Great British Bike Ride 2010 and 2011 Rider Testimonials
Please read below testimonials received from the riders of the Great British Bike Ride 2010 and 2011.
If you would like to be on the list for next year, please click here to register your interest to take part in the GBBR 2012.
2011 REVIEWS
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A fantastic, life enhancing event that takes you on a roller coaster of emotions.
Barry, you should feel very proud being able to pull this event together. I can only guess at the hard work and organisation that went into this event. Turning up and riding must have been easy compared to what you and your team had to do! Thank you.
Team Auditel should return next year, knees permitting.
Ed Brewer
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I would like to say I had a Great Time and I would do it again anytime (If I Can Raise the Entry Fee!!) so THANK YOU ALL for the Experience and I hope to see you all in 2012.
Dave Tillyer (Rider 25)
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Generally what a great experience. The camaraderie, the spirit and commitment of everyone was fantastic. You should be very proud of what you have achieved in creating the GBBR.
Mike (Rider 24)
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What can I say, I just had the greatest time on GBBR 2011....yes, including the hills!! Met some great people and witnessed Richard, my brother in law, complete the challenge having only learnt to ride earlier this year. Fantastic.Phil Vickery and John Inverdale were perfect ambassadors and I hope they can help you in further raising the profile of the GBBR.
Yourself and the team have pulled together a great challenge and your passion and dedication is inspiring, I truly admire what you have achieved. Just negotiating with the missus to join up for next year!
Simon Hearn (Rider 43)
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I would just like to say a big thanks, I really has a fab time. Meet some interesting people and generally had a good laugh. I certainly cycled further in those few days than I have in the past. The friendship (and encouragement) from the fellow cyclist surly made the event something I will cherish for a very long time. Your team done you proud.
Thank you also for the opportunity to cycle around the stadium, (a story to be told for ever more)
Hope to see you next time.
Sha Jones (rider number 22)
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I thought the whole event was fantastic, every competitor seemed to ‘enjoy' the ride and great determination was shown by everyone in ensuring it was a great success, Thank you all.
John Joyce (Rider 42)
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The Great British Bike Ride was the single hardest physical event I have ever attempted in my life but at the end was one of the most rewarding achievements you could experience.
The organisation of the event from start to finish was brilliant, not only in terms of the route and pit stops, but orchestrating the volunteers and the well set-up base camps. The camaraderie amongst the whole cast, the cyclists, volunteers and army was brilliant, with the mutual encouragement and cheeky humour creating a positive atmosphere. The evenings after the ride were well hosted by the rugby clubs and the sports massages were great. The scenery along some parts of the ride were amazing, especially the New Forest, and the gala dinner on the final evening provided a great wrap-up of the weeks events and was a good celebration of everybody's achievements. One of the main highlights has to be walking round the Twickenham pitch taking in the whole atmosphere, which was an amazing buzz.
Having only started cycling in January of this year, there was a great sense of trepidation heading into the event but with the support from everybody along the ride, I can happily say that I completed the ride and raised a lot of money for very deserving causes.
All that is left to add is a big thank you to the organisers, the volunteers and the army for making the week not only a very memorable one but a very enjoyable one!
Richard Stewart
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Barry
The whole experience was absolutely brilliant and I can't thank you and the rest of the GBBR team enough. I've raised a lot of money for 5 worthy causes and had so much fun doing it. The challenge was quite unlike anything I've done before and it truly was a challenge! I made some great friends and it was really quite emotional saying goodbye to everybody at Twickenham.
I'm so glad I responded to the email that went to TNT employees asking if anybody wanted to take part. I have to admit a few weeks later when I received confirmation that I was one of the 8 lucky riders to be picked I was a little apprehensive though! I hope that TNT continues to support this great event and if you'd like any help with this then please let me know as I'd be happy to help in way I can.
Other highlights I'd like to mention that I couldn't fit in above include;
The ‘Pasta King' at the TNT Exeter Depot. Definitely the best lunch of all the rides and a much needed boost for tough third section of day 2!
It had been a long day with 4 punctures amongst the riders I was with (2 of those punctures being on my bike) and it was also raining, but the final leg into Esher on day 4 was great fun.
