Jelly legs and a numb bum

Well this post has little to do with business apart from the fact that many of my business colleagues have sponsored me.
On Sunday 7th September 2008 I took part in and completed the Palace to Palace bike ride to raise funds and awareness for the Prince’s Trust and the great work that it does.
I’ve raised nearly £300 and can honestly say that, despite my legs and my backside aching, I enjoyed the ride and may just do it again next year.
The journey started at 8:35am from The Mall about 200 metres in front of Buckingham Palace and finished about 45 miles and around 4 hours 20 minutes later at Windsor castle.
It took us along the embankment, through Richmond Park, on through Chertsey and eventually up (what felt like nothing but hills) to Windsor.
Although the start was very wet, by the time we got to Richmond the rain had stopped and the air temperature was a comfortable 18 degrees. For the first two thirds I stayed with other riders because I’d not done such a long distance ride before but at 33 miles I decided to step up a bit and rode at my own pace, which meant that I overtook nearly 200 riders in the last 10 miles.
I crossed the line with jelly legs and a very sore rear end (even with padded shorts and a gel pad on the seat) but felt so glad to have finished.
Even managed to get a photo shoot with Dame Kelly Holmes who finished just a few metres in front of me.
So a big thanks goes to everyone who sponsored me through my justgiving.compage and and a big thanks to the staff at Pointon York SIPP Solutions who gave generously to support me. A huge thanks to Dave Nicholls at Cafe Networks for being so sporting. Thanks also to Vance Harvey, Vicky T, Peter Clare, Nicola Ledger, Steve Mould and Shane James.
There’s still time to make a donation to the Prince’s Trust since my justgiving page will be live for at least another month. So click here if you’d like to donate.
Thanks to Emma who who put up with me getting out of bed at stupidly early hours to train and then reluctantly drove from St James’ Palace to Windsor. And well done to Abigail for being so patient.
Also a quick thanks to Geoff Pointon for lending me his bike (it made a huge difference).
So, what I need now are suggestions for what to do next year for charity…