1. a sweatbox of a hotel room
2. nervous energy and excitement surrounding the final stage
3. nightmares about extreme traffic (when I finally did sleep)

All of the above combined to lead to me only getting between one and two hours sleep last night. I feel tired and lethargic and just want to skip the first 100-odd kilometres and be on the Champs Elysees.

It took a while to get going this morning and I just couldn’t wait to get to Paris.

Tara’s Video Diary

After an hour or so of riding we cracked a bottle of champagne to celebrate (because that’s what the pro’s do on TV!). We posed for a few photos and then pushed on towards Paris. I was impatient, agitated, frustrated and just really quite over the ride. I just wanted to finish.

Champagne Video Diary (very lethargic riders)

When we got to the outskirts of Paris I started to feel more settled and the huge amount of traffic made us all concentrate hard which negated the impatience and frustration.

Mum doesn’t like driving in traffic any busier than Wodonga and is scared of driving in Melbourne so it was a great effort for her to even attempt driving today. She drove as far into Paris as she could and when we got a chance to pull over she swapped with my sister Tara so she could do the final leg. Mum was a touch flustered when she emerged from the car so Marika and I gave her a group hug for a job well done.

There were a number of obstacles and wrong turns on our way into Paris which we were totally prepared for and handled pretty well (including accidentally ending up on a busy motor-way). As we drew closer we found some bike lanes and it was quite easy to make our way from there to the famous finishing circuit of the Champs Elysees.

While I was excited I was also exhausted and just happy that we were nearly there. My entire focus and concentration was on making sure that all three of us made it safely to the finish line after one lap of the extremely busy Champs Elysees.

When we arrived at the cobble stones of the Champs it was not as hectic as I imagined as all of the cars just gave us right of way. The Arc de Triumphe was crazy so we did two laps of that just for fun.

We posed for a number of “celebration” photos of us riding past the Arc with our arms outstretched in a “victory” pose and then just had a group hug and packed the bikes on the roof racks for one last time.

That was it. It was all over. I didn’t feel any great elation or achievement. I was just happy that I wouldn’t be getting a 5am wake-up call from Dad tomorrow morning.

We drove to our hotel and didn’t find a place to eat until late so there were no real celebrations. We just tucked up in bed, exhausted, ready for a solid sleep.

Stage 21: On The Road

Crohn’s Fact

Funds are required for vital research to find a cure, and national support services for those living with Crohn’s Disease. You can donate at www.everydayhero.com.au/crohnscrusader

Crohn’s Profile

Name: Karissa Schmidt

Age: 23 in August 2009

Lives: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Age of Diagnosis: 14

My Story:

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at age 14 after a short two months of diagnostic testing. Doctors tried several medications, including Pentasa, Salofalk, 6MP, Immuran, antibiotics,
and the very well-known Prednisone. All medications they tried, other than Prednisone, I ended up being allergic to. They caused severe cases of Pancreatitis and eventually lead to the condition called ‘chronic pancreatitis’. So, unfortunately, I was put on
Prednisone off and on for 3 years (with some extreme side effects such as hallucinations, horrible nightmares, weight gain/water retention, as well as headaches, nosebleeds, easy bruising, mood swings, joint pain, muscle weakness, and eye conditions).

After three years of this, I had the total colectamy and ileostamy
surgery in August of 2003. I had the ileostamy bag for 7 months, and
then had the reconnection. (During the time I had the ileostamy, I
ended up being allergic to the skin adhesive, so I was only able to
shower when I was changing the bag). After the seven months, I was
reconnected, and then only a month or two later was diagnosed with
Chronic Pouchitis, and a few months after that, Crohn’s Disease.

My general symptoms were bathroom breaks from 8-15 times/day, severe
cramping, constant dehydration, EXTREME urgency, and the common
feelings of constant pain and nausea. During the time before the
ileostamy, my urgency was so awful that we invested in a camping
port-a-potty and left it in the main vehicle, plus adding an old ice
cream bucket with toilet paper and hand wipes in every other vehicle
that I usually drove in. There are so many horror stories – but I
always had amazing support from friends and family that we always
made jokes about it.