Rob Hutchings TNT
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Hi Barry,
I just wanted to say thanks for giving me the opportunity to come along for the ride. The organisation and support was second to none, the group of riders became as close as strangers can become over such a short time and the experience was unforgetable.
Martin Jakes
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Barry
For me it was a great experience and you and your team can be proud of what you have achieved. The army were great as was the welcome at the clubs (3-4) Please pass on my regards and thanks to all of the volunteers. What is the situation with the photographs that were taken, will they be available to us?
Gordon Harris (Rider 32)
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I think it is very interesting that you mentioned changing the route, different start etc. Since I got back last Saturday I have been looking for another event to do later in the summer. It was only when I started looking at other events I realised just how tough GBBR is - effectively the first 4 days are all sportives in their own right. There are a lot of good challenging one day events out there but very few longer than that. The challenge and camaraderie are what makes GBBR special - very happy to see the route change but please don't make it easier !
Lawrence Fitch (Rider 008)
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On the whole a very enjoyable experience not just the ride which was the pinnacle and culmination of 6 months training. I would certainly be more than happy to do it all over again.
A great thanks must go to you Barry and all the support volunteers who looked after us and ensured we were ready to ride each morning, and to everyone who took part for their commitment and dedication to complete the event and for the thousands of pounds raised in the process.
Adrian Burton (Rider 007)
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Dear Barry
Sadly I did not have an opportunity to thank you personally yesterday for the wonderful experience GBBR 2011 has been for me. I know that organising this years ride has been more than a little challenging for you and it is a massive credit to all at GBBR that we had an event to ride this year. I can honestly say the event you put on last week exceeded all my expectations and in my opinion was even better than 2010. It was so good to see so many old friends and make even more new ones. The route was once again a fantastic challenge which all of our team were very proud to complete. The Gala Dinner at Esher was an evening I will remember for a long time and it was so enjoyable to be able to celebrate our achievements in completing the ride with all of the other riders.
All 7 Team Auditel riders have already agreed to take part in the event next year and, since crossing the finish line at Twickenham yesterday, 3 more colleagues have also volunteered. This is really pleasing for me as after far too much wine on Friday night I made a bet with Brendan that Auditel could put a bigger team in than Artel for the 2012 ride!
Team Auditel
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Hi Barry,
I would just like to say a massive thank you to you and your team for all your hard work.
I know that I was very nervous at the beginning but it is definitely the best thing i have ever done and I am determined to come back next year!
Danielle
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Thanks again for a fantastic week. We will let you know the final figure we have raised from our fundraising efforts when finalised - we are currently hoping that this will be over £8,000.
Laurence Fitch
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2010 REVIEWS
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Hi Barry & Chris,
Just wanted to say well done on achieving what was a great event. There are many people who have challenged themselves well beyond their comfort zones and been able to raise money for their deserving charities as well as honour loved ones/people close to their heart. And you helped them achieve it.
The finale will have helped them forget some of the physical pain!
Congratulations
Richard Hill MBE
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Barry
Congratulations on a fabulous effort from you and all your team. It was very impressive to see you all parade around the ground on Saturday and the many Lexus GBBR shirts around the stadium. You will be pleased to hear I even saw a cyclist in their Lexus GBBR shirt on the road on my way in to the office this morning.
We are extremely grateful for your support and the tremendous fundraising efforts on our behalf which will make a huge difference to our members in need.
I hope you had fun on Saturday evening and things have settled down a bit for you.
I will give you a call to catch up on the phone and arrange to meet up soon.
Many thanks again and well done.
Kind regards
Alex
Alex Anderson | Head of Player Services
The Rugby Players' Association
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Hi Barry,
Thanks for everything you did for us all not just during the ride but also in all the efforts of yourself and the team in the run up to the event. From my point of view it delivered everything I expected, hoped for and more and I feel very proud to have been part of this event. I hope that you have had an opportunity to sit back and reflect on what you have started - it's pretty incredible Barry.
I have already registered for next year and already talked another colleague (Edward Brewer) into joining us - I hope to add another couple shortly.
