Le Loop - supporting the William Wates Memorial Trust
I am taking part in Le Loop, which follows the official route of the Tour de France, one week ahead of the professionals and finishes 21 stages later in Paris, covering 3,350 kilometres and 51,500 metres of climbing (Everest is 8849m).
On Friday 27th June 2025 around 100 riders will gather in Lille for the 'Grand Depart'.
All the money you give goes directly to the William Wates Memorial Trust whose mission is to help the most disadvantaged young people keep away from a life of crime and violence and fulfil their potential. This is done through grants for art, education and sport. (Donations do not pay for my tour which I am funding).
Le Loop is no small undertaking. Riding even ONE stage of the Tour de France route is going to hurt! Please reward my pain by giving generously.
As a bit of fun, and a thank you for donating, if you would like to guess how many hours I spend in the saddle over the 21 stages, I will give £50 to the person who is is the closet (put figure in comments please). I will upload each days ride to Strava so you can follow along if you wish.
Merci
My Updates
Wow
Tuesday 22nd Jul What an experience: the amazing routes, the staff, the logistics, fellow riders, the extremes of weather and most importantly meeting people from the Charity and hearing first hand how the money raised has transformed their lives. All yet to be processed as still on a high from the fatigue. For those interested, I spent 144 hrs in the saddle, covered 2184 miles. Share
Gulp !!!
Sunday 2nd Feb Pressing the button was the easy part, 5 months to go it’s gets serious from here on in. No more lie ins, no cold weather excuses, the old saying winter miles for summer smiles ring true. The best motivation, your donations and giving young people a better chance in life to fulfil their potential. ShareThank you to my Sponsors
£1,000
Anonymous
£366.13
Avanade Donation
£355
Anonymous
£106
Frank
£100
Sandra Rumbold
Have an amazing time and enjoy the adventure 💖 love Sandra 💖🚴
£54
David Morrison
Wow John, rather you than me! It will be a fantastic achievement when you finish ):
£54
Andrew Strong
£53.32
Janice, Colin & George
Good luck John! What a way to kick off your fun employment! An amazing challenge and a worthy cause. We’ll be with you in spirit and guess you’ll be 200 hours in that saddle. Janice, Colin & George xx
£53.32
Karen Mchale
I wish you lots of good wishes in fulfilling your dreams and potential, John. You can do it! You have worked so hard. I hope you raise lots of money for the William Wates Memorial Trust. xxx 148 hours
£50
Mike And Rachel Heptonstall
This is is incredible John. Best of luck!
£50
Elizabeth & Darren
What a fantastic thing to do John. We wish you loads of luck and exciting adventures on this incredible journey. Hope you have a yellow Tshirt! Would love to accompany you along the way but my bike has a puncture and Darren’s has gone missing! Strange. Good luck John. xx
£35
Avanade 1
£35
John Rumbold
£33.50
Neil Webb
Great cause John, good luck
£32.23
Margaret Baker
Well done John time to put your feet up! Love Margaret
£27.05
Beverley Mclees
An amazing challenge of which I know you will be well within your capabilities ! All the very best and well done on the fundraising xx
£27.05
Andy Shiel
Go on John..away up the road
£27.05
V E Collins
What an amazing adventure John. Super impressed.
£27.05
S T
Go Golfa!
£27
James Lealan - Avanade
£27
James Lealan
Fantastic effort John. I hope the training is going well, and great work raising donations for this fantastic charity. Best of luck for the up hills :)
£27
Tracey Stead
Wishing you the best of luck John for such a fantastic cause!
£27
Tyne Hansford
Wow John, this is impressive!!! What a wonderful cause, best of luck for the training and prepare some good playlists for those hills!!!
£27
Ciara Sullivan
Best of Luck John!
£27
Corinna Lovesy
The best of luck John
£27
Avanade
£25
Roger Fogg
You’ll smash it.
£25
Doug
Good luck John. I guess you'll be in the saddle for 190 hours. Hopefully you wont suffer too much!
£21.84
Anonymous
£21.60
Wai Williams
10 hours
£16.20
Siobhan Purcell
Good Luck John
£15
Siobhan Purcell - Avanade
£11.33
Adam Krusts
£10.80
Ollie Marsden-ridley
Incredible effort for a great cause. All the best. Enjoy the trials an tribulations for spending that amount of time in the saddle. Views and memories worth it. Ollie
£10.80
Dan Burdge
£10.80
Simon Simon.j.williams
£10.80
Karen Melvin
What a great cause John.
£10
Andy Mason Mason
Good luck John
