Bike4Good – time to #EndDuchenneIn10

About six months ago I had the insane idea that I could do something physically challenging to raise money for my friend and former C4 News colleague Emily Reuben’s charity The Duchenne Children’s Trust.

Today (Friday) at 3pm the idea comes alive. 30 cyclists will set off from Channel 4 HQ bound for Paris in 24 hours. We’ll ride to Newhaven and get the ferry at 11pm to Dieppe. At 4am we leave the port and head for Paris. The last 20 miles will be escorted by a team of French bikers (the hairy motorcycling kind I think).

It is 200 miles, 3000m of uphill climbing and hours of soreness during and after. Psychologically it will be tough. Few of us have ever done anything like this. The most I have done is 93 miles in one go – two weeks ago. And I struggled.

So there is genuine doubt about whether all of us can manage it. But we must – because the charity needs to raise £1.5m pounds by September to co-fund a medical trial. Duchenne is a horrible disease. It only affects boys, is diagnosed when they are very young (perhaps three or four years old) and sees steady degeneration and paralysis until death.

Most cases do not make it much into adulthood. Emily’s son Eli has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He is the same age as my son Jay. That’s why I’m doing this. For him and hundreds of thousands of boys just like him. The scientists say a cure is within reach.

@krishgm fuel for 250 mile cycle to Paris for @duchennect twitter.com/hirdstephen/st…

— Stephen Hird (@hirdstephen) May 31, 2013

The aim then is to #EndDuchenneIn10 and you can follow our progress here or on the website (live tracking, pictures, video and more) we have set up www.bike4good.com

We have already raised over £178,000 in sponsorship before setting off. We want to do even better. You can help at www.justgiving.com/bike4good

Follow @krishgm on Twitter