After the reconnection surgery, my main problematic symptom was
‘leaking’. To be going from age 17 with an ileostamy making noises
during class, to age 18-21 with Depends at night – it definitely
makes you appreciate some of the small things.

My message:

Appreciate the days that you feel decent – Go out and DO whatever you
feel like (even if you upset someone because you were too sick the night before to hang out).

The days you feel the worst, make yourself LOOK incredible. It’ll give you the strength and desire to leave the house

Adrenaline slows down digestion for a short time - take advantage of this!

Find humour in the ugly stuff.

Find friends that understand!

Buy a port-a-potty and leave it in the car. Trust me. It saved my life at least a dozen times

Today’s images can be viewed here

Sponsor Profile:

Sponsor Name: VSL#3

Sponsor Level: Naming Rights Partner

Sponsor Website: www.vsl3.com.au

Orphan Australia are distributors of VSL#3, the world’s most concentrated probiotic.

As a company focussed on providing quality gastroenterology products which can change peoples’ lives for the better, we recognise the challenges and battles of living with a debilitating chronic condition. Throughout Orphan Australia’s history, it has always been our mission to deliver more therapeutic options to improve patient outcomes. We therefore support the efforts of the Crohn’s Crusaders in their quest to increase public awareness of Crohn’s Disease and simultaneously raise funds to further research into this area. For more information about Orphan Australia, or how VSL#3 may restore balance to the body’s natural bacteria and help the digestive system work more efficiently, call 1300 656 755 (within Australia) or +61 3 97695744 or visit www.orphan.com.au.

Today we drove 650km from Mont Ventoux to our start town for tomorrow’s final stage where we will ride into Paris. We can’t believe we are only one stage away from completion.

During the drive we saw lots of Tour de France sponsor vehicles for the caravan heading in the opposite direction towards Monaco for the start of the tour on Saturday (where we will be eager spectators).

What we have achieved and what has transpired in the past month has hit me all at once and my head is spinning a little bit. We are just three ordinary everyday people and we are one stage away from completing the entire Tour de France route. That’s quite amazing when you think about it. The entire ride I’ve just been so focused on completing each individual stage and looking after my body so I can get through to Paris but today’s long drive has given me some time to think about the bigger picture and take it all in and it has just been an enormous achievement.

My focus now is safety and just making sure that we all make it into Paris safely through what will be the heaviest traffic we will have encountered.

I was also reflecting on all of the work that I’ve put in to make this project happen. I’ve been planning it since I finished my coast to coast ride across America in 2005. Every spare minute I’ve had over the past 6 months has been devoted to this project and after tomorrow it will all be finished. It will be hard to imagine not going home from work and putting in extra hours towards this project. I’m definitely looking forward to a rest but thanks to being made redundant one week prior to my departure for Europe I won’t rest for long before embarking on my next mission – finding a job. Luckily I am an EU passport holder so I plan to stay on in Europe and find a job over here.

So many things to arrange after the ride but I don’t want to think about them just now. We have been running on such little sleep and such low energy levels. I just want to get through tomorrow, finish the ride safely and relax for a while.

Sponsor Profile:
Sponsor Name: VSL#3

Sponsor Level: Naming Rights Partner

Sponsor Website: www.vsl3.com.au

Orphan Australia are distributors of VSL#3, the world’s most concentrated probiotic.

As a company focussed on providing quality gastroenterology products which can change peoples’ lives for the better, we recognise the challenges and battles of living with a debilitating chronic condition. Throughout Orphan Australia’s history, it has always been our mission to deliver more therapeutic options to improve patient outcomes. We therefore support the efforts of the Crohn’s Crusaders in their quest to increase public awareness of Crohn’s Disease and simultaneously raise funds to further research into this area. For more information about Orphan Australia, or how VSL#3 may restore balance to the body’s natural bacteria and help the digestive system work more efficiently, call 1300 656 755 (within Australia) or +61 3 97695744 or visit www.orphan.com.au.

