This young fella Henry is the son of two of my work colleagues, Adam and Kayleigh. A cracking family. Henry was born profoundly deaf. Through the incredible work and support of the National Deaf Children's Society and some amazing doctors, Henry now has cochlear implants and whist his hearing is impaired and he has a long way to go, Henry will go on to have a brilliant life.
I'm one of the lucky ones, most of you are too, my kids don't need the attention of such caring specialists. Therefore it is doubly important that we lucky ones lend a hand when we can. In this case, I'll do the 0500hrs training rides 4/5 times a week for 6 months to get strong enough to do a 100 mile bike ride in August, for your part I'm hoping you might be able to chuck in a tenner (or more if you're feeling generous) towards me doing it. Every £ you put in, our fab company, The Access Group are going to match with another £, pretty cool huh?
The ride was going to be the London Ride 100, with closed roads, cheering crowds, organised feeding stations and support staff, loo's and thousands of other cyclists to keep us all going. With Covid19, it got cancelled. But the charity still needs money, because kids still need mending and caring for. So three of us have decided we'll go it alone. David Whyte is doing 100 miles in Scotland, Damian Cox is doing 100 miles in the Midlands, I'm doing 100 miles down south. Henry's Dad Adam is going to join us virtually, on his pelaton from home.
I don't have that many mates. If you are reading this, it's because you are one of those I'm proud to consider a mate. So, with a lump in my throat, I say these final 3 words....please. Thank you.