As you may or may not have heard, I managed to finish L’Etape du Tour in one piece. Although I was not foolish enough to think it would be easy and I never considered not finishing, the event was much harder than I had anticipated, in fact 40% of the 8500 participants did not finish. After just over 9 hours 52 minutes from crossing the start line in Foix, I crossed the finish line in Loudenvielle emotionally and physically exhausted. This time placed me 2056 out of 8500 which put me in the top quarter, a goal I had thought I would like to achieve. I received a medal for finishing, which despite obviously not winning still meant so much to me as you will see from the following account.

I rode for most of the event with a guy called Tim who I met on the trip out there and we set a good but sensible pace. We saw Dad and Tim’s sister, Hannah, videoing us and taking photos as we left Foix. It was not long before we reached the first climb which was not very steep and quite enjoyable, working our way through the field due to having starting numbers in the high 7000s out of 8500 riders. After the first climb up Col du Port there was a long flat bit following a river leading to St Girons where we again saw Dad and Hannah. All was well and we stopped to refill our bottles, grab a sandwich and carry on. At about 85km we reached the second climb, Col de Port D’Aspet. This again, despite being quite long, was not too steep until the last 3 km of the climb which were a bit more testing; however, it was soon over and led lead to a rapid descent which ended in the start of the third climb to Col de Mente, no flat in between!

Col de Mente was the first real challenge and having passed half way I was quite pleased but knew I was definitely not half way in terms of effort. This climb was about 8 km long but was the highest average gradient between 8-10%. Tim and I encouraged each other up and continued to work through the field and pass some quite low numbered competitors now. Another breath taking descent and then the course flattened out for about 10-15km as we approached the dreaded Col de Bales ascent. This ascent was 19km long with an average of about 7-8%. This was where I started to struggle and Tim and I parted company when I needed to stop for a breather 5km into the climb. It got worse for me and I stopped several times and walked with my bike for a good km which was not uncommon during the 5km at around 10% incline.

After reaching the top I felt completely defeated by the mountain and upset that I had had to walk. Especially because I had made1 a comment to Hannah the day before that anyone who walked, during an event with their bike, were not ‘real’ cyclists! However, I picked myself up, refuelled and began one of the longest and fastest descents of the day. However, half way down I reached up to realise I had left my helmet at the top of Bales and was in no state to go back and get it! Reaching speeds in excess of 70kmh I was worried although refused to slow down because I wanted it all to be over as quick as possible and was aiming for sub 10 hours.

The final climb Col de Peysourdes was 10km long averaging 7-8% so not too bad but unrelenting and at this point I was utterly exhausted and with the temperatures reaching 35 degrees Centigrade it was hard work. I stopped a couple of times but made ok progress and finally crested the last hill. I had been counting down every 10 metres for the last 3 km and hardly looked up during this stretch. Head hung down, grinding away and completely focussed on the road beneath me. One Frenchman commented as I went passed, “Il est tres fatigue!” and yes I was. On cresting the last hill, I was so overwhelmed emotionally that I collapsed on my handlebars weeping for joy/relief and who knows what. I soon had to pull myself together however for my last helmetless descent which again was extremely fast. With less than 10km to go, I found some energy reserves and started sprinting wherever the road flattened out in order to finish as quickly as possible. I flew round the last corner out of my saddle, barely giving dad enough time to raise his camera to take some shots. He had been waiting there for nearly 5 hours, sorry dad! I crossed the line and was the most tired I have ever been. Glad to have finished, glad to have raised lots of money and certain I would never ever do something like this again.

I raised money for two charities, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support. Including the Gift Aid, £1765.77 was raised for Cancer Research UK and £1488.21 for Macmillan Cancer support, giving a grand total of £3253.98. I suppose this made all the pain a little more bearable!