I signed up to cycle RideLondon for Aspire because of my own injury from an accident. About eight months ago while cycling, I had a collision with a car which broke my spine. I was extremely fortunate to have escaped without lasting damage but needed surgery which kept me off my bike for several months.

As I began my recovery, I decided that RideLondon would be the perfect target to motivate myself for. At the same time, I knew that it had only been the tiniest margin that had meant I could actually get back on a bike again, but many people who have had similar accidents never do. So I thought it made sense to use RideLondon as an opportunity to support a charity helping people with spinal injuries.

Cycling RideLondon became the biggest milestone in my recovery after quite a disruptive injury. Completing it feels like I've finally completed my recovery.

On the day

I found cycling 100 miles both exhilarating and exhausting. It's an extraordinary feeling to ride around London on closed roads with no traffic, and the sun out. One of the most fun things was jumping into groups and drafting along before inevitably getting dropped, but there's always more groups coming up the road to drop into.  It took me 4 hours and 47 mins, excluding stoppages.

It wasn’t easy but the euphoria of the day gave me a big lift. There were nerves before the start, not knowing if I really had enough in the tank, and getting up at 4.30am didn't help, but the atmosphere in London was electric. I think maybe more surprising was that even in the remoter parts of the route there were crowds of people in small villages watching and cheering. It felt like a celebration for 100 miles.

The last 10-20 miles coming back into London was absolutely buzzing with locals filling up the pavements and cheering, and rows of flags and banners made a spectacular backdrop. Riding back into Central London on closed off dual carriageways, seeing the skyline looming, trying to eke out the last bit of energy from the legs while the crowds cheered you on. It's hard to replicate that on a casual weekend ride. I was running on fumes at the end but the adrenaline and support from spectators kept me going until the finish line. After getting home I needed a very long lie down but I’m looking forward to cycling it again next year!

It's been humbling to see the level of support from friends and family and I’m delighted to have raised £1,281. As a rookie in fundraising, I haven't pulled out any magic tricks, I've just tried to tell as many people as I can about my story and what I'm doing and the response has been incredible. I'm extremely grateful for their generosity.

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