Monday 23rd May – Ride Day 10: The 10th and final day of the France en Velo trip took us from Les-Salles-sur-Verdon to the finish line in Nice after over a combined 1,000 miles of cycling. Devastatingly, the day will be most remembered for Johnny’s...
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Day 10 – Bedoin to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie
Sunday 22nd May – Ride Day 9: Today’s penultimate stage of the ten day St Malo to Nice challenge saw us take on 104 miles and >7,000ft of ascent in, again, blisteringly high and unseasonable temperatures which must have hit mid 30’s for most of the last week....
Day 9 – Bedoin – Rest Day
Saturday 21st May – Rest day but Mont Ventoux for some.... Today was the designated rest day of the St Malo-Nice challenge so being as it fell in Bedoin 🤔 what better way to spend it than spinning the legs up Mt Ventoux to 1,910m above sea level and a fantastic...
Day 8 – Villefort to Bedoin
Friday 20th May – Ride Day 8: Day 8 of France en Velo saw us cover another monstrous distance of 116 miles though with less climb than yesterday at just over 5,000 ft. Welcome back to the furnace best describes the conditions we faced with temperatures...
Day 7 – Entraygues-sur-Truyere to Villefort
Thursday 19th May – Ride Day 7: Day seven of ‘France en Velo’ was aptly named by our route tweaker, Aspey, as the ‘Queens stage’ and understandably so as it had us ascending 8,000 ft over 114 miles. The challenge was exacerbated with a number of long climbs and...
Day 6 – Souillac to Entraygues-sur-Truyere
Wednesday 18th May – Ride Day 6: Day 6 of France en Velo saw us take on 94 miles between Souillac and Entraygues-Sue-Truyere, still in the Occitania region but moving east into the Aveyron department. We split in to two groups at the start, split by 45...
Day 5 – Perigueux to Souillac
Tuesday 17th May – Ride Day 5: Day 5 of France en Velo … ‘welcome to the cauldron of a heatwave in central France’ !! Today saw us take on almost exactly 💯 miles from Perigueux to Souillac over not mountainous but hilly terrain. For the first time...
Day 4 – Lessac to Perigueux
Monday 16th May – Ride Day 4: France en Velo - Day 4... We left Lessac in welcome cooler temperatures, after a great breakfast at the ‘artists retreat’, on tired legs after the last two days so the 84 miles ahead of us was, relatively, welcome relief. The...
Day 3 – Fontevraud-l’Abbaye to Lessac
Sunday 15th May – Ride Day 3: The third day of ‘France en Velo’... Another long day in the saddle taking in 125 miles, leaving the Loire and ending up in Lessac in the Charente department. Almost 250 miles over the last two days, undoubtedly to...
Day 2 – Vitré to Fontevraud-l’Abbaye
Saturday 14th May – Ride Day 2: Day Two of St Malo - Nice saw us take on 120 miles today from Vitre to Fontevraud l’Abbaye in glorious weather again, possibly even a little too hot ! After an early 6.30 breakfast the start was delayed as Clarky had a...
Day 1 – St Malo to Vitré
Friday 13th May – Ride Day 1: A super first day on the St Malo-Nice ride took us 80 miles to Vitre in glorious weather. Having left Kirkburton yesterday morning (Thursday 12th May), devastatingly we said goodbye to Tim Bennett in London who returned home...
A message from the most successful Team Pursuit cyclist in history – Ed Clancy OBE
Another great message from the amazing Ed Clancy OBE - the most successful Team Pursuit cyclist in history, having won gold with Team GB at three successive Olympics!!! Thanks so much Ed for the motivational words to get our legs turning
A message from Huddersfield Town’s Big Hef – Michael Hefele
Another fantastic message of support from one of Huddersfield Town's most popular players and all-round top bloke, Big Hef 💙🤍💙🤍 Thanks so much Michael Hefele for the kind words of encouragement 🙏👍
Big Cogs training – A Slog to Knutsford
Sat April 30th – A Slog to Knutsford (~115 miles & 8,500 feet of ascent) A super route over to the other side of the Pennines saw us again take on the Hope Valley. With lots of climbing in the first half before descending into the flatlands of the Cheshire...
A message from World Record holder – Mark Beaumont
Great words of encouragement from Guinness World Record holder and our long-distance cycling hero who rode around the world (18,000 miles) in 2017 - he did it in an amazing time of 78 days 14 hours 40 minutes! Thanks so much Mark Beaumont BEM for the...
Big Cogs training – Bootcamp to Bakewell
Sat April 16th – Boot Camp to Bakewell (~100 miles & 9,000 feet of ascent) The majority of us undertook a challenging c.100 mile ride into the Peak District that saw us take a meandering route to Bakewell. This ensured we went up as many steep assents as...
A message from Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill
When one of Great Britain’s most successful athletes wishes us luck for our upcoming challenge and tells us to go and smash it, we were blown away! Thanks so much Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill
Meet the Big Cogs France en Velo 2022 team
Rider Profiles PAUL ASPINALL (Aspey) Riding his Red Canyon, Aspey loves riding in all conditions and finishing with a Brewdog in his bar. Looking forward to an overseas trip having missed Ventoux after his accident. TIM BENNETT (Lettuce) Leaving his mountain...
Charity fundraising by the Big Cogs
The Big Cogs are looking to raise funds for four charities in completing the challenge. The riders are fully self-funding the trip so 100% of all donations will go to the charities which can be individually selected by the donors via the links on the home page:...