Riding the route of the Tour de France 2021
While all eyes are going to be on the best riders in the world at the Tour de France this year, we wanted to highlight our friend Steve Faulkner who is also riding the route of the Tour just a few days ahead of the pros as part of the Tour 2021 team. We had a quick catch up with him to find out more:
You are going to have quite an adventure this summer! What are your plans, Steve?
From the 19th of June I’ll be riding the complete route of this year’s Tour de France with 17 other riders to raise over £1million for blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia. The ride will be more than 3,400km and 45,000m of climbing with the longest stage being 248km!
A key part of the ride is to raise awareness and fundraise for cure leukaemia; why is that so important to you?
As a teenager I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer and was given only a 5% chance of survival. For me this ride is not only about raising money, but also showing other blood cancer patients that a cancer diagnosis does not have to be a death sentence and that you can go on to live a normal life and do all of the crazy stuff you dreamed of.
In the day job, you are a sports physiologist. Do you have a top tip for people taking on a big challenge, maybe riding further than ever before or having multi-day adventures?
Yes, the key thing is to prepare for what you are training for. It’s important to understand what the challenge is and what it will take to finish! So if you plan a big sportive you need to do long rides, practice your nutrition and get out in bad weather!
What’s the best way for us to support you, Steve, and where can we find out more?
You can help me by donating whatever you can at:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Steve-faulkner5
There is more information about out tour here, and you can follow our progress: