Living through these challenging times is giving us all many new experiences, some that we would all rather forget and others that have come as a welcome relief. For me, arguably the biggest impact has been the sense of community spirit that has brought us all together and not just in the UK, but globally. This has manifested itself in the support for the Health Services, a cause that is just and extremely worthy, they really are the true heroes.

However, there is a looming dilemma for all of us, one that will present a huge challenge to many health related charities in the days to come, how to continue delivering care in the community for those who need it when the funds normally raised have dried up.

As many of you will know the London Marathon, due to take place this Sunday 26th April, has now been postponed to October. Last year, over £66m was raised for charities, money that will not be there this year. To help plug the gap, they have launched the 2.6 Challenge, for anyone to dream up an activity based around the numbers 2.6 or 26 that suits your skills and complete it on Sunday 26 April – when the 40th London Marathon would have taken place.

Having been inspired by Geraint Thomas’ recent challenge, 36 hours of static bike riding in three twelve hour shifts, a group of us have come up with our own version, taking the marathon distance, we will be doing a static bike relay for 26.2 hours, starting at 10.00pm on Saturday 25th and finishing at midnight on 26th April.

The other inspiration for us all is the mental health challenges that are likely to affect many of us now and for the coming months. Sadly, a few years ago, we lost a very dear friend to mental health issues, this gives us all a chance to honour his memory, as well as helping MIND provide support for those who will need it in the months to come.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a truly global issue so we have put a global team together with riders in the UK, US and Australia taking part. For us it gives us something to look forward to as a group, keeping us fit and having some fun at the same time. For everyone else, hopefully this will help a little and if nothing else may raise the profile of a serious issue and help to overcome it. If you want to help have a look at our fundraising page.