So it’s been a busy couple of months here – I finished my 18 month stint at the Arts University College at Bournemouth at the end of June, and took a month off to enjoy the Dorset summer before moving back to London just last week. While I spent time making new work for The Seventh Zone, covering the terrain in between Uxbridge and Stanmore in the north west of London, I also spent a great deal of time on my bicycle in preparation for the charity bike ride that I’m undertaking in just a weeks time. Alongside 8 other (foolhardy?!) souls, I’ll be aiming to cover the 600 miles that separate Southend in Essex with Galway in Ireland.
‘Near Naked Man’ is an initiative of the Male Cancer Awareness Campaign. Our aim is to raise awareness of male cancer, and reduce embarrassment. Too many men die of prostate, bowel and testicular cancer because they do not know how to detect the symptoms in the early stages, when treatment would be more effective.This ignorance is made worse by the prevailing ‘culture of embarrassment’, that discourages men from discussing and resolving problems related to intimate parts of their body.
As a team we’ll be pretty conspicuous in our ‘Near Naked Man’ cycling suits (see below)…
with my friend and fellow cyclist Tom in our 'nearly naked suits' - photograph by Daniel Lilley - http://danielpatricklilley.co.uk/
The schedule is pretty gruelling, so any support along the way will be much appreciated! iPhone battery depending, I’ll try to keep my twitter feed updated throughout the ride with expected arrival times in towns and cities en route; The links below show our intended routes:
15th August – Southend to Windsor
17th August – Bath to Porthcawl
18th August – Porthcawl to Fishguard
19th August – Rosslare to Kilkenny
20th August – Kilkenny to Galway
I’m looking forward to the ride and also a few pints of Guiness in Galway on the 20th August – In the meantime, I’ll be easing down on the training this week, which as you can see from the video below has been pretty intense:
Finally, if you’d like to donate to a great charity, I have a Just Giving site – I’ll be sending out prints to anyone who donates over £10!
