Cyclists, perhaps more than other sportspeople, have the opportunity to take on the iconic challenges of their calling.
Part of cycling’s unique appeal is the ability to ride the same roads as the professionals, and with l’Etape du Tour offering the chance to experience the brutal parcours of a Tour de France stage, and the Ronde van Vlaanderen Cyclo taking in the cobbles of Flanders, the biggest races in the sport are well served.
Those lost to time, however, are harder to experience. The Bordeaux-Paris ‘Derby of the Road’, a nightmarish 600km race through the night from south west France to the capital, was among the hardest in the sport’s frequently brutal history, and won, 50 years ago this year, by a British rider whose accomplishments equal those of today’s elite: Tommy Simpson.
Simon Mottram, the CEO of British cycle clothing brand, Rapha, has selected the parcours of the Bordeaux-Paris for a very special purpose: to challenge four-man teams to ride in relay and complete the 600km in 24 hours, by doing so, raise £10,000 per team for the charity, Ambitious About Autism. Mottram’s eldest son, Oscar, is autistic, placing the cause close to his heart.
Some of Rapha’s staff have been inspired by Mottram’s commitment to the cause and will roll out on September 12 for the fully supported ride, which will see a minimum of two of the four-strong teams on the road at any one time, while other members recover in the support vehicle.
Rapha’s UK press officer, Kati Jagger, will lead a team of riders she describes as “ordinary Joes”, workers behind the scenes at the company’s Kentish Town headquarters and at its Soho café, but as passionate about life on the bike as those who wear the brand’s clothing in cycling’s elite WorldTour.
Jagger’s team will include Dov O’Neill, who his role at Rapha with a racing a career that has taken in the road, the track, BMX, and downhill mountain biking, from national level to being “spat out the back 2/3 crits”. He plans to ride at least two-thirds of the Bordeaux-Paris and to prepare will complete only 200km rides between now and September 12.
Kirsten Halliday will take time out from her role at Rapha’s Cycle Club, where she leads the women’s rides. Described by colleagues variously as “very, very fast” and “one of the fastest women on a bike at Rapha”, Halliday has completed two editions of l’Etape, and the 240km parcours of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the latter in “apocalyptic conditions”. Halliday is planning night rides and hoping that “vertical miles in Surrey and Oisan” will help her prepare for the flatter, but much longer roads of the Bordeaux-Paris Challenge.
Joel Foster, who works in the returns department at Rapha’s Kentish Town HQ readily admits to never having done “anything close” to the length of Bordeaux-Paris, with a 129-mile ride his longest to date. He is looking upon the 600km odyssey as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and has been inspired by meeting Oscar and his riding buddy’s 11-year-old son, who is also autistic.
Jagger, a South Carolina native who combines her part-time role at Rapha with studies for a PhD in Anglo-Saxon literature, discovered cycling when she moved to London four years ago and this year completed l’Etape, whose final climb she describes as “horrific”.
“You get to the village at the bottom of the Semnoz and make a right turn and it’s …” her voice trails off. “I thought, how am I going to do this for 11km? Sure enough, all the way up, it was carnage. There were people on the side of the road, talking to themselves, crying, swearing. You saw everything on that climb. People really laid it out on the road.”
The experience will fortify her for the challenge of Bordeaux-Paris, she believes. As one who has also completed a half-Ironman triathlon, she describes herself as “no stranger to pain”.
The team has yet to discuss tactics, but having the greatest number of team-mates on the road at any one time will offer the greatest efficiency in the wind. This must be balanced with the need to rest. Simpson and his contemporaries used motorpacing when competing in Bordeaux-Paris. Jagger anticipates stints of two hours on the bike with three hours rest, but practice rides, held at night, are likely to finalise the strategy. “For me, mentally, it helps me to have done something similar to the event before the event,” she says. “I like to come as close to replicating the event as possible.”
The greatest challenge, however, lies off the bike. Rapha’s Bordeaux-Paris Challenge is, ultimately, a vehicle to raise funds for Ambitious About Autism, and the fundraising target reflects the aim of the cause. “We need to raise £10,000,” Jagger says, “and we’ve raised £1,000, so we’ve got a long way to go in a short amount of time.”
The level of support demanded by a 24-hour ride makes it a necessarily expensive endeavour, but its scale, the commitment of the riders taking part, and the still greater challenge of those who rely on the services of Ambitious About Autism, Jagger hopes will inspire people to give generously. “My cousin on my mother’s side is autistic and he would struggle hugely without the kind of educational support that he has had,” she says. “I know the value of special education for autistic children.”
She has set up a page for her team with the online service, JustGiving, one that passes donations directly to the charity. To support Jagger and her team, visit:
