Bruce Dickinson to join charity bike ride to Download

Following the recently announced news of the 'Heavy Metal Truants' charity bike ride to Download Festival at Castle Donington, it has now been announced that Maiden's lead singer Bruce Dickinson will be flying in specially from Germany so he can join the HM Truants in cycling the final 25 mile leg of the bike ride into the Download Festival.

The riders arrive on Friday June 14th, the day before Iron Maiden's headline appearance there in front of an expected 100,000 fans. This ride by the Metal fraternity is to raise funds for Teenage Cancer Trust, Childline and Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy.

Asked how he felt about this most unconventional way to arrive at a major UK Festival where Maiden will be headlining on the Saturday night, June 15th, Bruce commented: "Yes, maybe it's the first time the headliner has shown up on a bike, but I do use my bike to get around in London when l get the chance and have turned up at the BBC on a bike before, although the Commissioners were a bit surprised as they are too used to seeing limos! These are great causes, I am only sorry that due to our tour schedule l can't do more of the ride, and hope our fans will support our efforts. I look forward to a day off after the ride seeing some great bands before we go into full Maiden action on the Saturday, with every intention of giving the fans a memorable show. Download and Metal fans are the best there are, so everyone expects something very special."

Starting on Wednesday, June 12th, over 40 riders will set off from Alexandra Palace, London, cycling 165 miles up to Donington Park, arriving as the first bands take to the Download stage on the afternoon of Friday 14th. The sponsored riders will also include band members from British Lion, Paradise Lost, Pendulum, Tesseract, Thunder, Trivium and Young Guns alongside music journalists, radio presenters and music industry participants including Parlophone, Sony Music, Universal/EMI, BMG Rights, 5B Artist Management, Raw Power Management, Phantom Management and The Agency, plus even an MP – the Rt. Hon Mike Weatherley.

Joining them will be a variety of heavy metal fans who have all signed up for three days of hard cycling to raise funds for these deserving Children's Charities.

The band's Download Festival appearance marks a record FIFTH time that Iron Maiden have headlined at the legendary Donington Park, with their two Monsters Of Rock and three Download performances, and will be the 25th Anniversary of the band's first appearance there in 1988 to a (still) record audience of 107,000.

The massive crowd who will be attending the band's performance at Download Festival this summer is just one notable highlight of another huge year for Iron Maiden, who, over the summer, will play 44 shows to more than 1.2 million fans in 25 countries across Europe, the United States and Latin America (full tour dates at the end of this press release).

While Download Festival marks Iron Maiden's sole UK date this year, the band kick off their world tour next Monday in Spain and finish four and a half months later in Chile.

There may be spaces available for a few more riders, so if you have the heart and the liver, check it out at www.heavymetaltruants.com - or go there to aid the cause with a donation!!!

For more details/tickets for Download go to www.downloadfestival.co.uk