Tour de France Charity Ride
News Posted: 29th September 2008
Two cyclists, Ian Callaghan and Matt Ulyatt, rode the Tour de France cycle route in July in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support and CLIC Sargent charities. Below is their full report of the ride, and if you would like to donate to their charities in recognition of their achievement, visit their blog by clicking here
"The Tour de France. Whether or not you are a cyclist, you've heard about it.
The annual race around France has been taking place since 1903 and although mired by controversy in recent years, still holds a firm place in the hearts of the French public and as the most highly attended spectator event in the sporting calendar with some of the mountains cramming in up to half a million spectators in the space of 15km of road!
The legendary nature of the Tour, its myth and history, coupled with an insane desire to take on a hefty challenge led us, Matthew Ulyatt and Ian Callaghan, two old school friends, to follow in the wheel tracks of the Tour in 2008.
Above: Matt and Ian celebrate their achievement in front of l'Arc de Triomphe
Our lofty ambitions were set in motion in September of 2007. Reminiscing over a beer or two about the days when we both used to race competitively, Matt mentioned a long standing dream to ride the route of the Tour. This seemed a good idea at the time. People thought us mad and doubted that we could ride the same route as the professional tour in the same time frame but we quickly garnered some local media interest and support from companies such as Powerbar and SIS nutrition, and riding the challenge in aid of two charities, CLIC Sargent and MacMillan Cancer Support made us even more determined.
We had previous form in this area, Matt having ridden the "End to End" as a 17 year old and Ian having ridden a number of long-distance events. This was somewhat of a larger undertaking however, and we both set about training with considerable gusto. Living 370 miles apart meant solo training, however. Weekly phone calls kept us in touch and we almost challenged each other to see who had covered more miles. By Easter we determined that as we were going to be doing what the pros were doing, we should act like pros, so it was off to Majorca for a week for some warm weather mountain training together.
We broke bikes and crashed spectacularly during our training. We drove miles all over Britain to ride organised events and test our growing fitness. We got up at ridiculous times in the morning and cycled in all weather conditions. We were supported throughout by family and friends and as the dream developed, we were offered support on our planned trip. We would have three support teams each doing a week of the three week Tour: Matt's parents Paula and Chris, Ian's girlfriend and her friend Kate (who came to be known as Team Kate), and Ian's parents Liz and Peter.
By the beginning of July we had everything (route, accommodation, support, food, drink, etc) prepared. Now all we needed to do was turn up and do it!
Easier said than done - Le Tour is arguably one of the toughest sporting events in the world and attracts spectators from all over the world. In 2008 there were 180 riders from 18 teams supported by a myriad of team doctors, masseurs, mechanics, managers, vehicles carrying spare bikes and so on. The police operate rolling road closures to ensure clear roads for the riders - no need to observe the rules of the road for them! There is even a "caravan" which precedes the Tour. This is a curious and baffling mix of vehicles advertising sponsors of the Tour - the sight of a giant mobile Camembert rolling along the road with someone throwing smaller versions at/to the fans at the side of the road is not unusual.
However, we didn't get to see any of this as we were following two days behind the race - without the closed roads, the masseurs or the giant Camembert - more's the pity! We had the published route description and the maps we had plotted. We had one spare bike and a support car come picnic site come mobile bike shop come energy bar/gel/drink dispenser!
Our ride started near Brest on a damp Monday morning, waved off by Matt's parents and a bin lorry - not perhaps as romantic as the start which the pros would have encountered, but this was the beginning of the realisation of a dream.
We were riding the Tour de France!!
We had imagined glorious sunshine and waving crowds - what we got was tyre deep standing water, tropical rainfall and the occasional Frenchman eager to point out that the Tour had already passed and we were a little behind schedule.
Still - the first day passed without incident and what a feeling that was. We had ridden a whole stage of the Tour de France. And then the realisation hits you - that's 195km down, 3300km to go!
And so into a soon to be familiar routine of downing energy replenishing drinks, driving to overnight accommodation, washing off water bottles, showering, changing, massaging of legs, eating, updating of blog, night-time recovery drink, sleeping, waking, eating and then back on to the bikes.
This is a very basic summation of the time from the end of one day to the beginning of the next. It had to become routine because there is so much to fit in. When you are on the bikes for an average of 7 hours per day, riding an average 105 miles, we were using at least 5,000 calories per day on the bike. It's hard to eat that much, and without it you simply can't go on from day to day.
After only 370km, Matt had to climb off with an excruciating pain in his left knee. He thought that was it over. But we knew the pros put up with phenomenal amounts of pain - there is a story of one rider arriving at the finish of a stage having worn the enamel of some of his teeth from grinding them to distract him from the pain he was in following a fall - and so Matt thought, "if they can do it, so can I". And it worked - after a few very slow and painful kilometres, the pain had gone.
