On Saturday 19th November I was proud (and a bit relieved) to successfully complete the Chainge16 static bike challenge along with my fellow cyclists Steve Cliffe and Doug Hallstrom - Tobins Terrors - raising money for the British Asian Trust’s ‘Give a Girl a Future Appeal’. Although I was pretty shattered to put it mildly, it was certainly worth every gruelling mile!

The stage was set at London’s iconic Olympic Park Velodrome, where teams had to race against each other to overcome climbs, sprints and flat roads and demonstrate the ability to manage changeovers without losing time or distance whilst connected to Zwift, the latest interactive cycling technology. 

We were very lucky to have our main man Doug Hallstrom, who was in a great position, racing right at the top (a spectacle in itself) showing us all just how it’s done with an incredible core strength and a wonderful style. 

Certainly, every mile was worth fighting for as all donations are to be matched by the UK Government until 7 December. And, considering that Chainge16 had set the challenge for each team to raise £3,000, we are pretty pleased that Tobin’s Terrors have reached and exceeded the target by raising £3,305. Please keep donations coming!

So what were we all on the point of collapse for? Every single competitor, whether he was at Doug’s standard or mine, was there to help transform lives. 

The British Asian Trust is the UK’s leading organisation for British Asian philanthropy and their Chainge16 Appeal aims to help thousands of girls who are denied an education and who are not allowed the chance to learn skills that will enable them to work and improve their lives. On Saturday we were cycling to the point of sheer exhaustion to give these girls the opportunity to learn new and useful skills, such as computer literacy and to give to them the hand up they need, and you can’t get a better reason for a day at the Velodrome than that!