Update!! It took me 12 hours and 10 minutes and I was amongst the last to finish - but I did it :-) 

Those of you who know me know I like a challenge - "La Marmotte" is a bike ride in the French Alps. A big bike ride. Like 17,000ft of climbing and 108 miles of big (Ben Nevis is only 4409ft). It will be the hardest challenge I have ever attempted :-)

La Marmotte is held every year, and is the closest that mere mortals like me (and about 8000 other riders) can get to experiencing what the Tour de France riders do.  (If you want to get a flavour of the day, this is the story of a guy who did the ride a few years ago.) The entry in Wikipedia states "La Marmotte is one of the toughest one-day cyclosportive events in the world. The event goes over the Col du Glandon (6312ft), Col du Telegraphe (5138ft), Col du Galibier (8678ft) and finishes at the top of one the most famous Tour de France climbs, Alpe d'Huez (6102ft)." Enough said.

I chose Cancer Research because of a young lad called James. He's only a few months older than our daughter, but was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer in his knee. Many months of chemo, major surgery and yet more chemo and he is getting there. He was a neighbour for about 12 years before they moved to France and he's been told it was an injury to his knee from a bike accident that was the trigger for the tumour. It seemed fitting that the event is in France on a bike. And my knee hurts because of all the training - but I know not nearly as much as James' has.  

Cancer Research could benefit any one of us in the future. Please be generous.

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