I’m a Canadian.

Born in Montreal, Quebec. Three months of the year are dark, mind numbingly cold with colossal amounts of snow. It’s ideal for picking up a sport such as cycling. To be fair, I dabbled in hockey (in Canada, hockey is hockey – we don’t qualify the sport as ice hockey). But at 160 cm and 53 odd kilos, I soon learned that contact sport was not my calling. I progressed to competitive alpine skiing where my low centre of gravity was a good thing but my lack of mass a bad thing.

Soon I learned that small guys can do okay on a bike – something to do with power to weight ratio – and I started racing bikes. The summers in Montreal are hot, sunny and dry but only last a few months (if we are lucky).

So, why am I telling you all this and how is it relevant to the mHealth Grand Tour? Well, as a Canadian, who grew up (as much as one can grow up when you stop at 160 cm) watching the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, The Tour de France and the Vuelta Espagna, I always dreamed of riding through the Ardennes and tackling a mur* or two. I couldn’t wait to climb a mythical peak in the Alps and descend a narrow, winding path in the Pyrenees.

Imagine my surprise and joy (and luck) when I learned the GSMA was organizing a charity ride to raise awareness of diabetes and the good that mobile technology can achieve in improving the quality of life of people suffering not only from diabetes but all sort of health conditions. It was the perfect trifecta; do the sport I love through legendary parts of Europe, help with a good cause and do it as part of my day job.

And all I have to do is ride for 13 days, cover 2,100 kilometres and climb 22,000 meters. A dream come true!

*    French for “wall” – how Belgian cycling fans refer to the short but very steep cobbled climbs in the Ardennes.

Nick Rossman works as a project manager in the GSMA Connected Living Programme, where his cheeky grin lights up the place. And really, we never noticed he was small. We did notice he was Canadian.