One year, one hundred climbs. 76 down, 24 to go. The end is in sight…

I’m now more than three quarters of the way through my attempt to climb 100 iconic hills, bergs, kops and mountains on my bike in 2017.  It’s been amazing fun so far, and I’ve ridden a huge variety of different types of hill and mountain with some great people.  The hardest?  Well it took me six tries to get up Bristol’s Vale Street, the steepest residential road in the UK – but I was on a station hire bike and my leather shoes kept slipping off the pedals.  I guess Corkscrew Hill outside Manchester should also qualify.  Wet and roughly cobbled, none of our group made it more than a couple of metres up the 45 degree slope before falling off.  It is not included in the honour roll below.  As a region, I found that the hills of the Lake District were both consistently brutal, and the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.  I can’t believe I made it to my mid 40s without ever properly visiting this area of the UK – go!

By now you probably know why I’m doing these climbs.  Unbelievably, after only six months, Cascaid has already raised over £1.37 million for Cancer Research UK (CRUK), and has doubled its target to £2 million for 2017.  This now seems very achievable.  You can read about some of these efforts and the work of CASCAID and Cancer Research UK on the link below.  I’m especially blown away by former M&G marketing guru Anne-Marie McConnon and team’s effort to row the Irish Sea from Wales to Dublin, which they did in heavy seas a couple of weeks ago.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that even £2 million doesn’t go far – research is incredibly expensive.  But survival rates from cancer have doubled from the 1970s, and Cancer Research UK is targeting a 75% survival rate by 2034, in particular by trying to improve the chances of those with pancreatic and lung cancer where the outlook is currently poor.  Just two weeks ago CRUK announced the results of a large scale trial in prostate cancer, which showed a 37% improvement in survival rates.  The money that you have kindly donated so far will make a difference.

http://www.cascaidcharity.com/

Cascaid’s fundraising page is now the most successful ever on the Virgin Giving platform, earning a “thumbs up” from Richard Branson himself last week.  My fundraising page is linked below.  Many thanks to all of you who have already donated.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=JimLeaviss&faId=772830&isTeam=false

I promised that if I raised an extra £500 then I’d shave my legs.  You donated, and I am now silky smooth.  I thought it might help me to a PB on Dark Hill in Richmond Park this weekend, but it turns out the aero impact is not as significant as I had hoped.  Silky though.

A few thank yous.  So as a reminder, I’m cycling up famous climbs featured mainly in Simon Warren’s excellent series of books called things like “100 Greatest Cycling Climbs” and “Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs”.  Simon has very kindly helped me to plan some routes.  The books are ace, buy them!  Thanks to everybody who has ridden with me so far this year – I’ll do a full rollcall when I’m finished, but the company has been invaluable.  Thanks also to Will Masi at Nuffield gym, and Athlete Lab at Monument for getting me in a state to get up the hills. Finally thanks to my family for support car services, and for tolerating me disappearing for a morning or two when on holiday.  I promise it was coincidence that our trip to Bruges took place at the same time as Paris-Roubaix.

You’ll find the evidence of climbs on my Strava feed.

Here’s the list of all the climbs that I’ve done so far:

1. Swain’s Lane, London
2. Muswell Hill, London
3. College Road, London
4. Chinnor Hill, Chilterns
5. Kop Hill, Chilterns
6. Whiteleaf, Chilterns
7. Kingston Hill, Chilterns
8. The Peak, Hong Kong
9. Mount Austin, Hong Kong
10. Mount Butler, Hong Kong
11. Deepwater Bay Road, Hong Kong
12. Mount Davis, Hong Kong
13. Combe Lane, Surrey
14. White Down Lane, Surrey
15. Box Hill, Surrey
16. Barhatch Lane, Surrey
17. Leith Hill, Surrey
18. Coldharbour Lane, Surrey
19. Britwell Hill, Chilterns
20. Dudley Lane, Oxfordshire
21. Combe Gibbett, Berkshire
22. Streatley Hill, Berkshire
23. Whitchurch Hill, Oxfordshire
24. Chalkpit Lane, Surrey
25. White Lane, Surrey
26. Toy’s Hill, Kent
27. York’s Hill, Kent
28. Hilltop Lane, Surrey
29. Kattenburg, Flanders
30. Volkemberg, Flanders
31. Molenburg, Flanders
32. Leberg, Flanders
33. Berendries, Flanders
34. Valkenberg, Flanders
35. Ten Bosse, Flanders
36. Kanarienberg, Flanders
37. Oude Kruisberg, Flanders
38. Oude Kwaremont, Flanders
39. Knokterberg, Flanders
40. Paterberg, Flanders
41. Blowingstone Hill, Oxfordshire
42. Dragon Hill Road, Oxfordshire
43. Whichford Hill, Warwickshire
44. Edge Hill, Warwickshire
45. Mirador de la Creuta West, Mallorca
46. Formentor Lighthouse, Mallorca
47. Mirador de la Creuta East, Mallorca
48. Pepperpot, Mallorca
49. Coll de Femenia, Mallorca
50. Coll des Reis, Mallorca
51. Sa Colabra, Mallorca
52. Coll de sa Batallia, Mallorca
53. Miland Hill, West Sussex
54. Harting Hill, West Sussex
55. Harting Downs, West Sussex
56. Stoner Hill, Hampshire
57. Down Lane, Isle of Wight
58. Newlands Hause, Lake District
59. Honister Pass, Lake District
60. Whinlatter Pass, Lake District
61. The Struggle, Lake District
62. Kirkland Pass, Lake District
63. Vale Street, Bristol
64. Oakridge Lynch, Gloucestershire
65. Bear Hill, Gloucestershire
66. Owlpen Hill, Gloucestershire
67. Forcester Hill, Gloucestershire
68. Swiss Hill, Manchester
69. Brickworks, Manchester
70. Blaze Hill, Manchester
71. Pyms Chair, Manchester
72. Cat & Fiddle, Manchester
73. Hollingbourne Hill, Kent
74. Boxley Hill, Kent
75. Castle Hill, Kent
76. Vanity Lane, Kent

What’s next?  Kent and East Sussex still have a few hills left for me, but before I finish I want to get up to the Derbyshire Peak District, I want to ride up a hill in Calverton which I could never get up on my Raleigh Grifter as a schoolboy in Nottinghamshire, and I think I should tick off some of the Yorkshire hills that featured in the Tour de France a couple of years ago.  Thanks for all of your support.  Here’s a picture of The Struggle near Windermere.  An awful hill.