A good friend of mine is Chairman of The Geoff Thomas Foundation and when I heard about his experience on the 2010 L2P I decided that this was something that I would like to have a go at. I am not a keen cyclist but I do like a challenge and testing my fitness against other cyclists over the 330 miles to Paris is something I look forward too.
Over the last 15 or so years my main sporting interest has been running. I have run the London Marathon 7 times, always for charity and I have been fortunate to be able to raise substantial sums of money for 3 charities that are close to my heart - Parkinsons Disease Society, The British Brain and Spine Foundation and Tommy’s Campaign.
I last ran a Marathon 6 years ago and since than have kept myself ticking over with weekly gym sessions, the occasional run and a weekend bike ride with friends. L2P means I have to take the cycling a little more seriously so I have joined my local cycling club, Solihull, and ride with the ‘C’ group on Sunday mornings that so far have been fairly leisurely over distances of 50 – 60 miles. I am in two minds whether to step up a group but for the time being will err on the side of caution as I currently only get out on the road at the weekends and rely on a Turbo Trainer for mid-week sessions.
I see that there has been a lot of chat about kit, geometry etc. I rely on a fairly standard Trek road bike that I bought last year. I have upgraded the wheels and the chainset and for my level it serves me very well. I have recently bought a Garmin Edge 800. This is a fantastic piece of kit and makes my rides far more interesting, providing GPS mapping, route guidance and detailed post ride analysis – speed, cadence, heart rate etc.
When I committed myself to L2P I decided that if I was going to get myself fit for that I might as well do a few other events, so I am aiming to run a couple of half marathons either side of L2P in May and July and if they go well I may have a stab at another marathon at the end of the year. The half's and the cycling I am not too worried about but Marathons do require some serious training and right now I am not sure whether I have the motivation to go through all that again. Finally on the subject of motivation, apart from the event itself, my motivation is supporting a great charity and helping to raise a lot of money for a good cause.
When I met Geoff it was apparent to me that there was the potential for the wider Brewin Group to support his foundation and I was delighted that Philip & Sasha were so supportive of the initiative. It is also great to see so many keen riders across the Group and I am sure that collectively we will all do very well and exceed our charitable objectives.
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