My Tour de France

2008 is a big sporting year in our house. My husband Mike and I are going to ride a stage of the Tour de France in July. In case you don’t know about it, the Tour de France is a gruelling 3 week bicycle race around France in which professional riders cycle between 100-200 miles a day and tackle all the biggest mountains in the Pyrenees and the Alps. Each one day stage is like a mini-race of its own. They race on the flat, up the mountains, in the rain, in the sun, you name it, the race goes on. It is an event for only the most hardened and determined of men, and only the best manage to finish, let alone win.

Well, we are not quite doing all that, but each year one of the day stages is opened to the public to experience what it is like to ride the Tour. It is called the Etape du Tour. This year the Etape du Tour on Sunday 6th July is over 100 miles in the Pyrenees in southern France which includes two huge mountains … and we have two entries!

 
To be honest, we are not new to sporting challenges – we have both done a marathon and ridden a 50 mile bike event - but this one is altogether in another league.  Some serious preparation is required.

But first, something about me; I am just a mum. I have a great husband and two lovely children Ben and Maddie. I work part-time, whilst the children are at school. I help out at school and with the autism charity Peach. I spend lots of time with the kids doing fun things together. Ben is on the autistic spectrum and has additional complex medical issues and I run a range of home programs to help him with his difficulties.

Back to the bike race - faced with this enormous challenge – 103 miles distance with over a mile and a half of vertical height to be climbed and only 8 hours to complete it all – where do you begin? Fortunately, Mike has been reading a few bicycle training and maintenance books and he has become our team coach and technical expert. He advises what training we should focus on each month and keeps the bikes in good working order. The simple fact is that we need to ride 50 miles on relatively flat ground before we even get to the mountains, so that part needs to be easy because all the hard work comes in the second half. We have been focusing on long rides to build up stamina for the distance, and I can now do 83 miles between school runs at 9am and 3pm. That itself is quite an achievement, but it is not yet enough …

I came across Jonathan and the Autism Clinic nearly 4 years ago when I was looking for a nutritionist, and we have not looked back since. Jonathan’s advice on food and supplement protocols have made a massive difference to Ben’s health and although we still have issues to address we are in a far, far better place than where we started. His immune system is so much stronger, alertness and concentration have been transformed, interest in people and social interactions has blossomed, and general appearance is so much healthier. We have a whole cupboard full of little pots of liquids, capsules and powders which we give twice every day. It’s quite an effort but it is very well worth it when you see the difference it has made, and I am very grateful to Jonathan for his devotion not just to my son but all our children.

Next stage in our training is that we will need to start working on mountain climbing. There are no mountains in Surrey as far as I know, so we will have to find another way.  I fear that the closest we can get will be to find the biggest hills we can near home and go up and down many, many times. I can’t say I’m looking forward to that, but it must be done or we will never be ready for the big day.  We are also planning to do a couple of 100 mile bicycle events in the UK before we head out to France so that we have some idea what it feels like to ride that far, and will hopefully be better prepared mentally and physically.

I have been a subscriber to the Autism File for some time now and have found it extremely helpful in understanding autism and its broad ranging impacts. It’s the best and most wide ranging of any autism publication that I have found and the refreshingly open editorial attitude to different types of autism interventions is to be applauded. I am pleased that the Autism File has been launched onto the publication shelves where is will be more widely and easily available to those who can benefit from it. I hope that it succeeds in reaching out and helping others like us, in our efforts to improve children’s and families lives.

How am I feeling about this cycling challenge?  Actually I am really looking forward to it and have been excited since we decided to do it. I have been out cycling in the rain, wind, snow, sleet, hail, gales, and the occasional bit of sunshine which is when I remember why I am doing this (I would surely not have been so mad otherwise). I am not daunted by the distance or the climbing particularly, but I am more cautious about the descent which can be very fast and perilous; I’m also not too confident about riding in large groups, as I’m afraid of an accident. Those are all areas to work on before July.

So that is my personal challenge for 2008. Polly and Jonathan have embarked on a far greater challenge, not just for one event in one year, but for the future adult lives of all our children on the autism spectrum. Through their latest initiative, the Autism Trust, they are dedicating their lives to helping all our children in the adult stage of their lives, when there is such a dearth of appropriate opportunity and care. I admire their devotion and passion, and we can all derive inspiration from this that will help us in our own efforts, and we can do our bit by supporting and contributing as best as we can.

The Etape du Tour event is not for the faint hearted or the mildly unfit.  I aim to be neither on the day.  I have four main goals for Sunday 6th July:  1: to stay safe, 2: to enjoy it, 3: to finish and 4: in doing all this, to raise some money to help a very worthwhile cause.

That is where you can help, by offering your support through sponsorship to the Autism Trust. I have set up a Justgiving web page to raise funds for the Autism Trust at:

www.justgiving.com/mytourdefrance

You can also send a cheque payable to Autism Trust, marked “My Tour de France” and post to:

Brackenwood,
Hill View Road,
Claygate,
Surrey,
KT10 0TU,

You can also call the Charity on 0208 979 2525 if you’d like more information about their work or would like to offer your support in any other way.

I leave you with a closing thought. We bought a DVD called 2008 Etape du Tour which shows an enthusiastic and experienced cyclist riding round the 103 mile route with commentary and advice on what to wear, eat, drink etc. We watched it over Christmas with my brother. The miles seemed to go on forever, even though the cyclist’s legs were speeded up for most of the footage to get round more quickly. At last I spotted a flattish section with beautiful mountain scenery ahead and soft green grass dropping gently away on one side. With obvious relief I declared, ‘at least that looks like an easy part.’ My brother suddenly burst into fits of laughter. I was not ready for this. ‘Hey, what’s the joke, it really does look great.’ He explained, “Don’t forget, you will already have done 102 miles by the time you get to that bit!”  …  Aaahh … OK, maybe it won’t seem quite so easy, but that thought has stayed with me and makes me laugh on the hard rides and when I’m tired, wet, cold and hungry. On the big day I’m sure I will think of it again when I do get to that lovely ‘easy’ part right at the end.

Please sponsor me and the Autism Trust in all our efforts.  Your support really does make a difference to my motivation and determination to be my best for the benefit of others.

Carole Simms

PS:  Since this article was written I managed a 108 mile ride!  We’ll get there yet …