On Thursday 16 June, 250 of us will set out from the Societe Generale Towers to take on an incredible challenge: biking to London to benefit the NGO CARE!

It's been an emotional time as we meet up again for the third Bike Ride, an event which gets Societe Generale's Citizen Commitment Week of to an enthusiastic start!

The Paris to London Bike Ride is practically old news for us now, but people have been exceptionally excited about it this year and we've collected a record-breaking amount of money. The employees involved in the race have raised more than € 250,000 to support an education access project we are co-funding with CARE, a charity which has been one of our partners since 2008.

At D-2 there's a lot of emotion in the air… and we've been training pretty hard for three months! This year, I decided to make it all the way to London and participate in the entire Bike Ride! To prepare for the race, I went on around ten rides of 40 to 80 km each, for a total of 200 km in April and 300 km in May, mostly around the Longchamp racecourse. I met other participants who were training there, including members of the cycling section of the Societe Generale Athletic Union (UASG), and we rode together as a pack several times. But I'm still far from sure I won't get cramps this year… like last year, when I found myself with cramps in both thighs at the same time while on my bike… It's a pretty funny feeling! I've also gotten more familiar with my new bike, which I bought so I could cover ground more safely… I'm counting on my group to find the energy it takes to keep going when my legs feel like lead … and open up the pack! I'm excited to see my fellow racers again, particularly Pierre-Yves, Catherine, and François, who's racing on a tandem bike! All four of us will be taking part in this wonderful experience and will try to make you feel like a part of it on this blog (if we don't get cramps in our hands!).

This bike race is an opportunity to enjoy acting together, beyond our business and banking goals, and we're using our team spirit and solidarity to support a great cause…

I also wanted to thank all our proud sponsors for their great support for organising this event: Thompson Reuters, Microsoft Office 365, Eurostar, The Boston Consulting Group, CSC, Visa, thank you so much!

We'll see you starting June 16th on the road for this wonderful human and sporting adventure!