Look forward to seeing you down at Lands End next year and if there is anything I can do to help promote the 2011 event please get in touch.
Very best wishes
Laurence
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Barry and the LGBBR team
I personally found it the hardest challenge I have ever done - but also the best. Have been on a massive high ever since. Truly life-changing as the sense of having over-achieved my own wildest expectations means that I now feel I can take on anything and succeed. Great stuff - well done at having the conviction to organise it and trust we would all get through it (even if sometimes you may have worried that we would fail !).
Sallie Brooke (Rider 134)
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Thanks Barry, Huge congratulations on bringing your vision to life - it was an absolutely stunning event from my perspective. I would love to help in some way in the future. In the meantime I will fill in your feedback form. Below is the note we sent out to those who contributed to our fund raising efforts for info. Best. Jon
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"Well we did it!"
After 4 very long days and the most punishing 350 miles from Lands End to Twickenham the organisers could dream up, we finally reached our destination around lunchtime on Saturday.
The journey proved to be a much bigger challenge than we all imagined. Much steeper climbs, more challenging roads, and much warmer (but thankfully drier) than we expected. The event was as much a mental challenge as a physical one as we all had to dig deep to get through each day - as well as negotiating 3 nights of communal camping on rugby pitches with 200 fellow riders!
On the plus side the commitment of the support team (all working for free during their holidays), the phenomenal hospitality of the hosting rugby clubs and the sheer guts and determination of some of the less prepared and less "streamlined" riders to get through each day was an inspiration to everyone taking part. The camaraderie amongst the riders was also fantastic, with everyone helping each other out along the route as well as being great company for 4 days.
The final few miles through London and the ride to the stadium were also the perfect end to the challenge and brought a great sense of achievement (and not a little emotion!) to all the riders involved.
Thanks to everyone who has supported our fund raising. We are now tantalisingly close to our £5k target, which is absolutely terrific news. Any last minute contributions are also very welcome. You can make a donation by clicking on the following link..
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=TwiningsGBBR
For those of you who are interested, there is a gallery of pictures from the ride on the event website www.greatbritishbikeride.com
You never know, you may be inspired to give it a go yourself next year!
Many Thanks & Best Wishes
Jon, Neil, & Gary
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Hi Barry,
I've just got back on the bike for the first time since last Saturday!!!
It was truely a great event and your whole team have every reason to be proud of the way it went. I had never done a long distance ride before and wonder whether any other would match up.
On the camaraderie note, I intended to swap contact info with Lloyd Davies from Helston but did not in the final melee. I wonder whether you could pass on my e-mail address to him so we can make contact?
Many thanks
Andrew (106)
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Hi Barry
Just a quick note to say thank you to you and your fantastic team for organising the GBBR last week.
Taking part was certainly a challenge but one that I think everyone relished - just a shame about the Saracens result on Saturday.
NB Please donate the money from my returned match ticket to the Help for Heroes charity.
Thanks
Andrew Fraser
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Hi Barry,
I wanted to be one of the first of the challenge riders to congratulate you and Chris and your team for producing a superb challenge. I would struggle to see how you can improve the basic event as it was so well organised and superbly orchestrated that anything you do from now on will simply be tweaking. Many new friends were made by all the people involved and as is the way with everything Rugby related a wonderful atmosphere was enjoyed by us all.
You all deserve a well earned rest, until Monday when you can start all over again...
Finally apologise for running off with the Giant bike but I assumed it needed going back to Kneller hall but there was no one there to take it. If you can let me have the address to send it to I will organise it on Tuesday.
In the meantime thanks again for the privilege of riding through Twickenham it made the whole thing very special for me and completed my vision of the event,
Kind regards,
Rob Holder
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Barry
Firstly, many, many thanks for organising such an epic and enjoyable trip. I may be crippled today but I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the ride. The team you put together were fantastic and all went out of their way to help whatever they were asked to do. Particular thanks go to the massage girls and mechanics for working into the night each day to keep us on the road.
Many thanks again.
