The Alpine Challenge 2009

Photo 1: Preparing for the Alps in the Surrey Hills....

The Alpine Challenge 2009 is a charity cycle ride in which 60 teams of four riders cycle 500 miles in relay in just 3 days. The route this year starts on Friday September 25th at Laon in France, about two hours south of the Channel Tunnel. We’ll then set off south cycling past champagne vineyards and rolling countryside into Chablis country and the first night's stop at Auxerre. On Saturday, we’ll head east passing through the village where the feature film of "Chocolate" was made, then riding on past the source of the Seine north of Dijon across lovely countryside before arriving at Besancon. On Sunday, we’ll head into the Jura mountains past ski stations and stunning alpine scenery arriving at Lac Annecy with its historic and picturesque old quarter on the Sunday evening.

Most of the cyclists have been training for the last few months now in preparation for the event and while there are a few super-human athletes in the mix the majority of us are just ordinary people out to raise money for a good cause!. The event itself is organised by Challenge Adventure Charities (CAC) http://www.challengeadventurecharities.org.uk/ and the main charities they're supporting in 2009 are Cancer Research UK and MacMillan Cancer Care. Our team are also giving some of the money raised to SILA who do research into another horrible illness called Sarcoidosis.

I'll be posting regular updates to this blog during the event and have added a Twitter feed and GPS location tracker to the page this year for a bit of added fun.

Thanks so much to everyone who has sponsored us - it really is a massive boost when you're pedalling up hill .... again!