35,000 feet of climbing to go.

Some important, interesting and exciting news. Firstly, all riders made it safely to St Jean de Luz and many dipped their feet in the ocean. Some excitable individuals led by Betty swam out into the ocean, but safely returned. The final key team photograph was taken and the Climb every Mountain Cancer Cycle was completed. Now all we need is the donations to keep pouring in.  

http://www.justgiving.com/climbeverymountaincancercycle 

Summary statistics for the tour:

- 18 exhilarated cyclists;

- 18 sore ......;

- No major injuries;

- 2 tyres replaced;

- 1 puncture - though David says it technically wasn't - explanation too long to include;

- 1 broken free wheel mechanism;

- 2 grazed knees;

- 1 malfunctioning down-tube motor;

- 430 miles cycled (extra 70 miles for harder options);

- 38,346 feet (46,000 feet on harder Col route) of climbing on the basic route;

- 41,675 Calories burnt;

- All cyclists conquered all the major Cols;

 Mairead's flat tyre:

Now to more exciting news. We have now received confirmation to Gillian’s reply to the big question. It is reliably reported that she said, “I bet you say that to all the girls.” Little did she know that Greg also popped the question to Paula and had also checked whether Mairead or Betty were indeed married. It can also be re-called that he also had a lengthy conversation with a blonde waitress as previously noted in the blog.

On Friday night Paula held a hurried conference with David. On her most recent twice daily conversation with Joanne Miller (to exchange gossip and key news), Joanne had mentioned that Dr Joe O’Sullivan had walked past in the Cancer Centre. Paula was shocked as our mystery guest was the illustrious and renowned Dr O’Sullivan. With amazing prescience David deduced that one of them must be an imposter. David discussed with Turlough, Martin, Seamus and Larry as to how it could be determined whether our Dr O’Sullivan was the real thing or a sophisicated impersonation. At dinner the previous night, our Joe had waxed lyrical about Prostate Cancer and Abiraterone but every dog in the street knows about that. A cunning trap was set. When Joe came to mingle with his fans, David offered him a choice. He could either go to the bar for a few pre-dinner drinks or go to the local Centre-Cancer to meet the local prostate cancer experts for a TV experience, comparing Irish and French research. Our Joe opted for the pub and was therefore unmasked as the imposter, as the real ‘McCoy’ would have followed the science.

The last day of cycling was no doddle. The team started in rain, which lifted just as they tackled the last Col of the tour (Col de Osquich) on the way to St Jean Pied de Port.

One last push and one last ping on the Turbo. Although the Col had only 4km of climbing, the cyclists found it very tiring as various joints and muscles ached and throbbed from the week’s exertions. A few more soul destroying ups and downs took them into St Jean, which is a very historic town. There was a coffee stop here and number of the cyclists (Seamus, David, Mairead, Larry, Turlough and Gerry) reminisced on their previous cycling Odyssey along the Camino in 2006 (www.caminocycle2006.com).

St Jean Pied de Port is a famous starting point for the Camino de Santiago a 500 mile ancient pilgrimage route to the town of Santiago de Compestella in northern Spain. Some photos were taken of the old cobbled streets of St Jean Pied de Port and the cyclists remounted to start the final push to the seaside. Cafe Greg Squared appeared by magic at the top of one of the few remaining hills and the condemned ate a hearty lunch.

A short detour off the main road took over the final few hills followed by a 20 mile push on gently downhill roads to St Jean De Luz. Some enthusiastic members went for a swim in the Atlantic to complement their Mediterranean swim.

The celebration dinner was in a very nice restaurant with striking sea views of the Sunset.

Since the final stage had been declared nullified to avoid any risks during the final run through the crowded streets, the only Prizes to be announced were the overall standings and the special awards. Johnny got the best overall Yellow Jersey, followed by Turlough and Phillip. The Green Jersey prizes were Ciaran (Le Rainard) 1^st, Gerry 2^nd and Martin 3^rd. King of the Mountains was won by Turlough, followed by David 2^nd, though Turlough has some concerns that David had been too modest. Alan (the welsh hare) was 3^rd in KoM. Super domestique was won by Mark Grattan of Team Physics. Larry won the Gold Jersey for best senior, just ahead of Geoff (2^nd) and Seamus (3^rd) as he was on the road. Niall won the white jersey for the best young rider. Geoff also won the best improved cyclist.

The best female cyclist (Pink jersey) was won by Mairead, 2^nd Gillian and 3^rd Paula. Paula also won the best dressed cyclists, which was not surprising given the amount of Rapha gear she had accumulated. Betty won the female Green jersey for sprinting in stage wins.

The team event was won by the Phoenix cycling club, just ahead of Team Ballycoan. Kilbride CC, Team Physics and Foyle CC were joint third owing to fewer team members.

The dinner tonight was the best meal to date, but was unfortunately followed by some singing. Larry and Betty danced a jig or maybe a reel.

Party pieces were performed but best left to the imagination (‘a Boy named Sue’ did feature though...). The participants adjourned to open air tables for a few drinks and were joined by a passing Basque choral group and a passing Brass Band complete with a Lambeg-like drum.

Geoff bangs out the sash on the Lambeg

The celebrations went on for some time and the cyclists were glad not to have to face the bikes and the sudocream in the morning. Turlough even spent a while working at the bar.

Larry detunes a Basque Guitar

Greg and Gregory left with their loaded van at 4am to catch a ferry on Sunday night. The cyclists are due to fly home to Dublin later on Sunday. Seamus reminded all the cyclists that his Wednesday evening runs were cancelled for the winter, in case their enthusiasm got the better of them. All agreed that the trip had lived up to and exceeded their expectations. It was well described in the words of Paula in the Swatragh Star (coincidentally also the same words used by Seamus in the Tyrone Constitution and Gillian in the North Belfast News).

“Cycling with Friends for Friends.”

The participants would sincerely like to thank all their supporters who gave them encouragement and have donated money to the Friends of the Cancer Centre.  We would also like to thank Nathan and Alan, our tour co-ordinators from Marmot tours. We are extremely grateful to our sponsor of the van, Mourne Windows and Doors. We have been over-whelmed by the scale by the amount raised (around £20,000 and rising) and this will greatly help our work in providing cutting edge Cancer Care and Research for our Patients. This blog has attracted over 4000 hits, which indicates it is either a very interesting blog or more likely shows the interest in our whole community.  There will be further updates to the blog with more photos over the next few weeks.