Last year, on the 10th August, my 27 year old nephew Marcus was found dead in his house. His sister Ashley lost her best friend, my brother lost a son and my Mum lost her first grandson. It was devastating and completely out of the blue. My Mum called me as we were travelling back to my partner’s childhood home beneath the Mont Ventoux - the huge mountain in Provence, France. I couldn’t quite take in the news and I tightly held my 10 month old daughter's hand all the way home, unable to speak. Because of Covid I couldn’t travel back to Scotland for the funeral so we had a picnic on the side of the towering mountain on that strange day.

Marcus liked to get spooked as a child - he loved strange mythical places, ghost stories, mysteries and urban legends - his eyes would wander off into the distance when you told him about mysterious goings on. These stories petrified him but he couldn’t resist and always wanted to know every detail. He would have been fascinated by the imposing look of the bald Giant of Provence - the Mont Ventoux and revelled in the tragedy and mythical status it has.

Cycling has constantly featured in my life since I was a young boy growing up in Scotland. And it still really helps me get through difficult times. Whilst Marcus’ death wasn’t directly related to his state of mind at the time, he had struggled with his own mental health over many years as have other members of my family.

When something like this happens to a family, it can make you feel totally helpless so I wanted to mark the anniversary in a meaningful way. Being on my bike seemed like the obvious thing to do, so on the 10th August I will be riding up each of the three sides of the Mont Ventoux in a day - a total of approx 5700m climbing and about 160km seemed like a fitting tribute. 

In doing so I hope to raise some money for TINY CHANGES, a charity that invests in new and existing projects and frameworks, funds research and supports innovation that will improve young people’s mental health. This is a young charity supporting young people and I think if Marcus had spoken early on in his life to some of the organisations they support it would have helped him massively.

I still see him everywhere…

TINY CHANGES: Scott Hutchison, singer in the band Frightened Rabbit, died by suicide in May 2018. Since then, his family have been campaigning to improve mental health amongst children and young people in Scotland.Tiny Changes (SC049112) aims to further that cause by funding projects and events that support affected people and advance research, and also by raising awareness and influencing policy.There is a crisis in young people's mental health in Scotland and it is getting worse. The next generation needs your help now.