UPDATE: I ORIGINALLY PLANNED TO ATTEMPT THIS ON THE COLL DE SOLLER, WHILST ON HOLIDAY IN MALLORCA, IN SEPTEMBER. FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS, THIS WON'T BE POSSIBLE. I AM WELL AWARE THAT MANY OF YOU HAVE MADE GENEROUS DONATIONS ALREADY, AND I'M INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL TO YOU ALL. I'M COMPLETELY COMMITTED TO COMPLETING THIS CHALLENGE, AND NOW PLAN TO COMPLETE MY "EVERESTING" MUCH CLOSER TO HOME, ON MOTT STREET IN ESSEX.

What?

On 9 July 2017, I'll be cycling up and down Mott Street, on the edge of Epping Forest in Essex, until I've climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest.

Mott Street is a typical Essex hill, about 0.6 miles long at an average gradient of 7%. It's well-known within the local cycling community and frequently used for hill climb racing. 

The plan is simple: park the car at the bottom, ride to the top, and ride back down again. Repeat 135 times, covering 160+ miles and racking up 29,029 ft of vertical ascent (the height of Everest). Pause once every couple of hours to grab a peanut butter sandwich and a water bottle refill.

I'm hoping to crack this in 18-20 hours, but it's unknown territory so that's a bit of a guesstimate. It will be a long, hard, repetitive challenge and I expect it to be as tough psychologically as it will be punishing on the legs.

Why?

I'd like to raise a few pounds for Tommy's, the baby charity. Many of you will have heard of Tommy's and some of you may have benefited, perhaps without knowing it, from the research they do into miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth.

One in four women lose a baby during pregnancy and birth, yet miscarriage and stillbirth remain relatively unspoken subjects and research into the causes and treatments is under-funded. Tommy's is trying to change that by providing quality information to parents, supporting couples through pregnancy issues and funding vital research into the causes via its National Centre for Miscarriage Research.

If you're able to donate a small amount, I'd be very grateful. 

Thank you.