What an incredible week for an incredible cause. I had planned to post a bit of an update on a rolling basis, but fatigue and lack of time put paid to that. So here is a brief synopsis of the riding done.
6 Stages, 14-19. By the numbers, 1,098km covered, 21,487m of elevation, 28,965 calories burnt (according to my cycling computer at least), 0 punctures (courtesy of the top class French road surfaces) and 1.5 times getting a little lost (but only by a few kms).
For those with knowledge of such things, it was a veritable who’s who of French Cols climbed
- (in order)
- Col de Tourmalet (2115m)
- Col d’Aspin (1489m)
- Col de Peyresourde (1569m)
- Luchon-SuperBagneres (1804m)
- Cote de Soreze (702m)
- Pas du Sant (610m)
- Col de Fontbruno (880m)
- Mont Ventoux (from Bedoin) (1910m)
- Col de l’Aspre (184m)
- Col du Pertuis (632m)
- Col de Tartaiguille (406m)
- Col du Glandon (from Allemond) (1924m)
- Col de la Madeleine (2000m)
- Col de la Loze (2304m)
- Cote d’Hery-sur-Ugine (986m)
- Col des Saisies (1650m)
- Col du Pre (1748m)
- Col du Meraillet (1614m)
- Cormet de Roselend (1968m)
- La Plagne (2052m)
Le Loop were spot on with their organization, without which this sort of effort would be very difficult. Which puts into perspective the efforts of a chap called David Presly who we kept bumping into. I wouldn’t want to guess his age but I’d say 65+, and he was riding all the stages of the Tour de France route completely unsupported (so carrying his luggage on his bike) on a Brompton. Incredible, beyond belief even. A massive well done to all the Grand Loopers, the contingent of cyclists riding the whole loop with Le Loop. The effort required just to get the 6 mountain stages ridden was hard enough, so I don’t know how anyone can ride the whole lot. The biggest factor was the sleep deprivation / lack of recovery time. The tour often starts the next day’s route in a different town to the previous night’s finish. The pros, on account of being Pros, and riding at race pace, will be finished by say 5pm having started at noon – 1pm. “Plenty” of time to recover and move from A to B. Duffers like me on Le Loop might have to get up at 5.15am to eat breakfast before getting on a coach for 2 hours to get to the start and turning the first pedal stoke at 8.30am. On a long day we might not be back at the finish line hotel until 9pm. You then have to somehow cram in enough food to replace the 5000 calories burnt, get showered, stretching done, pack your kit bag for the next day and get enough sleep to be able to function before another 5.15am alarm. Physical and mental fatigue in bucketloads.
This may sound like bragging but the commentators have been saying there is an arms race going on between the Tour organizers and the ever-increasingly fit and strong riders, with the tour being made harder and harder. This year’s mountains stages are considered the hardest for many many years. The route metric (a measure of difficulty) for 2025 is 11.79 compared to 9.0 for 2024. Tadej Pogacar described the route as “Brutal”. So all the more credit to the Grand Loopers for managing them on top of all the other stages.
High point of the trip? Hmm, hard to pull on single one out, so maybe reaching the top of Super Bagneres bearing in mind the weather we’d been through. Or reaching the top of Col de la Loze, the final summit of the Queen’s stage. Or the descent from Cormet de Roselend to Bourg St Maurice. Low point? I don’t think there was one to be honest, thank to the other incredible riders and Le Loop.
The support offered by those kind enough to sponsor me was and is hugely appreciated. The money raised supports a range of incredible charities, details of which can be found on the Le Loop web site