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L’etape du Tour
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Tom Pope, long-term supporter of MSRC has just finished his toughest challenge yet, the L’etape du Tour – here is his account of the ultimate challenge!
The trip started with a bit of a nightmare......we booked a hotel that was 20k from the start line on Google but turned out to be on the other side of the valley and a 2.5 hour drive from the start. Subsequently, we had to scramble to find a room in an area that was fully booked a year ago! We got very lucky, however, as we were able to get into a place on someone's cancellation which made the 7AM start on Monday a little easier. In addition to this (and keeping with the theme of making an already difficult task a lot more challenging) we had to leave a car at the bottom of Alpe d'Huez and drive the route over Col du Telegrpahe and Col du Galibier on the Sunday night through a storm at 2k above sea level with 1 metre visibility. Looking back on it, surviving the ascent in pitch black on those roads was probably half as much of an accomplishment as getting to the top of the thing on a bike! This journey proved to be a 5 hour round trip and resulted in us arriving in our hotel at 1AM on Sunday, leaving us with 4 hours sleep before we started. Hardly ideal preparation!
To give you an indication of the day is fairly tough so it's probably best to check out an official video at http://www.asochallenge.com/us/10km_classement.html where you can see us ascending the peaks if you search by surname (Pope, Davies, Ben). In contrast to the marathon, I can safely say that this is the hardest thing I have ever taken on. After climbing Telegraph and Galibier, you are left with a 35 mile (ish) descent which carries you right through to the bottom of the mammoth Alpe d'Huez. By the time you get here, you have little left to give and this Alpe takes you to a dark place in climbing the thing for over 2 hours. Getting to the top in the heat is the best feeling of accomplishment yet. We were so beat by the time we got to the top that we really didn’t even think about photographs so, unfortunately, the best I can do is attach some official ones I purchased on the day.
I really hope the funds raised by our efforts goes a long way to helping you guys and the fantastic job you all do at MSRC!
Our warmest congratulations to Tom and Bevan for completing an incredibly tough challenge and our thanks for their fundraising efforts of over £4,000 for MSRC – we look forward to hearing about their next challenge!
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| Related Items |
| adidas Women's 5K Challenge |
| Coast To Coast Challenge |
| Last Year's Virgin London Marathon |
| Tandem With Abandon |
| The ASICS British 10K Run |
| Worthing Birdman Champion 2010 - Toby Quantrill |
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