4 years ago my friend Matt Dix was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and went through some truely horrific experiences in chemotherapy to get through it and recover. Now he's going to be crossing the pyreenes by bike and I'll be joining him.

We depart the Atlantic town of Hendaye on Monday 25th at 9am, and we have 100 hours to reach the Mediterranean sea at Cerbere before 1pm Friday 29th July. Our route is very hilly and travels as over some of the biggest mountain passes in Western Europe.

Its 720km, with over 12,500m of climbing, and we'll be on the bike for around 8-10 hours a day, crossing some of the steepest and most epic climbs like the col de tourmalet, which the tour de France will pass through the week before us.

I'm raising for Cancer research UK because medical research means that the prognosis for testicular cancer is now very good - 90% of men live 10 years or more after diagnosis.

We will be attempting this ride for our own sense of achievement without any charity donations, but when the going gets tough, we will take comfort knowing that friends and family are willing us on, and that a good cause is going to benefit from it all.

Follow my progress on Strava  here - https://www.strava.com/athletes/1534077