22/3/10 Update: Well, I managed it. What's more, I even enjoyed it! I feel kind of bad about enjoying it, feels like more suffering should have been involved... but I think the only reason it wasn't too much of a killer was because certain colleagues have been dragging me out running twice a week since November - and I promise you, running all through such a freezing winter was pretty painful at times, and if the amount of grumbling I did is any reflection, then there was plenty of suffering involved! In comparison, 100km on a decent road bike on a mild spring day was almost fun. Apart from the hills, which despite being relatively puny in the grand scheme of things, were quite frequent, and definitely made the quads burn and led to a certain amount of swearing under the breath. And it definitely helped keep my legs pumping knowing you'd all sponsored me and would not be impressed by failure! So thank you all very much, you've been more than generous, donating more than twice my target total, and I think it's brilliant that we've taken the opportunity to get a few more people access to clean water!  Finally, check out the video I've attached if you'd like to see live footage from the day...

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As some of you know, this year I bought my first proper road bike - a very exciting & momentous occasion! My plan was to get out and do some leisurely rides in various interesting parts of the country - maybe building up gradually to longer rides by the end of the season. And then I met some very friendly but slightly mad triathletes who tried to persuade me that it would be a good idea to sign up for a 100km ride. Somewhat daunting, I thought, but maybe I could build up to that. Only trouble is, it's in 6 days time. I tried and tried to resist, but they were very persuasive. And eventually, I discovered to my trepidation that I had basically agreed to do it. So, here I am with 6 days to go, wondering how on earth I am going to survive the ride. (Oh, by the way - it's nominally a 100k, but apparently, the route is actually 116km - hence my target total!) So, here's my plan... I'll attempt to persuade some of my lovely friends to sponsor me, and then I will have to complete it.

The obvious choice, I guess, given the date, would have been SportRelief. But I have decided to go against the flow - I'm a regular WaterAid supporter and I think their work is so important because it's a real enabler for other development. Once people don't get ill all the time from water-borne diseases, and once they don't have to spend hours each day going to fetch water (women & girls especially), they have much more chance to go to school, take on jobs, set up small business and so on. And quite apart from that, it's just incredible that almost 1 billion people still don't have access to a safe water supply and 2.5bn people don't have access to decent sanitation - that's just insane.

If you lot can help me raise £116 from this ride, that'll buy two hand pumps that can deliver safe, clean water.

Thank you for helping me survive the ride, and for helping a few other people survive, full-stop!