Etape du Tour in memory of Jack Maddams

On Sunday 8th July 2012 Roger Maddams and Dave Wigley rode one of the Alpine stages of the Tour De France from Albertville to La Toussuire in memory of Roger’s son, Jack. After over 11 gruelling hours of cycling they completed it and raised a wonderful £2,073.65.

“My nephew Dave Wigley & I rode the Etape du Tour for CRY on July 8. This was basically the longest, nastiest, most mountainous Alpine stage of the Tour de France which turned out to be the greatest race ever for Britain, with Bradley Wiggins winning, Chris Froome coming second and stage wins for Mark Cavendish and David Millar. Our stage was the one from Albertville to La Toussuire, with us keen amateurs riding the route on the Sunday (with full Tour support of motorised police, support vehicles and the like) with the pros riding it on the next Thursday.

One slight difference was that the winning time for the real race was just over 4 and a half hours…we rode for over 11 hours! The route was around 100 miles long, but the difficult bit being that it went up for getting on for 5,000 metres of vertical ascent. I train by riding up the likes of Sanderstead Hill in Croydon: about a mile long and rises up about 200 metres.

The first big climb of the day was the Col de la Madeleine: about 15 miles long and 2,000 metres up! That took over 2 hours alone, and it was followed by similar big beasts of the Cols de la Croix de Fer, Mollard and La Toussuire. The day was hot too; started in the rain which then made the day very humid when the sun started to shine.

But what a great experience: 6 months of training including commuting from Kent to Croydon each day over the winter was all paid back by being able to say “did that”. Sweaty climbs, whizzy descents, heart-in-mouth hairpin bends (a relief going up as they give a little piece of flat road, terrifying coming down!) and the occasional drinks station which provided much relief. Over £2,000 raised in honour of my son Jack Maddams to go with all the other sky dives, bike rides, football tournaments, 100 football ground non stop tours and other fund raising that Jack’s family & friends have done.

Next year: the Tour de Kent: 30 football grounds in a 3 day, 250 mile route at Whitsun 2013 in conjunction with Gillingham FC. Look out for our ride at www.justgiving.com/tourdekent13 – and if you would like to join us for part or all of it, please contact me at rogerjmaddams@aol.com.”