Today is a biggie that we have all been hanging for as it ends with a climb up to the famous (and massive) Mont Ventoux in what is the hardest ever penultimate stage of the Tour de France. Usually stage 20 is a short time trial but this year, as an additional twist, the organisers have thrown in Ventoux.

We were really excited to pit ourselves against the mighty Ventoux and relieved that this is the last day of climbing for the tour, and when complete, we will only have a flat roll into Paris to finish our mission.

The weather has continued to challenge us right to the end with a very hot and windy day and a maximum temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. I would take this weather any day though over the rain, wind and cold we had through the Alps.

Dale getting angry with an innocent bumblebee

There were 4 climbs to negotiate before we even reached the base of Ventoux and we didn’t do ourselves any favours by taking a wrong turn early and riding over a bigger hill then we were meant to for the first climb of the day.

We could see the Ventoux summit for hours before we even reached the base of it because we had to actually circle it to climb it from the far side. We slowly circled Ventoux in the very hot and windy conditions and made it to the top of the second last climb in good shape despite the extreme heat.

It was a very cautious descent down the final mountain before Ventoux as it was extremely windy and every time I let go of the brakes it felt like I was going to be blown off the bike. We didn’t want any injuries on the second last stage. Having said this Marika was very lucky to escape a fall during the final stretch before Ventoux as she blew a tyre at 37kph.

We were all excited to finally reach the final climb and be on the famous Mont Ventoux. My legs have been getting heavier over the past few days so my plan was to just find a rhythm and make my way up as best as I could. The higher I climbed the sadder I got because I knew it was nearly all over. After reflecting for a while about the ride to date I ended up finding myself in a real zone and started to feel really comfortable. As I surged higher towards the desolate and lonely summit I was averaging 12 to 14kph which is unheard of for me on a climb. I’d left Dale and Marika and both support cars behind earlier and there was absolutely no traffic so it felt like I was alone on the mountain in the afternoon sun and it just felt really great to be in my own little world.

Damian’s Ventoux Video Diary

When I finished the climb I was quite satisfied with my effort and happy that we only have one stage remaining.

I’d bought some paint earlier this morning to write Marika’s name on the road near the summit of the climb (a Tour de France tradition) to motivate her to finish the final climb strongly (and I thought she would appreciate the gesture). I set about scribbling her name on the road with my limited artistic ability (today’s photos will highlight this) and waited for her to reach the top.

Dale was first to pass. I cheered him to the summit where he promptly got off his bike and placed it in a rubbish bin on the summit indicating that he was over riding for a little while!

Then as the sun was setting a beautiful pink on the horizon Marika made her way past the “Allez Marika” sign on the road. I ran alongside her with an Aussie flag (another Tour de France tradition) for a photo as I thought she would be impressed with the effort. However, she was a little tired after the big climb and her only response as I ran alongside her was - “Get out of my summit photo. Don’t ruin this for me.” She looked serious so I got out of the way!

Stage 20: On The Road

We took plenty of photos of Marika as she crossed the line and you couldn’t get the smile off her face. She only took up riding to spend more time with me and had never climbed a hill until she did Mt Hotham in January (only 6 months ago) and now she’s climbed every summit of the 2009 Tour de France so I think there is plenty for her to smile about.

We posed for a few summit photos before it got dark and headed off for the hotel.

When the real tour gets here the 2009 winner will be revealed.

I won’t mention any names but the quote of the day as we rode past a “Gendarmerie” sign this morning was “haven’t we been to Gendarmerie already”?

For the Melbourne riders: we were reflecting on the entire course profile on our drive to the hotel and we think that there were only 3 times for the whole tour where we encountered flat straight stretches of road like Beach Rd where you could open up and just go as fast as you could.

