Many of you who follow me on here or on Facebook and elsewhere will be aware of my passion for Mountain Biking. One of the key people who has stoked that fire in recent years has been Michael Bonney of Orange Mountain Bikes.
I forget how we first made contact, it's not really important, but I do know that we got talking about the famous Endurance DH event at Fort William very early on. An abridged version of the conversation went like this:
Michael "Have you heard about the Endurance DH event at Fort William?"
Me "Yeah, it's in a few weeks time, I'd like to do it one day"
Michael "Do it this year"
Me "I don't have a bike"
Michael "Ride one of ours"
Me "Errrrr ok!"
This is what Michael does, he gets people riding bikes. He is the spark that ignites people around the world to get out there and do something.
In March this year, Michael was out riding and crashed badly resulting in a C3 spinal cord injury. The result is that Michael is now tetraplegic - paralysed from the neck down, requiring a ventilator to breathe.
I've not know him for long, but I can tell you that Michael is a Tough Northern B'stard in the truest sense. He will not be beaten by this but he will need some ongoing support.
It is with this that I present a 100 mile challenge I am doing this summer.
- On August the 17th, I will 'Race the Train' in a 14 mile off road running event.
- On September the 19th, I will ride 60 miles in the first 'Ride for Michael Bonney Sportive'.
- On October the 6th I will run the 26 miles of the Chester Marathon.
For the long-term, the process of setting up the Michael Bonney Trust Fund and charitable projects are in progress. Sadly until they are firmly in place, well known services like justgiving.com are not an option for reasons out of the control of Michael's support team.
Therefore to raise funds ( and get your hard earned CASH ), I am asking you to support the Ride for Michael - Stage 1 Campaign.
All you need to do is hit the 'Contribute Now' button ( or you could buy some merchandise to help spread the word! )
Granted doing it this way will make it hard for me to track what I raise, but this isn't about an individual target or about a personal ego massage. This is about raising funds to support one of our own.
This is also an open invite to all of you to join me at any of these events and to do your own for #RIDE4MB
This is just the beginning.... please keep checking back for updates.
PLEASE SHARE THIS POST AND SPREAD THE WORD.
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