As most people know, I cycle. A lot. I cycle for fitness & I cycle for sanity. I cycle for myself. 

But now I'm also going to be cycling for others. I'm taking part in this year's Heavy Metal Truants ride organised by my good friend & Space Rocks co-founder, Alex Milas, on behalf of four outstanding charities, & I hope you'll be willing & able to contribute.

I've been meaning to take part in HMT for a while, but work pressures & then last year's infamous fractured pelvis thanks to being knocked off my bike by a hit & run moped rider have prevented it until now.

And unfortunately, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, this year's ride will not be to Donington as a group. That means I'll miss the camaraderie, drinking, & other madness that would come from riding with the likes of Alex, Jerry Ewing, Helen Curl, Matt Taylor, John Mitchell, & others.

Did I say "unfortunately"? 

So I'll be riding alone in The Netherlands as usual & weather permitting (unlike in the attached picture), I hope at least to complete the stretch goal of 333 miles over 12 days. And if perchance I do meet Matt out on the road, I'm sure we'll both endeavour to stay socially distanced by several hundred metres at least.

All I can promise is that you'll see some nice pictures & videos on Twitter (@markmccaughrean) as usual, although I'll leave the selfies to others more beautiful than me. And on top of that, if you can afford to donate even a small amount, then together we'll be helping improve what is a pretty crappy world at the moment, even if just a little.

Thank you.