Toby (rider 116)
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Barry,
That was sensational - thank you. An awesome piece of organizing all the way through against some tough targets particularly given the varied "talent" you had to work with.
Truly special and to have raised what I reckon will eventually be more than £100k is a really exceptional feather in YOUR cap.
Thank you and well done. It was a privilege to have participated.
Richard Gourlay
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Hi Barry,
I just wanted to say a massive and hugely emotional thank you for everything you did for all of us on the Great British Bike Ride. You were fantastic, and I was amazed by the whole thing. I know that you had a brilliant bunch of people there doing the background things too, and there are of course too many people to thank.
I think I will be in for next year too, and intend to try to get a good group of people together this time too, it would be great to have that extra camaraderie and team spirit.
Whilst on, I would love to know if you are able to share the story of the dragons? If not, I understand - I never got a chance to ask myself, but I saw the emotion in you when you talked about it at Winchester, so it must be quite something.
Finally, will the extra photos taken by Hy be made available sometime please? I'd love to get hold of any of me 'for the scrapbook' as it were.
Thank you again most sincerely for a totally unforgettable and magnificent experience.
All the best,
Chris Powell
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Hi Barry,
A few quick things following this year's ride.
First and most importantly, I just wanted to say thanks for the last 5 days. It was really tough for many of us riders but I doubt we have any concept of how much work went on behind the scenes, both before the week and during. Without all your hard work, and the efforts of the rest of the team, volunteers, army, rugby clubs, etc, etc, there's no way it would have worked as well as it did for us, so thank you very much and please pass on my thanks to everyone else. The week was a physical and mental challenge I wasn't 100% certain I could complete, but I made it and it's given me some wonderful memories, new friends and it's showed me what I'm capable of.
Thanks again for all your efforts.
Regards
Andy (rider no. 019)
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Good Morning Guy's (This is for Fly also but I haven't got his email address so please pass on).
Just wanted to say a big thanks and sincere congratulations on the success of the first Lexus GBBR. The organisation of such an event Barry must have been awesome but it worked. And how you guys managed to find such a super bunch of helpers is a secret you must share -cos they were all so fantastic and boosted spirits which were sometimes flagging - at every opportunity.
Ok -it was tougher than some of us had expected but we got there in the end. Thanks for waiting up fore the slower members of the Prosell Team. Also the signs along the way were excellent - they must have been as we didn't get lost once. And those yellow balloons, what a welcome site they were especially when you had travelled some way with out seeing a sign and were beginning to wonder if you had taken a wrong turning.
And what a finale - parading around Twickenham in front of such a crowd was an experience we will never forget.
Thanks again from The Prosell Team Simon, Guy &Alec (Mudgie)
PS Do keep in touch and lets try to meet for lunch or a beer sometime - have bike can travel - Mudgie
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Barry,
Thanks again for the hard work that went in to organising the GBBR. Missed you on Saturday afternoon. Were you there or did you have other things to take care of? Anyway, really enjoyed the event. A tough challenge, but I was delighted that I coped as well as I did. Largely down to the masseurs, the food/energy bars and the support of the other riders I think. Best wishes for the rest of the year, and hope to see you again next year!!
I have some cheques made payable direct to the charities. Should I send those to you?
Regards
Tim Lander
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Barry
Just a quick one to congratulate you on organising a fantastic few days cycling, the challenge of the ride, the spirit of those riding with me and the hospitality of every club will last in the memory just as long as walking around Twickers. A huge thanks and time for some good rest. ps. will there be a chance to see any of the piccs taken on the ride?
Regards
Mr, J.P. Young
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Barry
Now that the dust has settled just a quick note to say well done you!
I would like to thank you, your son Darren and all the back up team for a wonderful week. I found the whole event very comfortable there were no rules to deal with you went with flow and every one was treated the same your dream of the GBBR has come true, what a special event it is and will be for many years to come.
When I started this journey way back in May I had a goal My Father had been diagnosed with Bowel Cancer our family was distraught Martin my dad has been my rock for the last 44 years teaching me everything I know he is a fighter and is now in the middle of his treatment my goal was to complete this ride for him, every mile of that ride I thought of the pain he is going through at the moment, which made it easy for me to complete. It was a great moment in my life to cycle the event and the honour you gave me at the end I will never forget
I can see that you also are a great family man by the way you treated mine your two boys are a credit to you both gentlemen like yourself.
