Advice needed regarding Tour de France mountain stage quest!

christiandransfield

Hey guys,

My name's Christian Dransfield and I'm a keen cyclist and Crohn's disease sufferer.

I have followed the Tour de France for as long as I can remember, dreaming that one day it would be me climbing the mountain stages of the Tour de France in future.

After being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, my outlook on life changed completely. I changed career paths, recently finishing a degree in nursing and hoping to go on to train to be a doctor. I have also teamed up with 2 other cyclists to make my Tour de France mountain stage climb dream a reality. The most important aim of this challenge will be to raise awareness and as much money possible for our chosen charities.

We have decided to cycle 5 of, arguably, the toughest ever mountain stages of the Tour de France for charity, stretching along over 800km of unclassified climbs. This would include such daunting mountain climbs as the Col du Tourmalet, Col du Galibier, Alpe-D'huez, and Mont Ventoux. The challenge would take place in late June/ early July.
The stages are listed below:

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/1 ... etape.html


http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/1 ... etape.html


http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/us ... etape.html


http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/us ... etape.html


http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/COURSE/us ... etape.html


We are also looking into attaining press coverage of our challenge and have already successfully agreed to this with 1 newspaper.

I'm posting on here to ask you all if there is any advice regarding what type of clothing would be best to wear, which foods you have found are most effective for this type of ride, the best way of securing sponsorship or freebies from companies etc. Any advice is useful, so would love to hear from you!

Christian.

mrc1

Sounds like a great challenge and congratulations on having the tenacity to take it on!

Clothing wise then make sure you having something for all eventualities as the mountains can offer up everything from 30c plus to below zero on the summits. Assuming you haven't got a support vehicle then you'll need to pack light, so I'd suggest making use of knee/arm warmers, good quality shorts, merino wool base layers and a windproof/rain resitant jacket.

On the sponsorship front, unfortunately due to the proliferation of these types of challenges and the general downturn in the economy, coupled with the relatively late notice, I suspect you might have quite a hard job in securing sponsorship. That being said, if you are prepared to be creative and deal with the inevitable rejections without being fazed, then I am sure you'll be able to find somebody that is willing to get behind you. One possible starting point would be the Crohn's organisations as they may have existing contacts who could help.

In terms of your Pyrenees stages then depending on what dates you are planning to do then we may be able to help you out so get in touch once you have a better idea on timing.

Cheers

Rob

christiandransfield

Thanks for the swift reply mate.

It's something I've always wanted to do, so why let a few nerves get in the way of what will be an amazing experience, hey?

Thanks for the info regarding clothing. I'm hoping to be able to borrow a campervan from a family friend and rope a friend in to being the driver/photographer for us.

I'm never fazed and operate the corny "You don't ask, you don't get" policy with things like that. I've started emailing the Crohn's and Colitis association, supermarkets, companies that sponsor the Tour de France, local bike shops etc. They may all come back with a "no", but you never know! One of the other 2 cyclists was a good junior cyclist (top 10, apparently!) and said he might be able to squeeze a few bikes from suppliers with a bit of luck (ex demonstration etc), which would be incredible.

We'd be looking to carry out the challenge in the period at the end of June and the beginning of July (Some time between 23rd June and 7th July). Is that of any help?

Christian.