RideLondon 2017: inspiring cycling stories - 100 miles in 100 words

The moment you take that first step towards achieving a huge personal goal, thoughts whirl through your mind.

Committing to participate in a mammoth sporting event is one of those moments.

Will I be able to motivate myself to train? Can I cross the finish line in one piece? Do I realise exactly how far 100 miles is...because it sounds very, very far!

With a huge physical challenge ahead of them, we presented eight willing participants with a challenge of a different nature: to tell us in exactly 100 words why they have chosen to take part in RideLondon's 100-mile sportive.

It's not easy to tell an inspirational story in just 100 words - let's find out how they got on...

Esme

Charity: British Heart Foundation

Basky

Charity: Breast Cancer Care

Spencer

Charity: Kidney Research UK

Kevin

Charity: Bloodwise

Rachel

Charity: MS Society

Sarah

Charity: Breast Cancer Care

Amy

Charity: Anthony Nolan

Stephen

Charity: Bloodwise

The RideLondon event takes place over three days from 28-30 July. You can catch up with all the action and stories from the weekend here.

And if you're inspired to try cycling yourself, check out our Get Inspired guide.