Hello!

Thank you for taking your time to read this. It is my first grown-up attempt to raise money for a cause. So, apologies in advance for making any obvious mistakes in the usual fund-raising etiquette!

This will also be the very first organised cycling event that I’m taking part in. I’m very excited about that. And to be frank a little petrified. It is a 100-mile route which I need to cover. Though it doesn’t sound huge it is a reasonably long distance. If I can do it in under 6 hours, I will pat myself on the back. Fingers cross it’ll be a little quicker than that!

Since it is my first race and I can easily make a complete disaster of it, I could have kept it to myself. But circumstances prompt me to use this opportunity to raise money to help a country that is screaming for help as I write this. I’ve found a charity that is collecting funds to help families in Ukraine who lost loved ones and misplaced by war started by Russia.

I’m Russian, I was born and raised in St Petersburg. It is formerly known as Leningrad. And I grew up surrounded by artefacts and stories of Fascists blockade of the city that lasted almost 900 days during the WW2. And I have been proud to be Russian, proud of many things that the country and its people achieved and what they stood for. Today, I don’t know what to feel and how to react.

I’m trying to disassociate the country that I knew from Kremlin’s decision to start the war with Ukraine. And it is not easy! So, this is my attempt to show the world that Russians are not Kremlin and Kremlin doesn’t represent Russia and true Russians. If you can, please donate whatever amount you can. The charity I’m supporting is called Nova Ukraine.

Thank you!