Changing the World...

Before Mark Watson disappeared on holiday, he left us with a challenge. To simply 'change the world'. No mean feat, I'm sure you'll agree. Now, he did make clear that it could be only little things, he wasn't expecting us to negotiate peace between Israel and Palestine, just to bring some happiness to the local community.

This world-changing happened to coincide with the weekend of the charity bike ride. I've done it for quite a few years now, but this year I took a slightly more active role in helping to facilitate the running of it, which consisted of clearing some paths of nettles (with a scythe... the manly way to do it) and volunteering to be back marker. Something which goes completely against my nature when it comes to cycling and mostly consisted of making sure no-one got lost and helping tiny kiddies up hills on their little bikes. To handicap myself, I used my new second-hand mountain bike where the top big wheel gear doesn't work and the cadence required to keep up with people on road bikes makes Lance Armstrong's look like Jan Ulrich's. (That's a cycling joke there, for you cycling fans... what do you mean none of you are?!)

A far cry from last year where my Cavendish-like sprint past several miffed looking middle-aged cyclists on the home straight is still local cycle legend to this day. 'It's not a race' They clearly thought. It was so a race... in my head (nothing wrong with a bit of impromptu bike racing... next time you're out on your bike and you see one of those office types on their bikes, race them, they'll thank you for it one day...). I didn't cry like Cavendish though, just sank into a bath and rubbed cream on my perineum. I imagine the HTC Columbia riders have someone to do that for them. Ah, how the other half lives...

As I say, this year was different, this year was about helping everyone achieve their goals, whether it be make it to the halfway point in the forest or full circle to the finish line. The ultimate goal was of course to raise as much money as possible for Children in Distress, a wonderful charity that cares for suffering children in Eastern Europe. And by all accounts, this year's ride was a roaring success on that front. At the finish line we were presented with medals (like the marathon, but without Sue Barker and Brendan Foster, stopping us every few metres), a nifty new addition for the 2010 ride.


Me with the aforementioned medal. Will update you when I have confirmation of final total raised for Children in Distress.