Ian was in the wars as well with a tendon-related pain in his right shin which he got over by applying a very tight bandage and anti inflammatory spray, which probably just cut off the blood supply and hence got rid of all pain!
We laboured on and a short Stage 4 allowed us a virtual rest day before we continued in towards the centre of France, including the longest (and what turned out to be the wettest) stage of the Tour at 232km to Chateauroux. A 90-degree shift South followed through the Massif Central and our first taste of "proper" hills - they didn't really class as mountains yet!
Matt's Dad, Chris, celebrated his birthday on Stage 6 and decided to ride the stage from Aigurande to the ski resort of Super Besse. Unfortunately, with the stage being the best part of 200km including the two largest climbs so far at the end, we missed Paula in the support car who had gone back down the mountain to look for us as we were so late arriving! Thinking it couldn't get worse, we later learned that Team Kate had lost control of their hire van and crashed into the central reservation of the motorway on their way from Toulouse to meet us that night! Luckily unharmed but shaken up they found temporary accommodation and convened with Chris and Paula at the start of stage 8 from Figeac to Toulouse.
With a noticeably pleasant shift in both weather and architecture, we passed through Gaillac, a noted wine growing region (which we later sampled). We entered our first big city, Toulouse, after eight stages with the shadow of the Pyrenees looming ominously in the background.
Stage 9 was a mammoth 225km over seven categorised climbs including the famous Cols de Peyresourde and Aspin. We set off from the hotel at dawn, so that we could finish before dark, after saying our goodbyes to Chris and Paula as Team Kate took over for the next few stages. Three minor climbs, and a quick croissant in Carbonnes, and we were ready to take on our first proper climbs of the Tour. These were proper mountains!
Stage 10 from Pau to Hautacam was the stage chosen as the Etape du Tour this year (a stage which is ridden about a week before the Tour itself by about 8,000 foolhardy amateurs). It was 160km including two of the most famous climbs in the Tour, the Col de Tourmalet at 2,115m and Hautacam at 1,520m, our first mountain summit finish. These climbs are categorised as Hors Categorie (out of category) - which basically means: "I'd get off and sit in the car if I was you, you strange lycra-clad fool."
Above: Ian climbs the Col du Tourmalet
Above: Col du Tourmalet
The Hautacam and Tourmalet are the site of a number of historic Tour de France moments and it was a real feeling of pride to be riding over the painted names of past Tour greats such as Fignon, Virenque, Jalabert on the melting tarmac as we slowly ground our way up these long, punishing climbs.
After 10 days of riding we had travelled from the North of France to the very South and crossed the highest passes we had ever ridden including some of the most iconic to the Tour de France - the names of Tourmalet, Hautacam, Aspin and Peyresourde are enough to put fear into many a cyclist - but we'd conquered them and had earned a well deserved rest.
And while we were still getting on famously off the bike, conversation when on the bike had slowly diminished from the hysterical frenzy of day one. We had both retreated into our own thoughts to try to find some way to deal with the creeping pain and exhaustion that was affecting us. We could still ride and were keeping up a good pace, but mental stamina as much as physical stamina was as important now. The rising roads of the Pyrennes brought this into sharp focus as we separated to each travel at our own pace and try to conserve energy for the next mountain, the next day, the next week. We had covered nearly 1100 miles with over 70 hours in the saddle and deserved our first of two rest days.
A number of long transition stages across the sweltering southlands of France followed. Here the temperature rises to over 40 degrees and the terrain offers no shade or respite from the beating sun. There are very few waymarks or noteable sights to see and we still don't know how we made it across these stages - they appear somewhat of a blur now, only a few weeks afterwards - we simply battled, knowing that we had to get to cooler climes soon. The only problem was that with these cooler climes came big climbs - the Alps. It was in this region that Ian's parents Peter and Liz took over from Team Kate.
The Alps are a different beast to the Pyrenees - the climbs are not as steep but they go on for miles, and miles, and miles. The average length of the big climbs in the Pyrenees had been about 14km, in the Alps this was about 21km. This meant going upwards for about 2 hours - sometimes 3 hours. I have never known such a mental challenge as this.
To pootle along on the flat for three hours without stopping is no problem - you look about, you chat, you drink, you think. To grind uphill for three hours without stopping is a different prospect altogether. You struggle to breathe, your legs turn over so slowly that you can see the spokes rotating in your front wheel as your head drops downwards as you put in the effort to keep the bike moving forward. The kilometre markers pass by at such infrequent intervals you think someone has stolen them (sometimes they have!) All you want to do is stop, but pride won't let you - for many cyclists you haven't climbed a mountain unless you've done it non-stop.