Crohn’s Fact

Funds are required for vital research to find a cure, and national support services for those living with Crohn’s Disease. You can donate at www.everydayhero.com.au/crohnscrusader

Crohn’s Profile

Name: John C. Scott

Age: 39

Lives: Colchester, Ontario, Canada

Age of Diagnosis: 14

My Story:

I have been living with Crohn’s Disease for over 25 years. I have been on almost every conceivable treatment including 4 major surgeries, with my last being in 2006. The disease has certainly been a challenge for me over the years, but I find that it has never stopped me, just slowed me down from achieving my goals and ambitions in life! I am thankful to have not been on any meds for the last 2 years and have recently started changing both my diet and exercise programs in hopes that I stay in remission forever! With my country of Canada having the highest rates of incidence of IBD in the world, I volunteer passionately with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada and look forward to the day when we find the cure and no one has to suffer any longer.

My message:

I encourage you to volunteer with your local charity which is dedicated to helping others with IBD. We can all help Damian by generously donating on the Crohn’s Crusaders site as well as telling others about his incredible feat of raising awareness and funds for IBD. He is an inspiration to all of us who live with these diseases everyday…..GO DAMIAN! Thanks for your help and support of Crohn’s Crusaders!

*A quick note from Damian – John and I made contact after he was involved in a coast to coast cycling project to aid Crohn’s Disease in Canada. You can check their website at www.poweredbycommunity.org and also get hold of a copy of their film – “Rubber Side Down”

Today’s images can be viewed here

Sponsor Name: Tribal Training

Sponsor Level: Project Partner

Sponsor Website: http://www.tri-bal.com.au/

Tribal Training helped Damian get into shape with twice weekly wind-trainer sessions in the lead up to the big ride and also offered plenty of tips and advice along the way.

Mother Nature loves us again and gave us a massive tailwind for most of the stage which was very timely. It was also 32 degrees Celsius which was so nice after all of the inconsistent weather in the Alps.

It felt great to see high 30’s and early 40’s on my Polar CS600 speedo. Although, when you go fast like this it is a dangerous time as you think you are a great cyclist and should undertake massive challenges like riding the Tour de France route! (You never get these crazy ideas when you are struggling up a steep mountain). So, while it was great to go fast, I was making sure I didn’t get too carried away and dream up another bike tour for next year. We were just so happy to see the kilometres tick away a whole lot quicker than they had for the entire tour.

The morning session saw us make our way through numerous Lavender farms. There were paddocks and paddocks full of it and it was so relaxing I swear I nearly fell asleep on the bike.

The rest of the day went by quite smoothly and quickly except for one puncture for Marika.

On the final climb of the day my legs were starting to get a bit heavy and I found myself thinking – ”thank god there are only two more stages to go”!

I think this is the earliest we’ve made it to our hotel. With only two stages to go we are finally starting to get it right!

Attempted Video Diary

Crohn’s Fact

Australia is lagging behind the rest of the developed world in terms of funding biological treatment for Crohn’s disease. While public healthcare funding varies internationally, biological treatment for Crohn’s disease is funded in some manner by the majority of developed countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, as well as Europe. In Australia it accounts for just 0.1% of the total allocated recurrent health expenditure.

Crohn’s Profile

Name: Sonja

Age: 45

Lives: Stoevring, Denmark

Age of Diagnosis: 24

My Story: My story starts in 1982 in Aarhus, Denmark when I was 18 years old. I was living a wonderful life with good friends, lovely family, was active competition fencer travelling around Denmark, Poland and Germany for different fencing contests. Suddenly I started to get a lot of pain in my stomach, I could not go to the toilet and went to my GP, who gave me some medicine to deal with the problem, and it worked, but the pain kept coming back and over time I got diarrhoea, had to go to the toilet 15 - 20 times a day and lost 30kg. It took the doctors 6 years to find out what was wrong with me. It was so hard physically and psychologically not knowing what was wrong with me.

