Epic is a word often overused to describe events. In the case of the Cent Cols Challenge, it is thoroughly appropriate. Here’s an event that on paper looked too mad even to contemplate, but due to the brilliant mind and organisation of the man behind it all, Phil Deeker, the inaugural running of the event was a superb success story.

From the sheer savagery of the snow-capped Alpine climbs, steeped in Tour de France folklore, to the more gentle, rolling roads but still breathtakingly beautiful countryside further south, to the glimmer of the Mediterranean and the harshness of the upper slopes of Mont Ventoux, the Cent Cols offered the endurance rider the perfect blend of insane challenge with the ultimate reward: riding 106 cols in just ten days.

Legends have been made of every person who battled, often against personal demons or against injured bodies, to the very end. Over every col each rider toiled, while the weather threw rain, snow and intense sun at us. Through it all though was the sense of achievement felt by every single rider that made it to the end, with tired bodies pushed through the pain barrier, mental strength enforced through the lowest points, and at the end a cool fresh beer that has never tasted quite so good.