IT WORKED for Goldilocks, and on Sunday I’ll find out whether it has worked for me too.

A while ago, I explained about the Brighter Futures Radiotherapy Appeal after attending the launch at the Great Western Hospital.

Soon afterwards, and perhaps rather hastily, in hindsight, I felt fit enough to sign up to take part in their Ride for Radiotherapy.

This is where the Goldilocks principle came into effect - because there was a choice of three distances.

I decided against the 30-mile ride, because I regularly cycle that far in one stretch, so that’s not a challenge, and I also rejected the 100-mile one. That’s too far for a Goldilocks like me.

So I plumped for the middle one, over 70 miles, which I’m hoping will be just right.

It’s a little more than the distance from here to Oxford and back, which is fitting because that’s the journey Swindon folk still have to take if they need radiotherapy treatment – often on consecutive days, often over a period of weeks, and sometimes when they are feeling pretty unwell.

I don’t suppose many of them go on their bikes, but the point is it is an inconvenience you can do without if you are fighting cancer.

And that, of course, is the whole point of the appeal – to pay for a radiotherapy unit in Swindon so those needing the treatment don’t have to spend half their day stuck behind a tractor on the A420.

If there are any tractors on the route on Sunday, I won’t need to worry about overtaking them as neither I nor my trusty bike are built for speed.

For this reason the words ‘It is not a race’ on the Participant Welcome Pack were very welcome indeed.

The pack also has cheerful drawings of bikes on it, from racers like you might see Chris Froome riding, to one with a shopping basket.

My bike is neither one nor the other, but a mountain bike, and no doubt the one Goldilocks would settle for if she tried the others.

My relief, however, was soon shattered when a map dropped out and I saw what 70 miles looks like on paper.

We will wind our way almost to Newbury, but when we get there, we won’t even have reached halfway, because we come back via a convoluted route that includes Wantage.

So we go through three counties, and if that isn’t enough, the welcome pack – which now no longer seems very welcoming – goes on to say: “Did we mention there are some hills?”

I suppose you can’t avoid them if you head south and east from Swindon, but I know hills are part of the fun (sort of), and what goes up must come down, so there will be some bits where I won’t have to pedal.

To be serious for a moment: Even since signing up for the ride our family has been given an unwelcome reminder of the necessity of radiotherapy and the inconvenience of travelling to Oxford to get it.

And, if I’m honest, I’m looking forward to Sunday’s ride. I don’t suppose I should be saying that considering I want people to sponsor me (which they can do at www.justgiving.com/ GrahamCarterSwindon), but it is a challenge because I have never cycled that far in a day.

Until the £2.9m is reached, please give generously to anybody who is raising money for the appeal. After all, nobody wants to be Goldilocks all their life.