Some background

Good evening everybody,

This summer, I'm going to be cycling from London to Paris over the course of four days in aid of Mind, which (for those of you who don't know) is a mental health charity operating in England and Wales. The longest distance I've cycled thus far is the 54 miles from London to Brighton, so clearly there's some work to be done to get ready for this.

And, to those of you who have asked ... no, we don't have to go across the Channel by pedalo.

To add to the training which I'm going to have to do in order to make it all the way there, I'm also planning to do it on a bike I've assembled myself, especially for this event. There are a couple of reasons for this:

• My day-to-day bike, while not too heavy, is a hybrid rather than a proper road bike, and I figure I'll enjoy a long road ride better on a bike suited for the purpose.
• I want to learn how to maintain my own bike, and learning the hard way and making my mistakes on a new bike means I should be able to keep my day-to-day bike on the road!

In a happy coincidence, this side-project also gives me the opportunity to have a blog with a purpose, something I've wanted to do for quite some time now.

I'd be very happy if you joined me for the journey.

Alan.