Brilliant way to start the week – a �1500 cheque from the NatWest bank in Norwich after they agreed to sponsor my Back to Bayern bike ride.

With every penny going to the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind, it's a very generous gesture from relationship director Richard Innes and his team, and will certainly spur me on as I continue my training for this 1300-mile adventure.

Talking of training, I'm persevering with my run-a-bit, bike-a-bit routine, because my first priority is still to tone up the muscles after ten years of sitting behind a desk. It's slow going, but (whisper it), I do think progress is being made.

I've been called plenty of things in my time, but 'Forest Gump on a bike' isn't one of them. Yet that was the moniker my old team mate during that Uefa Cup run Rob Newman gave me when I bumped into him in the city the other day. Rob, the lucky blighter, is now scouting in Spain for moneybags Manchester City, but reckoned that like Gump I'd not be content with biking to Bayern and want to continue around the world.

Rest assured, I relieved Rob of a decent donation for the B-to-B fund, which is no easy matter when you're tapping up someone with such short arms and deep pockets. (Only joking, mate).

So it's back on the bike and more of the no pain, no gain mantra everyone's so fond of quoting to me. Don't forget you can sponsor my ride by visiting www.nnab.co.uk and clicking through.

To see Gossy's 1993 Uefa performance at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, visit the picture gallery online at www.edp24.co.uk/jeremygoss.