RideLondon 2023

I am very excited to be doing RideLondon this year to raise money for TOFS.

I love cycling, both MTB and road, but it has been hard to get out on the bike since our daughter Elizabeth was born 18 months ago, especially as she has Oesophageal Atresia, i.e. she was born with a gap between her oesophagus and stomach. So I am very pleased to be able to ride it this year, and it means a lot to be riding for such a good cause.

Elizabeth has had a number of operations and hospital visits since she was born, and was in intensive care for the first 6 weeks after birth, but at the last minute, we managed to get home at 7pm on Christmas Eve, with nothing prepared for Christmas, except the main present - our beautiful daughter back home for the first time! Elizabeth has been a blessing to my wife Anna and I, with such wonderful calmness and acceptance, but also a cheeky sense of humour and determination to explore and have adventures.

She has just had a major operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital, that we hope will enable her to feed relatively normally in the future. We are greatly relieved that this has gone well, although its early days, and we are working hard to support her at this time as she recovers and takes on the challenge of learning to feed. This ride is dedicated to Elizabeth and all the amazing support we have had so far, and continue to have, especially from TOFS and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

During the ride, every time I have a banana, snack bar, cake or energy gel (I’ll be needing many of these over the 100 miles!), I will try and think of how fortunate most of us are to have good health, and to be able to eat so easily, when for some others like Elizabeth with Oesophageal Atresia, there are serious challenges to overcome.

Thanks for any donations you are able to give to TOFS who have given me a place in RideLondon, and who do great work in supporting families with Oesophageal Atresia, both during critical medical phases like Elizabeth’s, but also longer term, post-surgery, as they learn to feed and settle into nursery, school life and beyond. 

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Thanks so much for all those who have given donations for this event.We had a clear sunny day on Sunday with little wind, and 25,000 riders taking part in the event on closed roads. The route started on the Embankment, went out through Epping Forest into the Essex countryside, where there was cheerful support in the local villages, then back into London to finish at Tower Bridge.

I managed to get round the 102 mile course in a total time of 6 hours 1 minute, or a ride time of 5 hours 18 minutes. I am very proud to have participated in this event whilst raising money for TOFS and now raised over £1,000. Thanks again for your donations.