Sponsored or not?

One of the things I've been very hesitant about is doing the ride on a sponsored basis. There have been two main reasons for this; firstly, it hasn't been the main motivator, and secondly it adds additional pressure. 

The primary motivators have always been the  challenge and the adventure. Can I do it and can I do it on my own, solo and unsupported? I genuinely don't know the answers to these questions. I know that I can ride 200km fully loaded, and since about a week ago I know I can ride 200km, bivvy for the night, and then ride 200km home again. But what I've honestly no idea about is whether I can ride 200km a day for seven days*, which is what's required to complete the ride in a week. Certainly, a lot will have to go really well to hit the seven day target. Eight or nine days is much more likely; it will depend a lot on the weather (not least because I'm heading into the prevailing wind) and also my ability is to rest and recover each night. 
As to the additional pressure of sponsorship, there's enough to manage on a solo unsupported ride (that you don't know if you can do), without making it more difficult for yourself by lots of people knowing about it, which is clearly a requirement to gain sponsorship. However, it's way too late for that. On Tuesday evening I took a snap decision to create a JustGiving page. The relatively easy bit was choosing the charity (Mind), the tricky bit was clicking 'publish', but it's too late, the cat is definitely out of the bag!

I set what I thought was a reasonable sponsorship target of £1,000. To my astonishment, within 24 hours I was half way there, within 48 it had been exceeded. I'm feeling a mixture of invigoration and terror! Invigorated because all these people (some of whom I barely know) are giving money and leaving such lovely messages; terrified because it's now so public and I'm utterly committed. Also, with only two weeks to go, more training isn't going to help, it's just a case of resting, route checking, and generally getting things ready.

Having said all that, I'm glad I've taken the plunge. I've already raised a decent chunk of money for a really important charity (thanks to everyone's generosity) and although it is additional pressure it is, of course, additional motivation too. So, thank you to Kathy for persuading me.

* Although I must remember the sage advice from Tim: 'Don't worry too much about specific distances because you don't know what will happen on each day - all you need to know is you can ride all day and then you can just see what happens.'

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