What is the Etape?

The etape is the only road bike race in the UK which is undertaken on closed roads.  It starts in Pitlochry and heads up to Kinloch Rannoch, looping around Loch Rannoch and the foot of Schiehallion before heading back to Pitlochry.  The route is 81 miles long and there is a vertical ascent of 1900m (almost two Munros).

More information is available at www.etapecaledonia.co.uk.

Updates from my twitter feed are on www.neilmack.co.uk

What's the deal Neil?

I'll be officially over the hill in April 2012 and so I am doing the Etape to show that while I might not be young anymore I can still be daft..

Too cheap to buy a bike with gears, my road bike is a singlespeed.  One gear; 81 miles and 1900m of ascent: bring it on!

I've optimistically estimated that I can average 18 miles an hour and finish in four and a half hours.  We'll see if I can manage it!

What do Marie Curie do?

Marie Curie Cancer Care provides high quality nursing, totally free, to give people with terminal cancer and other illnesses the choice of dying at home, supported by their families. It runs nine Marie Curie Hospices across the UK offering free specialist care for patients and support for families. The charity conducts palliative care research to find better ways of caring for terminally ill people and also funds scientists who investigate the causes and treatments of cancer. Charity Registration No 207994 (England & Wales) and SC038731 (Scotland)

For more information on Marie Curie, click through to www.mariecurie.org.uk

Donating

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.