In 1988 they found out that I had Crohn’s and I went through my first surgery. After that I had three more operations and two minor operations. I have to go to the toilet 10 to 15 times every day. I have to take medication everyday Puri-nethol (mercaptopurin). I have rheumatism pain nearly every day, sometimes more than others so I also get painkillers. There are days where I have to stay home because I need my toilet that badly - it is not fun when you cannot reach the toilet in time. I have to sleep in the middle of the day to get enough energy. Today I do not work, I had to retire with a pension when I was 35 years old. I am married and have three kids aged 18, 16 and 6 years old. My family and some friend are helping out when I need it. I try to help others with Crohn’s here in Denmark. I also teach nurse students how it is to live with Crohn’s.

My message: Crohn’s can be so difficult and frustrating to live with. There are so many side effects like pain, malnutrition, social loneliness, loss of education (because you can’t go to school). Kids can not be normal like other kids, they want to but they are too tired, have too many pains. There are so many side effects with the strong medication we get. I hope that one day I do not need to go through more operations and take medication every day.

Today’s images can be viewed here

Sponsor Profile:

Sponsor Name: UK and Europe Travel

Sponsor Level: Project Partner

Sponsor Website: http://www.ukandeuropetravel.com/

UK and Europe travel provided the Crohn’s Crusaders with discounted vehicle leasing and can help you with all your vehicle needs in the UK and Europe.

Video Diary

At last, a short flat stage. The 40.5km ride around the lake at Annecy was a really nice ride and will be a good time trial circuit for the real tour.

In the afternoon we went back to complete the final two climbs from yesterday. The weather was a bit better and we actually enjoyed the afternoon even though I thought the start of the first climb was the steepest and hardest of the tour thus far.

We haven’t attacked the Alps with as much gusto and energy as we attacked the Pyrenees but after 2,500km in the legs and an average of 5 hours sleep per night our verve has been sapped and we are just looking forward to putting the Alps behind us and getting to Paris.

Crohn’s Fact

For reasons that are not yet clearly understood, Crohn’s is largely a disease of the developed world. Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis are reported to be more common in urban than in rural areas, and in northern than in southern climates.

Crohn’s Profile

Name: Brylie

Age: 34

Lives: Sandringham, Victoria, Australia.

Age of Diagnosis: 25

My Story: As a 25 year old woman who had just had her appendix removed due to uncomfortable stomach pain and inflammation, you can just imagine my surprise when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and had undergone that major operation for no reason!! Over the past 9 years I have had “Flare Ups” that have resulted in weeks of pain and discomfort and hospital visits on a drip to replace fluids and excessive amounts of weight lost. Understandably this causes so much worry for friends and family.

I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones though as I have always had mild “flare ups” and have never required surgery. Over the years I have managed my Crohn’s with a trial of different drugs to find which is best for me. In the last few years, I have been lucky enough to have been diagnosed with Crohn’s related Arthritis as well which means finding the right medication to tackle both at the same time. I tried many tablet form medications but that wasn’t working for me. I was then put on Methotrexate (Chemo Drug) which is injected into the muscle of the arm which my wonderful husband learnt how to give to me weekly. This was painful and not fully effective. I was then put onto a trial drug called Humira which is injected into the tummy and not the muscle so was not as painful. This seemed to work really well.

My story has changed dramatically in the last 12 months. I had to go off the drugs completely before getting “Up the Duff”! So through perseverance and lot’s of nagging my gastroenterologist, I was given the go ahead through a maintenance programme of Prednisolone. I am currently on my journey to becoming a Mummy as we are expecting our little bundle of joy in August.

Since becoming pregnant, I have felt amazing and my Crohn’s and Arthritis has completely disappeared. I have joked to my husband that I am going to have to have 24 children as pregnancy agrees with my body! (It is only a joke honey). I hope one day, scientists can bottle the relaxens and endorphins the body releases in pregnancy and turn them into a Crohn’s medicine!!
Watch this space…..

My message: Unfortunately Crohn’s Disease isn’t a widely known or recognised Disease and doesn’t have the funds behind it to research a magic cure! What Damian is doing for the thousands of Crohn‘s sufferers is truly remarkable. I would encourage everyone to dig deep and give to his outstanding effort and help him bring this rarely spoken of disease into the minds and hearts of Australians.

