Story
Between the 11th and the 14th of September 2014 Olly Cupitt and five of his dad’s friends will cycle up five of the principle Cols in the Alps culminating in 'The Beast of Provence' Mont Ventoux which was the last one on 'The Tour' that Simon never had the opportunity to ride up.
We cannot believe we've been talked into this. Over four consecutive days we will climb the legendary cols of Télégraphe, Galibier, Croix de Fer and Alpe D'Huez followed by Mont Ventoux. All in all this is over 10,000 meters of climbing on bikes. It is a game for the younger man who eats Carbon Fibre not Fruit and Fibre for breakfast.
With moral support form Åsa, Simon's widow, Olly and five of us from the 2012 Lands End to John O'Groats trip will finish what Simon started. We will be joined by Paul, Simon’s cycling partner from the Etap du Tour, the last ride Simon did prior to his Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis in September 2011, and Matt Fox another chiropractor (you can never have too many on a trip like this) with family conections with MNDA.
The riders will be;
Olly Cupitt, (Son of our friend and 15 years old)
Paul Belham, (Simon's cycling partner, BA pilot and ex RAF fast jets)
Dominic Senior, (Chiropractor from 2012)
Matt Fox, (additonal Chiropractor just in case!)
Nigel Foxall, (Road Captain from 2012)
Robert Osborne, (logistics from 2012)
John Henn
We are very happy to be joined by Matt, who's father, a GP, works with MNDA issues, Matt is also fitter than the rest of us, and will make sure we eat all the right stuff.
Mike McGraw (White support van from 2012) will be driving with Åsa and manning the defibrillator.
The Motor Neuron Disease Association will be the beneficiary of your generous help. Finally there does seem to be some glimmer of hope, as the John Radcliffe Hospital is pioneering research into this killer with some degree of illumination using gene sequencing. Maybe all that help you gave us in 2012 is finally beginning to show.
We are looking for lead Sponsors to help with the overhead cost of the logistics. We will be in charge of our own expenses. We raised £20,000.00 in all during 2012 for MNDA and the Cupitt family, we would love to eclipse this especially as I'm likely to spend most of October in rehab.
Very best wishes to you all and thanks in advance.
John, Robert, Dominic, Paul, Nigel, Matt, Mike, and Olly