UPDATE - Issue 24 - Winter 2005
Uphill struggle
Mr Vanner writes: 'The idea of raising funds by riding my bike up Mount Ventoux first occurred to me at the launch of the Million Prostate Miles campaign.
Mt Ventoux is 6263 ft high, the climb itself being about 15 miles long. My son assured me that the gears on my bike would be plenty low enough but he had a rather optimistic view of an old man's fitness. I was standing up in the pedals on each steeply banked hairpin which made the two hour climb a tougher challenge than I had anticipated.
My wife Anne's comment when I reached the top was that I looked like being the fittest corpse in the graveyard. I finally managed to raise £1,500 from sponsorship including 5 Euros from an anonymous French cyclist I met en route'.