One year, one hundred climbs. 76 down, 24 to go. The end is in sight…
I’m now more than three quarters of the way through my attempt to climb 100 iconic hills, bergs, kops and mountains on my bike in 2017. It’s been amazing fun so far, and I’ve ridden a huge variety of different types of hill and mountain with some great people. The hardest? Well it took me six tries to get up Bristol’s Vale Street, the steepest residential road in the UK – but I was on a station hire bike and my leather shoes kept slipping off the pedals. I guess Corkscrew Hill outside Manchester should also qualify. Wet and roughly cobbled, none of our group made it more than a couple of metres up the 45 degree slope before falling off. It is not included in the honour roll below. As a region, I found that the hills of the Lake District were both consistently brutal, and the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe I made it to my mid 40s without ever properly visiting this area of the UK – go!
By now you probably know why I’m doing these climbs. Unbelievably, after only six months, Cascaid has already raised over £1.37 million for Cancer Research UK (CRUK), and has doubled its target to £2 million for 2017. This now seems very achievable. You can read about some of these efforts and the work of CASCAID and Cancer Research UK on the link below. I’m especially blown away by former M&G marketing guru Anne-Marie McConnon and team’s effort to row the Irish Sea from Wales to Dublin, which they did in heavy seas a couple of weeks ago. That’s the good news. The bad news is that even £2 million doesn’t go far – research is incredibly expensive. But survival rates from cancer have doubled from the 1970s, and Cancer Research UK is targeting a 75% survival rate by 2034, in particular by trying to improve the chances of those with pancreatic and lung cancer where the outlook is currently poor. Just two weeks ago CRUK announced the results of a large scale trial in prostate cancer, which showed a 37% improvement in survival rates. The money that you have kindly donated so far will make a difference.
http://www.cascaidcharity.com/
Cascaid’s fundraising page is now the most successful ever on the Virgin Giving platform, earning a “thumbs up” from Richard Branson himself last week. My fundraising page is linked below. Many thanks to all of you who have already donated.
I promised that if I raised an extra £500 then I’d shave my legs. You donated, and I am now silky smooth. I thought it might help me to a PB on Dark Hill in Richmond Park this weekend, but it turns out the aero impact is not as significant as I had hoped. Silky though.
A few thank yous. So as a reminder, I’m cycling up famous climbs featured mainly in Simon Warren’s excellent series of books called things like “100 Greatest Cycling Climbs” and “Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs”. Simon has very kindly helped me to plan some routes. The books are ace, buy them! Thanks to everybody who has ridden with me so far this year – I’ll do a full rollcall when I’m finished, but the company has been invaluable. Thanks also to Will Masi at Nuffield gym, and Athlete Lab at Monument for getting me in a state to get up the hills. Finally thanks to my family for support car services, and for tolerating me disappearing for a morning or two when on holiday. I promise it was coincidence that our trip to Bruges took place at the same time as Paris-Roubaix.
You’ll find the evidence of climbs on my Strava feed.
Here’s the list of all the climbs that I’ve done so far:
- Swain’s Lane, London
- Muswell Hill, London
- College Road, London
- Chinnor Hill, Chilterns
- Kop Hill, Chilterns
- Whiteleaf, Chilterns
- Kingston Hill, Chilterns
- The Peak, Hong Kong
- Mount Austin, Hong Kong
- Mount Butler, Hong Kong
- Deepwater Bay Road, Hong Kong
- Mount Davis, Hong Kong
- Combe Lane, Surrey
- White Down Lane, Surrey
- Box Hill, Surrey
- Barhatch Lane, Surrey
- Leith Hill, Surrey
- Coldharbour Lane, Surrey
- Britwell Hill, Chilterns
- Dudley Lane, Oxfordshire
- Combe Gibbett, Berkshire
- Streatley Hill, Berkshire
- Whitchurch Hill, Oxfordshire
- Chalkpit Lane, Surrey
- White Lane, Surrey
- Toy’s Hill, Kent
- York’s Hill, Kent
- Hilltop Lane, Surrey
- Kattenburg, Flanders
- Volkemberg, Flanders
- Molenburg, Flanders
- Leberg, Flanders
- Berendries, Flanders
- Valkenberg, Flanders
- Ten Bosse, Flanders
- Kanarienberg, Flanders
- Oude Kruisberg, Flanders
- Oude Kwaremont, Flanders
- Knokterberg, Flanders
- Paterberg, Flanders
- Blowingstone Hill, Oxfordshire
- Dragon Hill Road, Oxfordshire
- Whichford Hill, Warwickshire
- Edge Hill, Warwickshire
- Mirador de la Creuta West, Mallorca
- Formentor Lighthouse, Mallorca
- Mirador de la Creuta East, Mallorca
- Pepperpot, Mallorca
- Coll de Femenia, Mallorca
- Coll des Reis, Mallorca
- Sa Colabra, Mallorca
- Coll de sa Batallia, Mallorca
- Miland Hill, West Sussex
- Harting Hill, West Sussex
- Harting Downs, West Sussex
- Stoner Hill, Hampshire
- Down Lane, Isle of Wight
- Newlands Hause, Lake District
- Honister Pass, Lake District
- Whinlatter Pass, Lake District
- The Struggle, Lake District
- Kirkland Pass, Lake District
- Vale Street, Bristol
- Oakridge Lynch, Gloucestershire
- Bear Hill, Gloucestershire
- Owlpen Hill, Gloucestershire
- Forcester Hill, Gloucestershire
- Swiss Hill, Manchester
- Brickworks, Manchester
- Blaze Hill, Manchester
- Pyms Chair, Manchester
- Cat & Fiddle, Manchester
- Hollingbourne Hill, Kent
- Boxley Hill, Kent
- Castle Hill, Kent
- Vanity Lane, Kent
What’s next? Kent and East Sussex still have a few hills left for me, but before I finish I want to get up to the Derbyshire Peak District, I want to ride up a hill in Calverton which I could never get up on my Raleigh Grifter as a schoolboy in Nottinghamshire, and I think I should tick off some of the Yorkshire hills that featured in the Tour de France a couple of years ago. Thanks for all of your support. Here’s a picture of The Struggle near Windermere. An awful hill.
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