I wish you well for the future GBBR events and hope to be with you on them please God.
Thank you
All the best
Brendan Morrisey Rider 113
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Barry
I'm sure you are putting your feet up and enjoying a well deserved break... Just a quick note to thank you and your team for all the efforts in the past few months. A huge event, perhaps too difficult for some, and with minor teething problems, however on the whole a great experience and one I'd do all over again.
Could you put me in touch with the Army rugby connections you have? I'm keen to expand my the fixture list at the University of Leeds.
Once again, thank you for the putting this event on...enjoy a break!
Cheers
Nick
Nick Hyde
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Hi Barry
Very many thanks to you and the "Army" of volunteers for all their efforts, your Great British Bike Ride was a fabulous and very memorable challenge.
Hopefully catch you at an Albion game this season.
Regards
Danny Carroll
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Hi Barry,
Thanks for a great week, I had an awesome time!!!
Kind Regards
Angila (Massage Therapist
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Barry
When does saying thank you become enough!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just wanted to say a huge thank you for a grrrrrrrreat event. The route was fab - don't make it easier - it's meant to be tough! The organisation was wonderful and the atmosphere for the 4 days was just outstanding as was the finish of the event at the stadium. So thanks again and again.
Mark Laurenti Rider 002 (Number for life)
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Hi Barry
Now I have recovered a little, please pass on my thanks to all the guys and girls who helped you put on a fantastic event last week.
You all deserve medals.
I thought the organisation was excellent and the route, whilst tough, left all concerned with a real sense of achievement.
I have already registered interest for next year but am also trying to get a team together.
Thanks Again
Mark Whittaker (112)
PS My charity total is still going up based on contributions from the doubters who made finishing a condition of payment.
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Dear Barry and the Team
I would like to thank you for what I can only describe as an amazing experience and I still can't believe that it's over!
What made a big difference to me was you attention to detail, whilst still keeping everything flexible so that we can have some fun! Having the motorbike support, bike "fixers", masseurs and organisers on hand at all hours of the day made such a big difference to me as a rider, knowing that where ever I was I was being looked after and gave me a peace of mind that just allowed me to focus on the ride, rather worrying about anything else. Plus having a detailed advance pack with nutrition advice and a training schedule was a godsend and became my "bible" for the three months leading up to the challenge. It also help to set my expectations for the actual ride, as I was confident that as long as I read and followed what you recommended (apart from the "summer" sleeping bag), I knew (well hoped, but now know for future events) that I could deal with what ever the terrain and the general aspects of the event threw at me, so thank you for thinking that through too.
Marking the route as you did with the balloons after the signs and in between turnings was a great idea and at times was a real energy booster when I started questioning whether or not I was on the right track. Also to also have very distinctive signs, I'm sure saved a lot of people from going the wrong way - especially on Saturday!
The other thing I really enjoyed was the camaraderie amongst the organisers, riders and volunteers, I did think that there would be more arrogance / machismo / ego's on display, especially amongst some of the better riders, but apart from right at the start (which was to be expected) and then at the first stage of the Day 3 ride with Martin Johnson, the sprit of the event was incredible. It was embraced a challenge, not a race and when ever anyone arrived at a pit or overnight stop, we all felt like "heroes" and that we had achieved the world, which was amazing. I also loved the team spirit when the last riders came in each night, the Dragon Girls were an inspiration to us all and at times I know I felt humbled by their achievement.
Once again, many thanks for a fantastic time and for enabling me to complete a challenge that I wasn't sure I'd be able to do at the start. If you ever do another challenge over a different route, please let me know as I'd love to join you at the start of another big adventure?
Best wishes,
Michelle
Michelle Thomas
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Barry
Thanks very much for all your hard work organising the bike ride. It was a great success and really good fun.
Hope you have recovered and are enjoying some relaxation!
See you next year
Cheers
Elliot
