The germ of an idea. Like many other wild ideas, an excess of alcohol played a key part! The alcoholic event was a Christmas celebration in late December 2002 at our offices in White City. A group of us got to talking about cycling and one of my colleagues, Mike Hawkesworth, 'volunteered' to donate £100 to a charity of my choice if I cycled into work and back. This entailed a return trip of about 70 miles, and Mike thought his money was reasonably safe - but I knew differently! I checked the following day that a sober Mike was still willing to cough up the money. He was. And so in April 2003, I duly cycled into White City and then back home again - a total of five hours on the bike. With Mike's contribution, and sponsorship raised from other colleagues, the BBC's Children in Need charity benefited from a contribution of around £450.
Bluff and counter-bluff. I thought nothing more of the ride until a few weeks later I was chatting to my boss, John Varney. Thoughts of arrangements for IBC, the International Broadcasting Convention held annually in Amsterdam, must have been in the air and when he asked how the ride had gone the resulting conversation went something like this...
Me -- "The ride went very well, it was quite enjoyable"
John -- "You know, I've always wanted to cycle from London to Paris".
Me -- "We could always cycle to Amsterdam this time instead of flying".
John -- "I'm up for it if you are!"
And so the idea was born. Some quick research showed that it would indeed be possible to cycle over two to three days and that BBC Technology, who were planning to exhibit at IBC, would be able to transport our suitcases. So in early September, John and I and seven of our colleagues set off for Amsterdam...but that's another story!
So, thanks to Mike for the idea and to John for the support which has seen Children in Need benefit by several thousand pounds since that original excess of Christmas spirit.
Rhys Lewis