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I am taking part in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 and raising money for CAFOD. The ride follows the route of the Olympic bike road race. Starting at the Olympic park, going through London and out into Surrey, up Box Hill once (the men's Olympic race did the hill 8 times!). It's then back into London (eventually) to finish on The Mall. I am rather hoping that it will be nice weather and Her Maj will be waving to me as I finish. With luck there will be some nice pictures!

The “100” in the name of the event refers to the number of miles all the way round. That's 160km. Quite a long way! I have been cycling regularly so I am confident that my fitness will be up to it. I joined a cycle club last year and go out once or twice a week, covering about 120km per week. I don't really qualify as a Mamil – a “Middle Aged Man In Lycra” - as the definition in Wikipedia describes a Mamil as a “..middle aged man who rides an expensive racing bicycle for leisure, wearing tight-fitting bicycle jerseys and bicycle shorts”. My bike is definitely not expensive! As for the other parts of the definition, let's just leave it there.

I have been building up my fitness and endurance. Last August we spent some time cycling up Alps! I was rather taken aback to find that in one month I climbed just under a vertical 10km. One of the gallery pictures is me up the top of Col de l'Iseran in France (if you are a skier, you may know this within the Val d'Isere ski area).

Cycling with my club, San Fairy Ann CC in Kent, over the winter and into spring was good, and I had a programme of rides going though the spring and summer. All very organised. Then there was a setback to my plans. If you look at the x-ray picture in this page's gallery, you don't have to be medically trained to see that my collar bone was rather broken. I hit a lump in the road while not paying attention and went down like a cycling sack of spuds. That was me out of action for 8 weeks, when the doctor at the fracture clinic said I could start riding again as long as I didn't fall off.

I am back on the bike again and feeling ok. I have done a couple of long rides – one round most of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) and the other with Catherine around the surprisingly hilly Kent. Both 100km or more, so the legs are still working after their enforced rest. There are many training regimes in every cycling magazine on the newsagents' shelves. I am sure they mean well, but my natural instinct is a bit more neanderthal. A slight variation on the strap line the Nike use, if you see what I mean.

I would be very grateful if you were able to make a donation to mark the occasion. I am raising money for Cafod. You can read about their work on their website here www.cafod.org.uk . In short, they are the aid agency of the Catholic Church of England and Wales. They work in the parts of the world you normally only hear about on the news, either directly or with local partner organisations. It's not all bad news, there are definite success stories, and I encourage you to have a good nose around their site. When you have done that, please consider making a donation using one of the ways described above.

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Many thanks

James