Ted, Jon and I have enjoyed many years of cycling and mountain biking around our home turf in the Cotswolds and during holidays close to Spedalicchio on the border of Tuscany and Umbria. When I suggested linking the two centres by cycling between them, Ted and Jon thought that it was a great idea, after all how bad could could it be to spend 1100 or so miles in the saddle?
The catalyst that turned this silly idea into a real plan was that Landi (Jon’s wife) will be driving down and providing much needed support. This means that the cyclists will only need to carry themselves and their bikes and, while they may be saddle sore, Landi will have to put up with their moaning and tales of daring-do.
We will start our ride on 27 July 2013 from Northleach in Gloucestershire arriving in Dover on the 28th. We will then travel through the Eurotunnel on 3 August and commence the push south, from Calais, through the Champagne region of France to Aubonne in Switzerland. We will head over the Alps from Martigny to Aosta (climbing 2.5km in a 30km ascent) before cycling towards Bologna, then south towards our final destination close to Spedalicchio.
Ted has taken a more sensible approach and will join us in Aubonne, for the ‘fun bit’ over the Alps. The aim is to complete the ride in time for my birthday on 17 August – so no pressure then!
We all decided that if we were going to prepare for and undertake such a challenge, then we would try to use the opportunity to raise money for charities. The Just Giving page below will give you a chance to support one of our good causes.
We’ll post some of our preparation and training thoughts and photos and hopefully you will be able to follow us as we cycle south for the summer!
