Story 40: Bumps and bruises on the Rapha 100

In my last post I said I was looking forward to challenging myself in lots of different ways; tougher training rides, coming up with some new fundraising ideas, and managing to complete the cycle across Tanzania itself. Today's ride certainly helped me make a start on the first of those things...

I've registered the ride here with Strava, if you'd like to see the route in more detail. Tonight I'm nursing my bumps, bruises and cuts but I know that they'll soon heal. The memory of how good it feels to have risen to the challenge of getting back on my bike after a pretty nasty fall, dealing with yet another puncture (or, watching Alex deal with yet another puncture...), fighting the wind, battling the beasties (swarms of corn flies - yuk!) and clocking up my longest ride to date will stay with me for very much longer than the pain of a bunch of bumps and bruises.

Oh, and I've made a small start on the fundraising side of things by setting up my Women V Cancer Cycle Africa Just Giving page. All of the money I raise will be going straight to Women V Cancer with none of it going towards the cost of getting me to Tanzania, but I still aim to raise over £3000. And, fortunately, the fundraising challenge side of things shouldn't leave me quite so battered and bruised as some of the training rides might...!