Cycling 3500 miles for my mum

Hi, my name's Michael. I am 16 years old, and I'm passionate about cycling.  I was born in Eritrea and I came to live in South Wales with my sister and her family  4 years ago when my dad died.  I couldn't  stay in Eritrea because it's unsafe and I would have been forced to go into indefinite military service.  Life in Eritrea is very difficult.  It's so bad that people risk their lives by walking across the desert and taking dangerous boats across the sea to get to a safe place.  I was lucky, I didn't have to do this because my dad was British and so I have a UK passport. Unfortunately my mum wasn't as lucky.  She sent me to live with my sister in the UK, and she went to Sudan.  I thought she would be able to come to the UK, but she can't get a visa.  I have only seen my mum twice in the last 4 years.  I had to go to Sudan to see her.  I was very shocked the first time I went: life in Sudan seems to be as difficult as in Eritrea.  Recently there have been a lot of protests and violence by the military to stop the protesters and I've been very worried about her because it was close to where she lives. I am very lucky with the fact that I can speak to her because there is  internet there, but not in Eritrea. I want to raise money for my mum so she can live safely.

Cycling has always been part of my life and it has helped me through tough times.  It is the national sport of Eritrea.  I want to be a professional cyclist one day.  It is my dream.  I'm very grateful for the opportunities I have here.  I'm in a cycle club called Abergavenny Road Club and I'm a member of the Welsh Off Road Academy.  I am very determined and I have set a challenge that will test me mentally and physically.  I'm going to ride 3500 miles in 10 weeks.  This is the distance from the UK to Eritrea.  I am going to cycle 300 to 400 miles per week. I have a cycling app called Strava that I use for training, which means I will be posting every  ride that I do with a #3500 so you can see and track the distance. I'll also post updates on FB and Instagram.   I started the challenge on June 1st to see if it is realistic and doable.  I've actually cycled over 500 miles since June 1st which means I can do it.   I have got another 3000 miles still to go. 

I need to complete this challenge before I go back to school in September which means I need to cycle 3000 miles between now and August 31st.  Every penny I raise will count towards my Mum having a better standard of living. The reason I have set my target at £12,000 is that after researching costs I figured it will support her until I am 18 years old. 

Thank you for reading my story I appreciate your support so much!!