Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
WE DONE IT !!!!............just.......******ITS NOT TOO LATE TO DONATE ******Firstly thank you all so much for your donations , the response has been amazing and hugely appreciated, to be honest if it wasnt for my little girl , an amazing first class team , Dean Taylor, Gareth Pickard Richard Gordon, plus vitto and claire as our support en route & your generosity i`m not sure the outcome would have been successful.
by far this was the hardest, most physically and mentally demanding thing i have done, the 2 hors category climbs were brutal(check description on wikipedia below) only way to even try describe them is if you were to do a single leg press using a weight you can just barely manage to push then repeat it on alternate legs 10 to 15thousand times for each mountain and combined with your back and shoulders about to explode & lungs struggling to take in oxygen due to the altitude, trust me things ache that you didnt know you had. Actual moving time (ride time) was 8hours 50mins(original estimate 10-12hours) , the extra time on the total was made up of refuelling , puncture , pasta break etc
at about bend 14 of alpe d'huez we had to stop for few mins , i had been seeing stars for the previous 3 or 4 bends and thought a black out was imminent , after throwing couple litres water over me,we gathered our thoughts, swore alot, remembered why we were there, then managed the last 7bends on anger, frustration and the fact my little girl Isla was there waiting on the finish line, crossing the line should have felt like a brave accomplishment however it wasnt really,our pain was only limited to the day and maybe a few days after, the real heroes and brave ones are Isla and all the other kids that have had to suffer with the disease, they should be inspirational to all of us.
heres the stats from the garmin off my bike
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43214309
Dean Taylor my partner in hatching the plan last october has a detailed write up of the whole ride on hes blog combined with some great pictures, link below
http://quietlittleride.blogspot.com/
Hors catégorie is a French term used in cycle races (most notably, the Tour de France) to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization", an incredibly tough climb. Most climbs in cycling are designated from Category 1 (hardest) to Category 4 (easiest), based on both steepness and length. A climb that is harder than Category 1 is designated as hors catégorie. The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass.
thank you all again so so muchL'etape is one of the most gruelling stages of the Tour de France. We set out from Gap and hopefully finish in Alpe d'Huez some 200km away. Also en route we climb 3 mountains, total ascent will be in the region of 5,000m (or equivalent to nearly 4 times Ben Nevis). We will also have to encounter temperature ranges from +40C to sub zero at the summit of the higher climbs. For this ride the training has been very intense. From our original hatching of the plan back in October 2009 to the ride, we would have clocked in over 5,000km of training!
The reason why we are raising money for Leukaemia Research is because in September 2005, my daughter, Isla Grace, then aged just 18 months, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). Thankfully the treatment has gone very well and she is now in remission. However, she did endure many months of intense chemotherapy. There were times when she could not eat or even walk as a result of the drugs she had to take.
I would like to raise money for this charity to help their research in this deadly disease, so more people, especially children, are cured. Even though ALL has a very good success rate, it is still a life threatening disease. Also, there are many other types of Leukaemia that are not as successful, so research is vital.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.So please dig deep and donate now.
