The day started with a 3am alarm to get into London then 11 miles cycling to the start line in the dark, so the first challenge was getting there. We had also woken up to find a slight change of weather from the relentless heatwave... typical!

Once I arrived in my pen I met up with Aspire team mate Paul Parrish, Director of Fundraising and Marketing, who was also doing the ride. We crossed the start line and had a great cycle together for the first 11 miles out towards Pall Mall, where Paul met his pal and I continued on.

The light showers at the start soon got progressively worse and turned into a monsoon that caused all sorts of havoc on the roads and made it incredibly tough. By 20 miles I was absolutely soaked to the skin and frozen. My feet were squelching in my shoes and it was a real test of endurance with constant rain and spray in my face and cross winds that nearly took me off the bike. I wasn't even a quarter of the way in and groups of people were dropping out at pick up points for the sweep vehicle to take them home.

It was a case of breaking down the 100 miles into little chunks or a quarter of the way, a third of the way, half way... just to make it more bearable. The treacherous weather meant there were lots of accidents and punctures along the way.

At 50 miles I still had the big climbs to do. Many people got caught up in accidents that meant they had to cycle a different route for safety reasons. I was 'lucky' enough to be able to cycle Box Hill and Leith Hill, the two biggest climbs on the course. They actually weren't that bad at all, the worst bit was having to slow up on the hills to let the medics on bikes and the ambulances pass.

During the last 10 miles I actually started to get some feeling in my fingers again and found a bit of energy for the final hill into Wimbledon, and overtook about 30 people on the climb, which was a great feeling!

Seven hours later I was relieved to arrive safely on the Mall to cross the finish line and it was lovely to see Aspire colleagues Sinead and Hannah waiting to congratulate me in Green Park after such a long and gruelling day!

Two days later, my legs felt fine. My kit was trashed but I have a lovely shiny medal, which I am super proud of! There were thousands of people that didn't turn up or quit part way through because of the weather. I could have easily done the same and the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I was cycling for Aspire, to help them support people with Spinal Cord Injury.

It just goes to show what you can do when you put your mind to it and how you can get through some things that seem unbearable at the time and come out smiling. I’d like to thank Aspire for this opportunity Aspire and to all my colleagues, friends and family who have supported me, it really is appreciated.

Claire Kremer, Project Manager, Aspire

Sponsor Claire

Ride London 100

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