We have enjoyed looking back over the Ride4Five charity event that we sponsored back in 2017. Ben and Sean, supported by photographer Guy Harris, set out to ride 1500 Kilometres, and to ascend five of the toughest ascents from the Tour De France.
The pair faced numerous challenges on their journey. If you have read “The Ascent of Mont Ventoux,” then you will be aware that Sean had to finish the final few days alone. We asked him to summarise the journey.
Going The Extra Mile
After the dreadful turn of events on the summit of Mont Ventoux, there was no question in my mind as to whether or not Ben should retire from the challenge. Fortunately, we had chosen to take a photographer with us. Guy had driven the support van for the entire trip, and Ben was able to hop in for what we thought would be the last day of riding. The risk of his having a subsequent, and more serious, cardiac event was too high.
There is a lot of time to think when you are cycling. As you turn the pedals and eat up each mile, the gentle cadence of the cranks becomes hypnotic. Faced with a solo 100KM ride, I spent much of the time reflecting on the previous fourteen days. The evening was drawing in as I reached the suburbs of Lyon, and my final meet-up with the van. Although we were a couple of days behind schedule, we had both managed the five big mountains, and I had hit our target of 1500 Kilometres.
That evening, as Ben rustled up a delicious pasta meal, I sat on the Balcony and flicked through my Strava records, totting up the final distance for our farewell social media post. We had exceeded the target for the Samaritans by 147%. The trip, one heart attack aside, had been a success. Guy sat beside me, uploading the day’s photos to his laptop.
“Er. Ben. We appear to have miscalculated our total.” Ben came out onto the balcony, saucepan in one hand, open bottle of wine in the other.
“Miscalculated, how?”
“Miscalculated, as in we haven’t done 1500KM. We have done 1370 KM.
The disappointment in my voice was plain to hear.
I think I know what you are going to say,” Ben laughed. He was right, of course. There was no way I could jump in the van the next day, bound as we were for Roscoff and the ferry home. Over dinner, we picked out a very approximate route to a beautiful church in the centre of Sennecy Le Grand, 130KM North of Lyon.
At 6 am the following morning, I climbed aboard my bike for the last, and very unexpected, day of riding. The clock had yet to strike 11 Am as I rolled up outside the waiting van. Finally, we had reached our goal. 1500KM and five of the most legendary climbs behind us, we raised our coffee cups to a job well done.
– Distance: 131km / 81 miles
– Cycling Time: 4:48:42
– Average Speed: 28kph / 17.5 mph
– Top Speed: 59 kph / 37 mph
– Distance Climbed: 904m / 2965ft
Ride4Five – In loving memory of;
Amy Eaton
Mark “Disco Brother” Wilson
Kenny St James
John Clayton
Martin Goodman
