I DID IT!!! 

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it - I have never seen so many cyclists in one place as that before - with 10,000 all lined up at the start - ONLY 300 women amongst them! The weather was lovely & cool first thing but soon warmed up to a sweltering 30degs! I was absolutely amazed at the amount of people that came out to support along the way & was more than grateful for the numerous bottles of cold water or hoses poured over us as we went past :-) I managed to stay ahead of the dreaded broom wagon but many needed the services of the countless medic motorbikes due to exhaustion & heat! The final mountain - The Col De Tourmalet was a real beast & took me just over 2 hours to cycle up it - the last 8K was unbelievable brutal - as you can see from the photo! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your extremely kind & generous donations that has helped to make this a truly memorable experience & one I will treasure for many years to come :-)

BEFORE - 

Now this is the deal..............THIS IS A ONE TIME ONLY EVENT.................mainly because there's no way I'll be doing anything as crazy as this ever again! Basically I have entered to do the 'Etape Du Tour' which is a stage of the Tour De France! In fact its stage 17 - which ofcourse this year would have to involve the 100 year celebration of the Tour returning to the..............Pyrenees! With a total of around 130miles & 3 ENORMOUS mountains in one day!........I guess this is why this is one of the hardest non-professional cycle events in the world! The final mountain is the famous Tourmalet which in itself could take several hours to climb and includes the HIGHEST road in the Pyrenees! 

Have I mentioned the dreaded 'BROOM WAGON'..........this literally sweeps you up if you're not going fast enough or haven't cycled far enough before the cut-off time or basically picks you up from the roadside because you're simply too pooped to speak, let alone carry on! But hey............the view will be FAB! :-)

So how about donating a little 'wonga' - I'm raising money for Cruse Bereavement Charity which is very close to my heart as they helped me a wee while ago. I will give this my best shot & THANK YOU for anything you can give xxx