Lap of Honour - University Park, Nottingham

It was really nice finally to take a vehicle that didn't need to be powered by my own two legs! The team took a long minivan journey to Perth, where we slept, and then continued in the morning to Edinburgh airport where we took a flight to Nottingham. I just couldn't believe that I had cycled all those miles, and more, in the opposite direction!

Today there was a Community Day at the University and there were around 550 cyclists taking part in sponsored rides of various lengths between six and 75 miles. Under the wonderful weather with which we have been blessed for almost all of LC4, the atmosphere on campus when we arrived and did our lap of honour was really moving. I was very pleased to meet Ryan who was helping his lovely mother Pam to run a stand of handicrafts which she does regularly to raise funds for brain tumour research. Ryan is a really nice boy and it was fantastic finally to get to know him and to be able to talk about the normal things that preoccupy teenagers: that the holidays are over and he has to go back to school! He is doing so well!

And now I am home, surrounded by my own family and feeling really tired but really happy and in disbelief of what we have achieved.

The time has now come to go back to my normal life and park the Lycra for a while. Will I put my bicycle in eBay as I said I was going to do? Probably not, but my 100 mile rides are certainly over and Saturday mornings will be again dedicated to reading the newspapers, not training under the rain.

It is time, therefore, to say thank you so much for all your support and encouragement and goodbye!