Home again

Total distance: 6,361.6km

Amount raised: £5,380.70

Position: Point Pleasant park, Halifax

Ok, so that last one was a lie, I'm actually at home now, drinking tea and listening to some greatly missed music (Note to self: don't go travelling without Gorod).

I did it! All the way across - well, not the bits where I hitchhiked because my bike broke, but all of the 6,361km. To pick up where we left it, I rode the final two days into Halifax, getting lost somewhere in the city less than 5 kilometers from the finish, and then rode the last stretch as fast as my (now significantly more bombproof) legs would allow, 35kmph into the wind is a nice way to finish.

I was met at the finish line by my family, my girlfriend and her mother and sister, some family friends, a representative from my old school, and a man whose brother lives in Exeter and read about me in the Express and Echo (second story). It was a good feeling to have finally finished, despite it just feeling like the end of another ride. The reality of it didn't quite hit me, and still hasn't really.

We then took a tour of my old school, kindly hosted by Gay Silverman, once I'd got out of cycling cloths and into a shirt, which felt very odd having spent most of 3 months in bike clothing. I got to see my old grade 2 teacher, Mrs. Lewis, who greeted me with a huge (even though she's teeny) hug. I must have made a good impression those 13 years ago. The school brought back a lot of memories, and even thought a lot of it is new now, I could still recognise my old haunts.

I then got to spend the rest of my time in Canada with Becca or my family, sightseeing and generally being touristy. It felt very strange to not be cycling any more, and I was certainly suffering from the effects of withdrawal symptoms. Now that I'm home I'm back into it, less cycling, and more running and swimming, training for Ironman France 2011. Not as much as the roughly 36 hours per week I'd been doing but enough to keep me sane.

Seeing that this will be my final post, I feel a few thank yous are in order. Firstly, to the people of Canada, for not killing me with your trucks and RVs, for letting me sleep on your lawns and for giving me good breakfasts of bacon, eggs and coffee in spite of me being a total stranger wrapped in lycra. To the Hendersons for easing me into their country and making me feel at home. Special thanks to my warmshowers hosts for letting me into your homes, feeding me well and trusting me not to steal all your stuff. SPECIAL special thanks to Bonnie and Doug for being generally brilliant and being my favourite Canadians and to D'Arcy and his wonderful family for putting up with me for an extra day and letting me play with kittens all day. Thanks to Brad, Jeremy, Megan, Jenna, Christian and Julian for company on a very lonely road. Thanks to Johanas for carrying the beeeer. To Dutch cycles for the wheel discount and to Ron for the mochi. Thanks to my parents for supporting me and coming out to meet me at the finish, as well as doing a significant volume of planning whilst I was on my bike, and to Becca, Lucy and Carolyn for coming all the way over and putting up with me in the hotel. Thanks to Rob for the daily motivational texts (which were more help at times than I think he envisaged). A big thank you to everyone who donated, and thank you to you, for reading this, It was a big help when I was tired, wet, hungry, lonely or my bum hurt to know that people were following and supporting and wishing me good things.