Newbury man to cycle 800 miles across the UK for cancer charity

33-year old Alex Pickard will ride the more than 800-mile charity ride to raise money for complimentary and integrated treatments for cancer with charity The Sunflower Jam.
The charity was set up by the wife of original Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice in the wake of fellow bandmate Jon Lord’s death from the disease in 2012.
Alex said: “I am excited and nervous about the ride. I’ve never really done anything challenging on this scale so it will be a first.”
Alex aims to complete the epic challenge in less than two weeks and says he was inspired to do the ride because of his love for Deep Purple and after the death of Jon Lord from pancreatic cancer.
“My music taste has always been Rock or classic rock for as long as I can remember” he said. “My earliest recollection of Deep Purple was when my cousin was home one Christmas and was putting some of my parent’s records on and I was glued to the speaker when one song started which turnout out to be Deep Purple’s Lazy from Machine Head.”
Alex is well on his way to his fundraising target of £3,000 for the Sunflower Jam which helps in the fight against cancer through funding research, treatment and education in targeting the disease, and will begin the ride on Friday.
Alex's Just Giving page can be found here: http://www.justgiving.com/AlexPickard