Esther's Charity Cycle In Lockdown - £4600 Raised For NHS Charities Together

After 36 hours of pedalling, dozens of water bottles and a huge amount of support and encouragement via Facebook Live, Esther was finally able to bring her legs to rest on Tuesday evening after raising a total of £4635 for NHS Charities Together.

It was only on Saturday evening that I noticed a BBC Sport article about how Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas had just completed 3 x 12 hour sessions on his turbo trainer to raise funds for the same charity.  It was the spark that lit the blue touch paper.  Less than half a day later, at 0730 on Sunday morning, Esther started her own mammoth turbo-challenge.

Apart from a handful of sub-60 second comfort breaks, she pedalled right through until 1930 that evening without stopping. She did the same thing again the next day (Monday) and again the day after that. A total of 36 hours of riding on the turbo trainer completed in just 60 hours.

Right from the outset Esther found support online, with friends and family tuning in to watch her grinding out the hours on the Facebook Live feed. By the end of day one she's raised £750. By the end of day two the total had climbed to £1750. But it was after 5 hours on day three, still with 7 more hours to go, when Team RH Fitness shared her challenge on their Facebook page that the event really took off.

In seconds the number of viewers jumped from 2 to 200, and just kept climbing, topping out at close to 500 viewers. Team RH Fitness then offered a £1000(!) donation if the feed was shared 1000 times. It took just fifteen minutes to hit the total. After that the support from outside hardly wavered. Comments and encouragement streamed in, reinvigorating Esther after more than 30 hours of effort and most importantly the donations started to flood in.

By the time she was able to bring her legs to a stop the total stood at £4300, an amount that continued to climb after the Bucks Herald put out a back page spread about the fundraiser the very next day.  Currently the total is an incredible £4635!

Thank you to all who donated and supported Esther throughout the 3 days.  She looks after herself really well in terms of great nutrition, good sleep, yoga and more and we've both been amazed at how quickly her body is healing, repairing and recovering.... who knows what's next!

Esther wants to send out her own thanks and share a few reflections about the experience in the next days on the blog but in the meantime she's been posting a few thoughts and videos on our Facebook page @estheranddan

A MASSIVE THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYONE! 

Road Cycling in the Hautes-Pyrénées - The Most Famous & Difficult Climbs of the Tour de France

The Pyrenean peaks and valleys of the Hautes-Pyrénées are a near permanent fixture on the Tour de France itinerary. As the name of the area suggests, cycling in this part of France is all about going up and down hills, making it a mecca for keen cyclists from all over the world. The Hautes-Pyrénées is home to no fewer than 16 cols and summit finishes featured in the Tour de France, alongside many other difficult road passes nearby. Names such as Col du Tourmalet, Col d’Aubisque, Luz Ardiden and Col d'Aspin can all evoke images of lean professional riders battling to be the first to the summit, but there are many other fantastic lesser known rides as well such as the road to Cap de Long or Gavarnie. A list of the climbs on offer is given below, plus more details of the 12 rides we personally tackled during our visit.

7 Spectacular Cycling Climbs From Vallée d'Aure, Haute Pyrenees - Arreau & Saint-Lary-Soulan

The Vallée d'Aure, situated in the Hautes-Pyrenees to the south of Lannemezan, is no stranger to cycling activity. The Tour de France is an almost annual visitor to this area, tackling one or more of the many cycling challenges that can be reached from this stunning valley. Surrounded by high mountains and lush pastures not only are these climbs breathlessly tough, they are set against a grand backdrop of majestic summits and far reaching views. During our five day stay in the area we tackled 7 of these epic climbs. Read the descriptions below and follow the links for more information.

4 Amazing Cycling Climbs in the Ariege-Pyrénées, France - and 4 for the Future!

Although we expected the Hautes-Pyrénées lying to the west of the Ariege to be a spectacular and historic place to cycle, we were surprised to find that we enjoyed the Ariege Pyrénées just as much, discovering a wealth of challenging rides and Tour de France cols in the area. As the mountains in this part of France get higher and higher the closer you get to the border with Spain, the road cols also rise up higher and steeper too. Beneath clear blue skies and surrounded by rocky mountain peaks, cycling in the Ariege is a breathtaking and memorable experience.

Cycling in the Carmargue Nature Reserve– Relaxing on the Coast of Provence

The wetlands, lakes, salt plains and marshes of the Carmargue Nature Reserve on the Mediterranean coast of France felt almost like the northern islands of Holland as we made our way to the sea on Friday afternoon. This vast nature reserve, just a small part of the Carmargue region, is bounded by the mighty Rhone river meeting the sea on the east and by the Petit Rhone on the west, with the rest of the river delta in between. Home to many rare species of birds and wildlife, the area is pancake flat - a novel experience for us after leaving the Ventoux region just the day before.

Holland Cycle Tour 2012

We set off on our second Dutch cycle adventure in July 2012, this time heading clockwise around the Ijsselmeer.  This year we caught the overnight ferry from Newcastle to Ijmuiden (Amsterdam), and set off on our tour straight from Ijmuiden on our bikes, this time our town bikes.