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Perhaps my better judgement (after two months watching and writing about sport and drinking large volumes of red wine) I will be on the start line for the Ride London this weekend following in the wheel tracks of Bradley Wiggins' 2012 victory on the same roads. For those not familiar it's a 100-mile ride on closed roads, from the Olympic Park and finishing on the Mall, with some seriously lumpy Surrey countryside in between. Leith Hill (the highest point in SE England, I am told, is already provoking dark thoughts of bonking (cycling term) or falling off or just the humiliation of being overtaken by a clown on a uni-cycle!  As is Box Hill. 

Anyway the bike is oiled, I've shaved my leg hair, had a haircut and with a few dozen energy gels and some fig rolls I think I might make it round before getting overtaken by the Pro Race later (yeah the serious boys are in town too). Completing it will be the longest ride I've done in a day and considering my training regime has been sporadic to say the least, I'm not going to be lighting up the peloton or getting in many breakaways. I'll be the one plodding along on someone's wheel.

Now the important bit.

To make this quest a little more worthwhile I've decided to try and raise a little cash for Save the Elephants. This magnificent species is teetering on the edge of extinction in the wild. We all know the reasons, the hideous trade in ivory being the main one. But many elephants are also killed by local tribesmen and farmers who are trying to protect their land. Save the Elephants with Bees and Honey is a fantastic initiative, working with nature to keep everyone happy. Keeping it simple here, but elephants don't like bees. So make a fence out of bee hives and the elephants don't trample the farms and the farmers get to make money from the honey. Simple, but it's working with 80% success rates in trials in Kenya. What's more Beehive Fences are cheap to construct costing approximately $150 to $500 per 100m depending on what types of beehives are used.

Thing you'l agree it's a great scheme and if it can help elephants and humans live in harmony and help bring these graceful, sentient and beautiful creatures back from the brink, I'll ride up Leith Hill backwards! 

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