A long, long time ago, Mario and I decided we were going to pull on our cycle gear and do a seriously long cycle ride to raise money for Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, the European Institute of Oncology, where he was treated for his tumour and where he is still an out-patient. It's a private hospital but accepts patients from the national health service and treats them for free. The doctors and nurses also do a great job of providing awareness of the different cancers in a country where talking about cancer is still taboo and nobody talks about it until it is too late.
We never got around to the ride due to a whole load of reasons and excuses (moving house twice, work schedules that sent us up and down Sardinia twice a week, friends getting married so lots of weddings to go to, and lots, lots more) But we're back up for the challenge. In August, during our month's break, we'll be spending 10 days cycling around the Austrian lake district to give us a much-needed boost to the schedule.
We want to raise Eur5,000 and we're aiming to do it in 2009 because that means we've definitely go enough time to raise the funds and get seriously fit. Next year we'll be doing a month of consultations and asking you to give the money to the IEO instead.
We've also go to decide where we'll be doing the bike ride. Initially we were set on Brazil but that soaks up too much money in airfare and adds to the old carbon footprint so we've plumped for somewhere in Europe instead, though we haven't narrowed it down yet. Sardinia would be the obvious choice but car drivers here are mad and I don't fancy dicing with death on the roads.
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