Well done!

Well done everyone! This blog has been great for keeping up with the trials, tribulations and adventures of the bike ride. Well done to the main writers: Martin and Sarah. Nick would have enjoyed it - though he probably would have added something really technical and exciting. We miss you Nick and are proud to have achieved something so substantial. Also it gave the team time to talk about you and, frankly, time to grieve. The year has passed so quickly and yet so slowly. Your death was such a shock and it is hard to come to terms with losing you. Sadly we have your table at home, and it was sad to sit round it in January without you (the first time we had sat down since March, having a baby, and moving house). We wanted to have that beer together - or at least around a different table and you were still using this one. I want to say how much Ben misses you. He was so ill before and during the ride. I think you may have kicked his butt for trying to complete it (which he did) but then you probably would have appreciated how he felt. You were always pushing through the pain. Anyway, Ben survived (despite an intravenous drip episode in Cork hospital) and it was because he needed to do this to remember his brother. So well done Ben. Sorry for your pain - and love to Nick.