Hello! my name is Alex Bennett and this summer I will be taking on the longest possibe A - B cycle route in the UK: Land's End in Cornwall to John o'Groats in Scotland, which is aproximately 1000 miles. This is a personal challenge to raise money for the charity Teens In Crisis. I have chosen to raise money for this charity because of their outstanding work over the past 26 years, helping to provide free counselling for young people aged 9-21 in gloucestershire. As I'm sure many of you are aware, mental health is affecting more young people now than ever before. With funding for the mental health sector on a constant decline, the demand for free counselling services such as Teens In Crisis is at an all time high.

During my teen years I seriously struggled with chronic depression and anxiety, as did many of my peers. At every step of the way I was fortunate enough to have had professional care and support available to me free of charge, whether it was counselling, medication or hospital care. As macabre as it may seem, without this privilege there is a chance that I may not be here today - but I am eternally grateful that I am. For these reasons, it's so important to me that I can do something to give back and to help young people that may find themselves going through a mental health crisis. 

If you share my aspirations to help young people through this crucial stage in their lives, please consider sponsoring me on this epic, gruelling journey. I am aiming to raise £1000 on my ride of 1000 miles. I have set myself the challenge to complete the ride in two weeks, which means a massive 70 miles per day! To make things even more interesting, I will be doing it all on my fixed gear bike - that means no gears and no freewheel, across all of the hills and valleys that the UK has to offer! So, I will be doing the hard bit... all you have to do is sponsor me! It will mean a great deal to me, and even more to the young people who will benefit from the services provided by TIC.

Thank you very much and stay posted for updates!