I am sometimes made to feel very humble in the things that I do and see. I am also (I think) lucky to feel in awe and admiration at the efforts and achievements of certain people. Yesterday I became aware of one of those events, and so I wanted to give them a plug here.

They are called The Fireflies. My longest standing friend on this whole planet, Colin, rang me yesterday and told me about them, and so I thought I would share. They are a (small, just 70) group who ride each year from Geneva to Cannes, over 1,000km. They do so over 19 big peaks, many of them used in the Tour de France. They do them all, and a totally incredible 70,000 feet of ascent, in just 8 days. I take my hat off to them, I really do. Their motto is “For those who suffer we ride”, and they do this in aid of Leukaemia research. That gets me quite inspired.

Their logo is below, this is their 10th anniversary:

They have collectively raised over £800,000 in the 9 years to date, and this year are looking to try to get through the £1m barrier. This is very close to my heart for me, as I had a very good friend of mine die from a form of Leukaemia when he and I were both just 18. That was enormously sad, I remember the funeral like it was yesterday.

Here also are a couple of links to the Fireflies website:

http://www.thefirefliestour.com/about-us/

http://www.thefirefliestour.com/

Looks like an incredible feat. Makes me realise that my little ride in September is but a mere drop in the ocean in terms of the difficulty etc.

Tomorrow they are having a ‘Grand Depart’, a launch party in Soho to see them off. They will arrive tomorrow en masse from Hammersmith Hospital, on whose behalf they are raising the funds. Col’s band are playing and he asked me to come down and see them all, I think because he knows what cancer charities mean to me.

He was right. I will be there.