20260708 Mouldy Goes To Milan Session MGM 043

Folks,

Thank you for visiting the site where we aim to provide regular updates of the challenge Mouldy Goes to Milan

Background:

I’ll be cycling 1,050 miles and climbing 123,909 feet—virtually—from Glasgow to Milan. It won’t be fast, but I’ll get there. Every pedal stroke will be dedicated to raising much-needed funds for Celtic FC Foundation, which will ve supporting the Paradise Recovery Cafe

The full background and inspiration for “Mouldy Goes To Milan” can be found here.

Donate:

You can support this journey by donating at:

👉https://www.justgiving.com/page/mouldygoestomilan

Alternatively by scanning the QR code below

Your contribution, no matter the amount, will help us continue supporting individuals on their recovery journey and will make a meaningful difference to the work of the Foundation.

Thank you once again for your kindness and generosity.

Overall route:

How will the cycle be executed:

In this more comprehensive blog post, I explain how this will be technically managed and executed—you can read more about it here

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Todays cycle:

Delighted to announce that the cycle is now virtually in the Belgium !

Having not been on a bike since August 2025, it was genuinely amazing just to get back on the bike recently, and get started again. Sometimes the biggest win is simply beating procrastination

Start of Cycle	End of Cycle
Sougne, Belgium	Paradis, Belgium

Miles cycled	Feet Climbed	Minutes on bike	Average gradient
8.29	1398	61	5.40 %

The route today saw the cycle head in south through the Ardennes region of Belgium

The dynamics of the ride changed again today, with much of the route being uphill. Although the average gradient was 5.40%, similar to the previous days, there were also a number of particularly steep climbs along the way. This made it more difficult to build and maintain any real momentum.

Overall, it was a challenging day, but I was pleased to get some miles in and continue making progress. Every ride is part of the journey, and today was another reminder of the importance of listening to my body, managing expectations, and focusing on the bigger picture.

Cumulative progress

Miles cycled	Feet Climbed	Minutes on bike
392.44	38,273	2045

Target miles	Target climbing
1050 miles	123, 909 feet
% complete	% complete
37.38 %	30.89 %

Whilst the miles cycled and time spent on the bike are a far cry from the 100–125 miles a day, or 10–12 hours in the saddle, that I once rode, everything is relative. These efforts currently are in context of chronic back, neck, and nerve pain, along with a supersized 300‑lb frame that has seen very limited exercise over the past 21 months.

Having seen the incredible highs of Lisbon and lows of impacted fitness and health in recent years, I am sincerley motivated by days like today on the journey back and to Milan

Because of that, I would encourage anyone who is thinking about trying some exercise to start small. Try ten minutes, see how you feel, and then try again three days later. When I was at my darkest point with injuries after 2021, and frankly scared to do anything at all, this was how my amazing physio, Brian Scott, helped me break through the mental torture and fear of physical relapse.

Mouldy Goes To Milan – Session MGM 043

I’ve shared a few screenshots from the Strava and Rouvy apps showing the route and session details.

Strava:

Rouvy:

Relive video

We can relive todays journey interactively by clicking following link:

The above sessions, miles, feet climbed and minutes relate to the “actual” progress being made by Mouldy as he goes to Milan this is done by replicating and following the GPX route

Today’s kit

Focusing on comfort and the fact that I am a big frame, tight lycra is currently not my friend.

Therefore I decided to wear something more comfortable from the Celtic shirt collection and plan to do so for the foreseeable future

I wore the short sleeve hoops shirt by Umbro from Season 1977- 1979 the montage is complete with the 2020 Road To Milan short and long sleeve cycling tops.

Where are we just now:

We kicked this project off in December with a clear goal: to support The Paradise Recovery Café and raise over £40,000 for a cause that changes lives. What began as an idea quickly turned into action, driven by the belief that recovery, community, and hope deserve real backing.

Over recent months, a huge amount of energy and commitment has gone into organising a Race Night at Celtic Park — an incredible evening that raised an outstanding £8,620 towards the project.

In addition, a silent auction was held, contributing a further £1,565 to the total. Across the wider team, several other events were organised to support the cause, including quiz nights, golf days, another fundraising race night, all playing their part in driving the total higher.

At present, the funds raised by our team and supporters stand at £55,680 (before Gift Aid), and we would absolutely love to build on this momentum and push through the £60,000 milestone. Again donations welcomed

The generosity, support, and shared belief in what we’re trying to achieve has been genuinely humbling.

Previous blogs

Along the way, we’ve put together a series of blogs covering the current Mouldy Goes To Milan Journey — you can find them all here.Previous blogs here

Beyond that we enclose details of our Utube channel which captures a number of videos from various charity projects, you can enjoy them here:

If you have some more time on your hands then we also enclose details of the amazing journey from Celtic Park to Seville — you can find them all here.Previous blogs here

Gallery

The Road to Milan Kit