I wanted to write to all of those who supported me and thank you once again for supporting me and Great Ormond Street Hospital on the Thomsons Challenge which to remind you set out from Oxford and followed the river as closely as possible to London. 

And if you have not yet you can still so don't think that it doesn't matter!So here is my story of what happened last Friday and Saturday 12th and 13th September 2014......

I am pleased to report that the bike ride finished at Barnes Rugby Club at 1:30pm on Saturday 13th September and it actually went pretty well, in fact from a fitness point of view I found it much easier than I had anticipated, so it made the training over the last 12 months very worthwhile. 

Although over 100 Thomsons People took part in an array of challenge,, my biking group of 12 hearty souls started out later on Friday afternoon than we had wanted to (I was 30 minutes late arriving!), but at 5pm we left Oxford station to begin our 160 kilometer meander as near to the river Thames as possible on B, C and possibly some D roads. Having arrived late, I then compounded the issue - it is fair to say that we didn’t get off to a brilliant start! I was given a Garmin (GPS for bikes to the uninitiated) for my birthday last week, I made the school boy error of not actually switching it on so after 30 minutes when we hit the A40 to Birmingham I realised that it was possibly not the right way to get to Barnes Rugby Club in SW London! 

30 minutes later on a balmy evening I had a distinct feeling of déjà vu, yes, we were back at Oxford railway station...ooops L  #classicleadershiperror  -  I asserted myself, my co-bikers trusted me and they blindly followed, possibly not wanting to challenge me that I might have been wrong about something as fundamental as going the right way! 

By now it was 6pm and we were back at the original starting point, I successfully switched on the Garmin, and this time we set off for real. But with the sunset due at 7:30pm, having completed only 10k with another 84k to go before reaching Marlow and oasis of our hotel, the prospect of cycling in the dark was beginning to loom large!

We began to make good progress, and a further 1,2,3, hours passed uneventfully. We stopped regularly for refuelling and pit stops (and a bit more soothing chamois cream for the under carriage in my case!). Then, as it got darker and darker, with the half-moon shining half-brightly, we left the relative comfort of the D road we had been on and followed what I can only call a rough farm track. This was covered with a smidgeon of aged and cracked tarmac, a lot of grass and oodles of potholes. To add to our growing anxiety it had zero lighting!

The other 11 cyclists in my group, (including 4 brave young bucks on Boris Bikes!), were still in a cheery mood, there was plenty of gallows humour and banter. But soon it became clear that this was a very narrow track indeed and, as the track climbed higher and higher through the heart of the abundant farmland, the banter gradually died off and all you could hear was the heavy breathing of 11 wannabe Bradley Wiggins, and one 56 year old CEO, who's only wannabe desire at that precise moment a nice warm bath, a mug of cocoa and my bed! 

In fact the farm track soon became a hill that climbed steadily for 6 kms in total, and we were all mightily relieved to get to the top. 

After that if was a cold, clammy moonlit ride through several mist shrouded lanes, beautiful and atmospheric (if not a little spooky) until we eventually arrived in Marlow at about midnight, having covered 95kms, including the extra 10kns incurred due to my navigation ineptitude at the start!  

The good people of Marlow were there to welcome us in droves, falling out of the local hostelries at closing time and shouting out their jolly quips like “oi mate, the tour de France has finished” and “Blimey, Chris Hoy has put some weight on” which they seemed to find hilarious.  I grinned too knowing that day one was nearly at an end! 

As we checked into the hotel were greeted by some two hour old stone cold stodgy pizza which sombrely wolfed down by the dirty dozen, and by 12:30 all of the riders were tucked up and fast asleep. 

Suddenly at 7am on Saturday morning I was jolted out of my deep cycling induced sleep by my alarm belting out ironically “I’m a believer” by the Monkees, After a quick cold shower and sloppy porridge (not together!) we were all back on the road again. 

By this time the group of twelve were a well-tuned and fearless peloton, and the ride along the river through Maidenhead, Windsor, Eton and Shepperton, and then Hampton Court, was  absolutely beautiful and , a piece of cake in comparison to “hill of death” in the darkness the night before.

Of course daylight and the warm sun on our backs made a big big difference, and we simply zoomed along, smashing the remaining 75k we had left to cover, taking 90 minutes off our estimated time of arrival in the process. We finished off with a jaunty ride through Richmond Park, Olympic athletes all by then, and felt right at home amongst all of the activity prepping for the Duathlon taking place there the following day.  

All in all, 48 hours later, I feel in pretty good shape, perhaps a little bit stiff (and very sore in the nether regions!) but nothing worse. In fact I feel like I used to after the first hard game of a new rugby season, and I am very relieved to have survived as well as I have and with no punctures! 

Would I do it again? Possibly, ask me in a few months’ time!

Did I enjoy it? Overall a resounding yes! 

Was it worth it? Again 100% yes! 

Personally I have raised over £13,700, doubling the most I have ever raised before, and by the time the dust has settled over 100 Thomsons people who rowed, kayaked, ran and cycled from Oxford to London in the Thomsons Challenge will have raised at least £100,000 which will go towards the £208,000 target that we are looking to raise for Great Ormond Street Hospital over this and next year. 

The money will fund a new cystic fibrosis bedroom and treatment room for the children in the new wing which they are building there. I was privileged to visit the ward recently, and the work that GOSH do is extraordinary. Amazingly brave kids are looked after by amazing and dedicated nurses and doctors.

All in all, the ride was hard, however it was also really good fun and, for the first time in my life, I really didn’t know when I set out if I could actually rise to this sporting challenge and do it, so I am extremely pleased to have done so, and even more I am immensely proud of the men and women of Thomsons that took part either in a personal or a team challenge, as well as those  that helped with the organisation before, during and on the day. 

Some ran marathons by themselves, on Friday and Saturday, some rowed and some kayaked having never been in a boat before), a wolfpack of three ran nonstop overnight as a threesome, nearly 40 miles each. We had a shewolfpack too who ran slightly less a distance and we had mums on bikes, lads on Boris bikes and other cyclists like me. We had the pedalo crew who’s pedalo broke down so they decided to walk rather than give up instead all the way from Henley and we even had the A-Z crew who started doing Aerobics in Oxford and finished walking through Barnes as Zombies, terrifying the kids as they went!  

But it wasn’t just those who took part who made it happen, loads of people baked many cakes and other savoury things which were sold to raise donations, there were Thomsons organisers and helpers galore on the day, as well as a host of Thomsons people helping out and organising all of the logistics in the months leading up to last weekend. We had physios along the way, and at the end, massaging our aching muscles, the crew from Molesey rowing club were brilliant in preparing us for the row, and looking after us overnight on Friday, and we had fantastic support drivers with their big white vans following the cyclists for every mile. Without these wonderful people this challenge would have been nigh on impossible. 

To a person they are all heroes and I want to thank them all very much indeed and once again to all of you for supporting this wonderful cause.

All the best

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield