I recently completed a 100-mile cycle ride which helped to raise £1,700 for the Salvation Army and the Alzheimer’s Society.

I lost my mother Jacqueline and mother-in-law Noreen to Alzheimer’s, so the Alzheimer’s Society is an important charity close to our hearts.

The Salvation Army is a local church, with which we are associated. It does a lot of good work, so we wanted to do something for them.

I’d been inspired by Becky James and her heroics on the track, but also a couple of other people I know who had gone into cycling. I noticed they were a lot fitter and had lost a lot of weight.

I like a challenge. Dentistry takes up a lot of my life but I don’t want it to take up all of my life so I thought I could do with having a new challenge and getting a lot fitter.

I only did just under three months of training for the ride, despite deciding to do it some three to four months before that.

“The first training ride I went out on was around 15 miles and it was at that point that I knew I had a lot of work to do to get ready.

I gradually built up to rides of about 70 miles by the time the challenge came around.

It was a great experience and I would like to thank everybody who helped me raise £950 for the Alzheimer’s Society and £750 for the Salvation Army.