I'm undertaking the challenge of cycling up and down the 1000m Ba Vi mountain 9 times in order to achieve the height of Everest. 

To do this I will start at about 4am and not finish until dark. A long, long day and a lot of Snickers and coke. 

Newborns Vietnam is an excellent charity that not only does fine work to reduce infant mortality in Vietnam, but also robustly evaluates the impact of what they do.

About the challenge

Ba Vi mountain doesn't offer many views, which adds to the toughness; it is a 12 km tunnel of trees on a punishing gradient.

To try and put it into some kind of context, it's 9 times up Alpe D'huez, 6 times up Mont Ventoux or 5 times up the Stelvio...

David Knight, a Hanoi cyclist, said: "Having climbed more than a few of the most famous climbs in France I can say with conviction that David has picked some of the hardest ascent metres I have yet encountered. I could not believe we only had 1,000 metres yesterday as if felt more like 2,000+ on most of the big cols in France. Mount Ventoux has nothing on Ba Vi!"

The team

I’m not doing it alone – I’ll have a support crew, each of whom will also raise funds. The crew includes: Linh Dinh, Klavs Nielsen, Richard Leech, Claudio Dordi, Mark Prykaza, Matt Larkin, Guim Valls Teruel and Craig Burgess.

Giving

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.