Many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty. We have plenty of water to drink -- even the water in our toilets is clean!

But many people around the world don’t have that luxury. Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that help provide clean water to communities around the world.

I've set up this fundraising campaign to help Charity:water build these types of projects around the world, and I'm looking for anyone who can help me.

I live in New Plymouth, New Zealand. This past week we had a significant weather event, Cyclone Gita, which meant many in our community lost the water connection to their houses, or at the very least had to boil water. This has brought home to me how precious our water supply is, and also how hard life must be for people in our world who don't have access to clean water. It's made me think if I could do something to help.

On Monday I embark on a personal challenge I've been planning for over a year, riding 3000km by bicycle from Cape Reinga to Bluff. This journey, self supported, will take me about 21 days. A lot of people have asked me "what are you fundraising for?" To be honest, I was just riding for the adventure - but now I'm feeling that I don't want to let this opportunity go by, and maybe I could use it to raise some money from all you kind folks to help people who don't have access to clean water.
I've set myself a goal of raising $30,000USD for Charity:Water, a non profit that specialises in doing this and has a great track record in doing so. $30k will provide clean water for 1000 people! Awesome huh?

Please donate to my campaign -- anything you can give is a huge help.

You can also follow my bike ride on www.pedalpedalpedal.tv where I'll be posting daily video diaries of how the ride is going. Make a donation and I'll try and give a shout out to you in one of these videos! You can also see where I am in real time on https://touraotearoa2018.maprogress.com/ and I'll be posting photos along the way to my instagram @lancepilbrowphoto

100% of the money will be used to build clean water projects, and when they’re complete, Charity:Water will send us photos and GPS coordinates so we can see the exact community we helped.