IRON MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood reports:

"Of course we are revving up for the tour, only a month away now, and during it I will have to get in the gym to prepare for our next Charity Bike Ride which comes soon after the end to the tour, September 30th to October 4th. This time it is to Marrakesh, with 130 miles to cycle, mainly off-road and partly on the lower slopes of the Atlas Mountains, so could be tough going, especially after recently finishing a tour and all that entails!

Once again to raise funds for this we are holding an auction strictly for you FC Members. It may be a bit earlier than usual, the Ride being over 4 months away, but as you can see below a large part is tour related. Last year Scott S. won the auction to join me on the mixing desk at the O2 and he and his guest enjoyed the experience so much l decided to repeat it – but as North America is so big we are doing this three times - New York , LA and Toronto - so fans don’t have so far to travel.

Full details are below. Along with those is a terrific Jackson signed guitar and a personal favourite Platinum Album for NoB in Canada way back in 1982. It has been on my wall for 30 years and if a picture could tell a story...

We are supporting the same two Charities as we did for the previous Bike Rides in Egypt and Cuba, Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy and Childline, and have added a third, The Teenage Cancer Trust. Follow the links to see all the good work they do. All profits from the Ride are split equally between these three and our target is to give them £100,000 each.

Since the last ride we have a name -The Truants - and even a website (www.thetruantsuk.com) and you are welcome to take a look. In the Charity section it tells you how we handle all the money – the Truants don’t touch any, it all goes DIRECT to Nordoff Robbins to be distributed at the end between all three.

Hope you like the items and please be as generous as you feel able, as the causes are very deserving

See you on tour soon."

Further auction details can be found at this location.