On Sunday 8 July, I will be attempting to cycle a stage of the Tour de France. Known as the ‘Etape’, it is a 150km ride up three-and-a-bit mountain passes in the Alps – a total of 4,500 metres of up. The professionals tackle exactly the same route four days later, but unlike many of them, I’ll be doing it without performance enhancing drugs.

I am raising money for three charities/causes Housing Justice, Christian Aid's West Africa appeal and Jubilee Debt Campaign. All the money collected will be split equally between:

- Housing Justice, who support hundreds of projects working with homeless people, and who campaign for decent housing.

- The Christian Aid West Africa appeal. More than 19 million people are facing a food crisis in West Africa. The causes are many: drought, climate change, conflict, high world food prices, crops being grown for export rather than to feed local people. Christian Aid are providing emergency assistance to try to prevent the crisis getting even worse.  

- Jubilee Debt Campaign, who work for a world free from the slavery of unjust debts. In response to the jubilee movement across the world, $120 billion of debt has been cancelled, reducing debt payments for many countries. But our crazy financial system still leads to huge debts being created between countries, most recently in Europe. Jubilee works to cancel debts when they are unjust or simply too large. But also to prevent the reckless lending which creates crises in the first place.

Back to the cycling...

Last year, the cold and rain meant only half the 4,000 riders who started the Etape finished. Which means there is a chance I might not make it this year.

But, since the start of the year I have cycled 6,554km, up and down hills in London, Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Essex and the Peak District. I’ve fallen off in Yorkshire on a hill that was just too steep, and managed not to fall off in Surrey on hills which were almost too icy. I’ve travelled at 75km an hour, the fastest I’ve ever been without the use of fossil fuels. I’ve had my legs bitten to death by mosquitoes in the Yorkshire Dales.

I’ve been glad of my helmet when chunks of ice came flying out of the sky in Sussex. I’ve lost a stone in weight. I've only had to fix one puncture - but it was in torrential rain in Cheshire. I’ve cooked and eaten so much flapjack I’m considering giving them up for life (and I really like flapjack). I’ve cycled through the night to Suffolk and had a swim to cool off on arrival. I’ve got up early for work to cycle up my local Crystal Palace hill 145 times. I've only had two lie-ins in six months. It's been fun, but I'll be glad when its over.

Thank you for your sponsorship :-)