by Ed Coleman, Good Energy software team

On Thursday my brother-in-law and I will be setting off on a nine-day, unsupported charity cycle ride from Lands End to John O’Groats. We will be raising money and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Support and Spinal Research in the process; charities which we both have good reasons for supporting.

Our friend and cycling partner Shaun Player was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. In April this year, after a long and brave fight with the disease, he sadly lost his battle aged just 42. Macmillan provided support to both Shaun and his family.

My son shared a class with a young boy called Sam Puttick.  When Sam was just 16 months old, he was involved in a terrible car accident. The injuries he incurred to his spinal-cord meant he was unable to feel or move from the neck down and was dependent on a ventilator for his breathing. In May 2009 Sam contracted meningitis, and he died at home aged only five. We decided to support Spinal Research as they offer hope to those in a similar situation as dear little Sam.

Training for our challenge has gone well. Since Christmas we have been gradually building up the frequency and length of our training rides, with our longest taking us from Westbury to Bournemouth and back (110 miles). The training has given me yet another reason to ditch the car in favour of two wheels. I was particularly pleased to hear about Sustrans’s ‘Change Your World ‘ campaign for which I pledged the full 100 miles; at the end of the fortnight  I had covered  more than double this by simply doing the majority of my daily commute on the bike – I can honestly say this felt great!

The thought of cycling 900+ miles over nine days can be very daunting. Our longest day in terms of mileage will take us from Westbury to Telford (120 miles approx). I have learnt to deal with longer rides by simply breaking them down into smaller sections, setting smaller goals and giving myself something to look forward to – I normally use a cup of coffee and a nice flapjack as my carrot. I think the hardest part is going to be getting on the saddle every morning having already cycled hundreds of miles – this will be new territory!

We’ve had mixed responses from the people we’ve talked to about the challenge. Some say we’re totally mad, other say how much they would love to do the same. To do the ride in nine days we haven’t been able to choose the most picturesque route, nor do we have the luxury of avoiding the busier roads. We both have young families who are all making big sacrifices to allow us to take on this challenge for which we are extremely grateful.  We are attempting it in nine days as this is the quickest we feel we can realistically complete the distance without compromising our health and wellbeing.  We appreciate there are dangers with challenges of this nature which is why we will be looking to minimize these at every opportunity.

We’ve had a huge amount of support from family, friends, colleagues and the local community. We set out to raise a very ambitious target of £10,000, the fundraising side of the challenge has been tough but with the help of others we are taking great strides in achieving this.

We’ll be joined by a number of Good Energy colleagues on day two and three who are also keen to turn the pedals.  We have a very active workforce at Good Energy who are always keen to get involved. Back in July 2008 a group of us cycled to the company’s wind farm in Delabole to mark to start of our annual wind festival – I learnt a lot of important lessons from that ride which I have proved valuable in the preparation for this challenge.

To find out more about the Long Neigh Up campaign, make a donation or follow our progress, please visit www.longneighup.co.uk. We will be tweeting and uploading photographs whenever possible to keep everyone up to date with our progress.