Well now that I completed the ride, I thought I´d write a little something to let all you very generous donors how it went!

 

The first day we climbed two mountains, Col de Joux plane and Col de La Columbiere, together the total vertical climb was 2800 metres and the total distance travelled for the day was 183km.

 

I did not pace myself very well and the competitive rugby athlete inside me sped up the first mountain and by the time I got to the second, I had IT band syndrome in my left knee. With the help of a lot of pain killers and Kat Spencer, another rider, I managed to make it up and down Columbiere. We had started at 8am that morning by the time we got back, it was 8.45pm. Apart from the 6th day, this would be the earliest time I would finish all ride.

 

The second day was even harder than the first, between Col du Forclaz, Col du Cormet de Roseland and then the assent up to Val d´Isere, while the distance was only 125km, the vertical climb was 3900 metres.

 

I went up almost all the mountains on basically one leg, as my left knee was only getting worse. Col du Roseland was an absolutely brutal mountain, after 12km of climbing you think you are at the top because it starts to go flat. But then you see a sight a little further on saying it is 14km to the sumit. I have to admit, after seeing that sign, I pretty much fell off my bike and had a little cry for a bit. I was so tired and in so much pain I really didnt think I was going to make it up. But just then a group of the female riders came by, chatting away like they were out for a Sunday stroll. The loudest and smiliest of them all, Sue stopped stuffed my face full of lion bars, told me to suck it up and follow them up the mountain. It really does help when you have a group of amazingly fit women, talking gossip, cycling ahead of you to take your mind off the constant "Ow ow ow ow" of pedalling.

 

On the third day, we got stuck in a Blizzard going up Col de L´Iseran. It was -5 C, not including wind chill, at the top. Even though I had a pair of socks wrapped around my fingers I still had to stop every 2 minutes to get feeling back into my thumbs so I would be able to break coming into some of the most dangerous hairpin corners, which were now covered in snow and slush. 2km from the bottom, I came across some other riders who were taking shelter inside an extremely generous stranger´s van. They were all shaking so much they looked like they were all dancing. After rubbing some warmth back into PJ, one of the other riders, I tried to set out again but was unable to clip in because ice was freezing on my cleats faster than I could clean it off, after 15 minutes of trying, I eventually had to get rescued with the others. I did not feel too bad though because only 10 out of the 72 riders made it to the bottom, and they were in the faster group who managed to get to the top before the snow really kicked in. I did not get dry until around 4.30pm that day and after that there was still another mountain to climb. Telegraph turned out to be my favorite mountain. After all the craziness of the day, I found my own pace, and limped up the 12km on my own in the mist. It was so peaceful I actually really enjoy the  time to myself and there was nothing better than hearing the voices of other Fireflies shouting encouragement through the mist once I reached the top.

 

On the forth day, after days of carrying my left knee up the slopes, my right knee went. I didnt really understand what the doctor said but it was something along the lines of because of my over compensation, I had eroded the Meniscus in my right knee. I had to be put in the van at 11.30am, and there is nothing worse than sitting in a van watching everyone else cycle past.

 

Luckily we had a rest day where I literally sat with both legs raised and ice everywhere. Doctor Bob, another one of the rider, was able to give me these magical cold heat healing pads which actually worked wonders.

 

So on day 6, I decided to just start up and give it a bash. I focused on just one day at a time and that day we had 3100 metres of vertical climbing to do. Two more Tour de France mountains, Col du Lautaret and Col D'Izoard and then another long climb up Vars before a decent to the hotel.

 

I found myself riding with a brilliant bloke called Alan McKenzie for almost the whole day and literally saw almost noone else. I wasnt able to stop with most of the other riders for coffee or lunch because my ligaments would cool and go into recovery mode, seize up and I wouldnt be able to ride. But Alan was happy to stay with me so we ordered as many sandwiches as we could fit into our jersy pockets and set off again.

 

The mountain were beautiful but disserted. We went past ghost town after on our way up Vars and ended up running out of water. An hour later we finally managed to find an open pub with a very lonely bar tender who was the only local we saw all day. We finally managed to find a few more Fireflies at the top of Vars at a small Cafe. John Lockwood, the angel on my shoulder decended with me and drafted me 20kms, all the way to the hotel. I dont know if I would have made it bad without him because my legs had frozen on the Vars decent and every pedal stroke was agany. The 100 metre vertical climb after the straight up to the hotel felt like 1000.

 

Day 7 took us back up Vars and around in a loop. Because of bad weather we had to change our route and so we ended up back at the same hotel we started. This may sound a bit pointless but we needed the kms to achieve our goal, so off we went.

 

I took that day very slow, riding with another injured rider, Simon who was having back problems. I thought I was going to have to call the Van again at the half way stage but luckily Simon had some amazing pain killers which I was popping like candy at this stage. I made sure not too take too many though because there was already one rider who was riding with the vans due to pain killer overdose and I didnt want to make it 2. It is also important that you are able to feel the majority of the pain so you dont cause any long term damage.

 

Day 8 was the longest and hardest day. I knew if I was able to reach the top of Turini, the final mountain and last climb of the day, I had done it because after Col de Turini it was all down hill to Cannes. But first I needed to do 3000 feet of vertical climbing. The first mountain was Col de la Bonette, which is the highest roaded mountain in the world. It was like a different world up there with all the snow. I had no time to stop really so I quickly bought a pizza at a cafe at the bottom and wolfed it down and then bought a second which I managed to fold neatly into a sip-lock bag for later which I was quite pleased about. I feel like my Lion bars also deserve a special mention. They were keeping me fueled throughout the day, think I ate around 12. Managed to battle my way up Col St. Martin with K2, not the mountain but a rider named after the mountain, and reached the bottom of Turini by about 8pm. By this point I had been riding for about 12 hours straight, everyone was just dead but we all waited together and all 72 of us cycled up Turini together. It was unbelieveable. Once we were at the top it was getting pretty dark, but as the sun set, tiny Fireflies began to appear. The founding riders had named the ride after these Fireflies and it was amazing to be able to ride down the mountain with the Fireflies being almost the only source of light.

 

I want to thank everyone who was able to donate money to Leuka and support me in this amazing adventure I had the opportunity to experience.

 

You have changed lives and we will never be able to thank you enough.