit’. Which again is simple in design, but difficult in execution. You have to go on a single ride, and attain 10000 meters of vertical elevation. ( 32808 ft) No time limit, but no sleeping.  Date to be confirmed, but early to mid October is about ball park. 

So that’s it really, one charity, three testing events. I will provide updates and details on this page as plans evolve. 

I know my target of £1000 is a lot of money, and times are hard and budgets are stretched. So anything, and I mean anything that you could donate would be greatly appreciated. Even a single pound, if everyone that read this donated just one pound then that target would eventually be met. 

Thank you, having read this much, you probably need a rest. Or a sleep. Or you never made it this far because you did fall asleep.