It’s 6am on Monday 23rd of June. I didn’t sleep last night and as I sit here in the 9th different budget hotel in as many nights I am slightly torn. On one hand I am relieved that the immense challenge and physical exertion is over. This morning the ritual that has been the last 9 days of my life can be broken. I don’t need to eat 1,000 calories for breakfast, return to my room, chamois up, prep my bike, fill my water bottles and cycle 180km. Instead I will go down for a normal breakfast and either come back to my room for a snooze or head down to the pool. The key point is I have options and both are infinitely more appealing than piling more pain onto my aching body.

However I am also sad that it is all over. When you look around the room at your fellow cyclists at the beginning of a adventure like this you have no way of knowing exactly how it will all work out. What you do know is that it will work out and that you will need each other to get through it. This trip has been incredible. We have experienced massive highs and faced challenges as individuals and a group. There is nothing like the act of peddling up a huge hill for hours on end to really strip away ones defenses and leave you venerable and reliant on some camaraderie and support. In my opinion it is healthy to step well outside your comfort zone on occasion and cycling my 17 stone body 1,500kms from London to Monte Carlo certainly ticks that box.

Many thanks to the riders, the support crew on the road and back at Dow Jones HQ, the sponsors and our supporters who have enabled us to raise so much money for two excellent causes.

I am a little shy of my £2,000 goal and would appreciate and support you could give me

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/montecarlo

I have some great footage from day 7 onwards that I will be looking to post in the next day or two – once I have the luxury of my broadband internet connection rather than relying on iPhone personal hotspots.

See you next year?

Jonny