Done!

983 miles in 58 hours and 22 minutes over 9 days.

Thank you to everyone who has donated and supported me along the way - it's great to have completed the ride, exceeded my target and started conversations along the way.

I am raising money for Mind to help raise awareness of mental health issues and encourage people to talk openly about issues they may be facing.

Cycling helps me manage my mental health and is an important part of my life -  this article helps articulate why I find cycling so helpful.

Riding from Land's End to John O'Groats is an opportunity to raise awareness and get people talking, while riding, drinking coffee and eating cake!

I am riding as part of a team from BAM Nuttall taking part in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain event, setting off from Land's End on Saturday, 8 September 2018 and arriving at John O'Groats on Sunday, 16 September. The ride is 969 (now upped to 980!) miles over 9 days - an average distance of 108 miles a day, with some much hillier than others!

This is a significant challenge and even the more experienced cyclists on our team are suitably respectful of what's involved! Cycling 100 miles as a one off shouldn't be too difficult, but doing that every day for 9 days will be much tougher.

As part of my training, I am also taking part in Ride London (100 miles on closed roads), as well as a number of other organised and less organised rides (in addition to riding at least once each weekend and twice during the week whenever possible).

I've paid an entry fee of £500 and am also paying for train / plane transfers to and from the event, bike transport and my hotel post-event. 

Any donations would be much appreciated and if you'd like to catch up over a coffee or on a bike, whatever the subject, please get in touch.

You can get in touch and follow my training on Strava.

Update - family guest post:

Mental wellbeing is a team effort.  So when Ben said he was going to cycle from Lands’ End to John O’Groats to raise money for Mind and to encourage awareness of mental health, the boys and I naturally
wanted to support him.  Joining in on the bike ride wasn’t a feasible
option for us, so we’ve decided to challenge ourselves in other
ways: 

On Saturday 30 June, I shall be performing a tap routine in a dance show at our local theatre, the Harlequin Theatre, Redhill.  I’ve been taking tap classes for two years but have never performed in public before.  I’m trembling with fear at the thought of being on the stage in front of an audience, forgetting the steps and looking like a right wally, but I completely love tap dancing and the boost it gives my wellbeing and I’m determined to get on that stage and give it my all, together with the lovely ladies in my tap class. (And yes, there will be a DVD of the show to prove that I actually did it!)

On Sunday 16 September, the same day that Ben is due to
arrive in John O’Groats, Samuel and Thomas will be running in the Kids’ 
Race in Run Reigate.  The Kids’ Race is the last 1.1 mile of a cumulative half marathon.  So, over the summer, Samuel and Thomas
will be clocking up 12 miles of running, and on 16 September, they’ll run
with loads of other local children around a 1.1 mile course in Reigate,
which will complete their half marathon.

Supporting someone with mental health issues can be very hard,
but it’s so important for their wellbeing and for your own.  Mind has lots
of useful information on its website about how to support friends, family, and co-workers, and to take care of yourself too:  https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/helping-someone-else/

We would love it if you could please show your support by
donating to Mind through this page.

Message from JustGiving: Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.