FINAL WORDS

I really hope that all those who have so kindly donated to Leuka as a result of me tearing around the Alps have had the satisfaction in not only donating to such a worthy cause but have also felt they've gotten their money's worth from my efforts and keeping my word of busting my arse. I can't thank you all enough. 

Here are the stats:

A whopping £3,156 raised for Leuka to date, smashing the expected £2,000. My thanks and love goes out to all my donators.

1,168Km ridden in all weathers, from torrential rain to 37*C.

20,554m of combined altitude gained over the 8 days of riding. That's about 2 1/2 Mount Everests or about 18 ascents of Snowdon (both from sea level).

16 of 18 mountains successfully climbed. Looming heat exhaustion and pure lack on energy resulted in 2 un-succesful ascents. That means I'll be giving £400 to the Swedish charity Barn Cancer Fonden.

Approximately 40,000Kcal additionally burnt.

Approximately 50 hours spent on the bike.

No punctures, mechanical failures or any technical issues.

75Kph max speed on decsents.

50 new friends.

Hobby may have turned into an addiction.

With thanks, Ash.

Day Eight; Final Day

The ride into Cannes. 1,168Km completed and 20,554m climbed (that's about two and a half Mt Everest's) in 8 days of cycling. Every emotion has been felt on this journey; elation and exhaustion, sadness to extreme excitement, anxiety and complete joy, fear too, perhaps even anger. I've never done anything like this and as I sit back in wet London infront of my iMac I can't recommend it enough!

Goats en route. Allez!

David Gibson (Aus) enjoying the European summer.

Bo Platt and I on the last ascent of the ride.

Hanging out prior to the Cannes arrival.

Rolling though Cannes en mass avec police escort.

DAY SEVEn

A sensible 122Km with 2,000m of climbing. A walk in the park! The ascent up the Col de Cayolle is pretty tough and I put in enough of an effort for a cheesy 'cyclist holding up his bike at the apex' photo.

Rolling out along the Bachelard valley.

Bo Platt dans le bridge.

Classic Fireflies team effort. 

Chris Page grinning with pain.

Sprint finish after 30Km of mountain cycling = collapse.

Day six

Another bonker's day. Incredibly hot. Three classic cycling mountains to climb totalling the same vertical ascent as half of Mount Everest. I flew the swedish flag at the top of Col d'Izoard. I lightly crashed by trying to scoop water into my cycling cap from an alpine livestock trough whilst cycling - not a good idea. My little groupetto then went for secret Coke's and managed to become the last in, having the broomwagon drive past us: ha ha! Just like to say thanks to all those who has donated, and there's no way I'd be able to do this without the knowledge of everyone's kindness.

Alex Jose and Paul Adler roll upwards at the beginning of Col d'Izoard.

Triathlete John Taylor and his incredibly squeky pedals meant lots of alone time as everyone avoided him.

Club 18-30 plus Milesy on a strong ascent.

Switchbacks galore in upto 36*C heat.

Nick Crabb blasting the summit.

Javier Romartinez, Luke Raffety and Brian Wedge somehow got a bag of MacDonalds at the summit. Eh?

Loni Peristere, always with a consistent pace and always smiling comes in under the FF flags.

Flying the flag for the Swedish Connection.

Late in the evening, our very loyal support egg us on.

Firefly peloton to eat up the final miles as quickly as possible.

Day Five

A mad day. Everyone with experience said day five, after the rest day, would be a killer and guess what... it was a killer. 4,000m of climbing (that's half of Mnt Everest) certainly didn't help. We climb the Colle del Lis, the Colle delle Finistre and the Colle di Sesrtiere. With my camera packed into my luggage I had to resort to my iPhone for pics, thus they are hopelessly blurred due to the incredibly humid conditions in my back pocket. Backing them up are Richard Lewisohn's great photo's, together they'll hopefully tell a story...

Hot stuff in the valley. 

Leaving Bussoleno for the Colle delle Finistre, and up into the clouds at 1,900m.

Alpine streams = emergency cooling off.

Alpine livestock troughs are pretty handy too.

This is getting tough at about 16Km in.

Probably half of us fall off on the lose gravel and sandy corner. I power to the summit, just enough gas in the tank, to a really strong finish. Problem is I forget that I still have to climb Sestriere and I virtually bonk on the long climb - crawling my way to the alpine hotel at 1,850m above sea level at 10pm. Success and disaster in equal measures.

Team shot. Oh yeah!

What a view! 8Km of paved section at 11% that followed 8Km of gravel at 8%. Ouch! Look at the mountains in the background; super cool.

The face of a amateur cyclist who's cycled up 4,000m in 1 day. I'm feeling pretty good to be honouring all the great donations Leuka has recieved for my endeavours.