Above: Col d'Agnel on the Italian border
We climbed out of France into Italy over the 2,744m Col d'Agnel. It was in Italy we were treated to our second rest day which was spent with Malcolm and Steph, a couple who had contacted Ian through the Bristol Evening Post and offered us accommodation. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time and it was with some reluctance that we set off again to climb back into France over the highest road pass in Europe, the Cime de Bonnette-Restfonde (2,802m). This is over twice the height of Ben Nevis and the air starts to get thin at that height! What a silly thing to do on your holiday, eh?
Above: Standing proud on the Cime de Bonnette-Restfonde - the highest road in Europe
Stage 17 was the day of reckoning for us and would decide whether we could finish this mammoth undertaking. 210km from the town of Embrun in the heart of the Alpine valleys to the summit of Alpe d'Huez, one of the most feared climbs of the Tour. This is where the Tour is frequently won or lost for the professionals and the site on many famous Tour moments, including Lance Armstrong's "look" at Jan Ullrich before destroying the field in 2001 to win his then 3rd of 7 consecutive Tours.
Above: Reaching the Alpe d'Huez summit
Once again leaving before dawn, we barely spoke as we suffered along the valley floor as the sun gradually crested the high mountains and began to warm the valleys. We were suffering emotionally and physically and we both wondered how we would cope. We had already cycled over 1600 miles with only two days off in 17. On we went, slowly climbing the Col de Lauteret and the famous Col de Galibier which tops out at 2,642m getting steeper all the way to the top - this is the most evil way to build a mountain road! The only thing keeping us going at this point when our legs were feeling weak and powerless was the thought of those we were doing this for. It sounds like a cliche but believe us when we say it. The sound of Matt shouting and grunting to himself to keep going was a vocalisation of this.
The highlight of the descent saw us overtake a Porsche (we are that quick!) before a lunch stop in the valley floor before the second climb of the day over the 31km long Col de la Croix de Fer at 2,068m. The heat was horrendous and the climb went on for ever. Ian was overheating to such an extent he was pouring water over himself to keep himself cool. As we each found a "comfortable" rhythm, the distance between us grew until we could no longer see each other. On and on it went, snaking along rock-walled hairpins until Ian dragged himself over the top to find Matt half dead at the side of the road! The gaggle of cyclists at the top was incredible. So many out to conquer one of the famous climbs of the Alps.
We didn't meet anyone planning to ride three in a day though!
Above: Col de la Croix de Fer
And so only one more climb to go. With almost nothing left in the tank at the bottom of Alpe d'Huez and following a descent involving some nasty short climbs, we stopped to refuel and replenish water supplies. Carlos Sastre climbed Alpe d'Huez in 39 minutes this year and won the Tour as a result of his efforts. Rounding the first corner and hitting the 11% gradient we knew we would not be challenging this time! On and on and on we struggled, barely being able to focus. Each of us was in our own little world, separated by a margin of several minutes, barely noticing Liz and Peter at the side of the road cheering us on.
Ian says that "As I rode to the finish line I saw Matt and my parents waiting and I was spurred on to sprint the last few metres." It really was a staggering feeling that words struggle to convey. We had completed the toughest day of cycling in our lives! We knew we could complete the Tour now!
The remaining four days passed by with Ian succumbing to some heatstroke from the efforts of the mammoth Stage 17. He couldn't eat anything, but this close to the end there was no way he was stopping. So with barely any nutrition inside him he carried on going until his body decided: "OK, you win, I'll let you eat something!" The power of mind over matter is quite phenomenal. At home, you'd stay in bed feeling sorry for yourself - but we had set out to do this, and do it we would!
So to Paris and the denouement to our Tour de France. 
Above: The support crew at the finish in Paris
From cold dark winter nights spent on the turbo trainer in our respective flats, to the Brecon Beacons, the Southern Uplands of Scotland, the Cotswolds, the Campsies and Majorca; on to Brest, through the Massif Central, the Pyrenees and the Alps and now, after 2,200 miles (and another 3,300 miles in training) we were riding through the Foret de Meudon and catching our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.
Again, it is a feeling you can't replicate in words - I constantly find myself coming up short - it was simply the most fantastic moment. Sheer unadulterated joy. And as we rode up the Champs Elyssee we realised our dream. All our support teams were there - and some extra family friends! We cracked open champagne on the finish line in front of the Arc de Triomphe with people crowding round wanting to have their photos taken with us! The smiles in the photos don't convey the pride, the sense of achievement and the incredulity of having achieved what we had achieved. Even several weeks after finishing, I still can't quite believe that we have cycled the Tour de France.
We recorded all our times, speeds, distances for the ride, 3500km in 145 hours of pedaling - but really they are inconsequential - we have ridden the greatest bike race in the world and we have raised money for two fantastic charities, CLIC Sargent and Macmillan Cancer Support.
And we have realised a dream. The question now is: What next?!