I'm doing the St Richard's Hospice September Saddle-Up challenge to cycle 250k throughout September. I started working here with intentions of cycling to work everyday, but I’ve never managed more than one week in a row, often put off by rain. Since lockdown the decline in traffic has encouraged me to be lazy. I’ve often pushed snooze, knowing I can have an extra half hour in bed because a commute by car will take no more than ten minutes and when I’m home-working, the most cardio I get in is up and down the stairs to fetch coffee and snacks.

This challenge will hopefully help me shift some stubborn weight, whilst raising money for the hospice and reducing my carbon footprint to boot. For September, every journey to the office (rain or shine) will be via my bike. When I'm home working, I'll be popping out on my lunch break and on the weekends I'll be going for long rides to get the distance up. Everyone knows I like a tipple or two (or three) on the weekends, but this month, in order to keep up my energy levels, I will be forgoing the sauce (except for one day, which is my little sisters not-so-little 30th). This challenge is going to get me fitter than ever before and hopefully start a good habit of regularly cycling to work.

The most important thing, though, is to raise money for a good cause. St Richard’s Hospice helps terminally ill people to die with comfort and dignity both at the hospice and in their own homes. They provide palliative care for people suffering long term illness, offer counselling services to bereaved people (more so than ever following the pandemic) and they even provide specialist training to other care providers. Please sponsor me for this good cause and remember every little bit adds up (a fact I will be keeping in mind when counting every kilometre on my rickety bike).