Today’s images can be viewed here

Sponsor Profile:

Sponsor Name: Altered Images

Sponsor Level: Project Partner

Sponsor Website: http://www.alteredimages.com.au/

Ian van der Wolde (M.Photog.) established Altered Images Photography in 1986 after recognising the need for a quality professional photography service in the South Eastern suburbs.

Establishing a reputation for creativity, quality and value and a recognised leader in high quality digital photography and colour management, Ian’s market rapidly spread Australia wide.

Ian is in demand as speaker and teacher for other professional photographers and is invited to speak regularly on digital workflow & colour management.

Ian holds a Certificate of Illustrative Photography and is a Master and Accredited Member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP).

Altered Images offer a full ICC compliant workflow on location or in the Studio.

My neurokinesiologist told me that “your subconscious will believe anything you tell it”. Ever since I saw the profile for today’s stage I have been trying to talk myself into thinking I am capable of completing a monster of a stage such as this.

Possibly the hardest stage of the tour, there are 5 categorised climbs including 4 x category 1 climbs and one category two climb.

The first climb dragged and seemed to take forever but the second wasn’t quite so bad. The descents were great and seemed longer than they should have been.

The second descent was the only one of the tour where I feel I have gone fast and not held back. While I was near my fastest an oncoming truck decided to overtake on a corner and didn’t quite have enough time so the car in front of me slammed on the brakes and I nearly left an imprint of my face in their back window. That was the closest I have come to a crash for the tour so far and scared me enough to stick to slow cautious descents from now on.

We got lost for hours between the second and third climb. I was really agitated at first because I knew we needed to make the most of our daylight on a big stage like this but as time wore on and it became clear we weren’t going to complete the stage it just became comical (I’m going to frame some of the text messages that we sent each other while the two support cars became separated – they were gold!).

While we were lost it started to pour with rain which didn’t help our cause. When we regrouped and arrived at the base of the third climb we got absolutely saturated in a giant downpour. I don’t mind riding in the rain when it is warm as I find I can usually get into nice rhythms in the rain but this rain was freezing.

I hadn’t pushed a pedal in anger for the entire tour until today. I was really annoyed that we weren’t going to have the daylight or the conditions to finish this stage before it got dark.

The rain didn’t let up for the descent which made it very slippery and scary and when we reached the bottom we decided that we should pack up and come back to complete the stage tomorrow afternoon (after we finished the 40.5km time trial in the morning). I’m sure we would have continued if there was no traffic but it was starting to get a bit dangerous for us.

So, instead of being a short sharp 40km tomorrow we have to come back and do two category 1 climbs which wasn’t the plan. But, like so many other times during the tour, we will adapt and just get on with it.

Crohn’s Fact

Approximately 74% of people with Crohn’s disease will eventually be hospitalized and ultimately require surgical intervention. However surgery may not eliminate symptoms from reoccurring. 65% of people with Crohn’s still had a recurrence of symptoms with many reporting serious complications after surgery.

Crohn’s Profile

Name: Melinda

Age: 41

Lives: Geelong, Victoria, Australia

Age of Diagnosis: 22

My Story:
It is very true in life that everyone has a story. Some stories are shared, others are not. Because Crohn’s disease is such a “shitty” illness many people are too embarrassed to discuss symptoms and stories with their peers. I have had Crohn’s for around 30 years and believe me, anything that could happen has happened. I have given up worrying about how many of the symptoms and procedures are truly unlady-like and have instead learnt how to deal with it and in some cases minimise them. You can still have it all (marriage/career/children/great life etc) you may just not have it all all of the time, but seriously who does ? Sure it is sometimes hard to be positive and leap out of bed in the morning when your joints are so inflamed you could swear you turned 80 overnight or you have a day when you seem to spend more time in the bathroom that achieving anything else but you just have to keep on going. As you get older and wiser and more familiar with your illness it becomes easier to manage and deal with. I say “keep smiling and get on with it” life doesn’t have to always smell of roses.

My message: Live, Love and Laugh. Live your life well, love your friends & family (and your gastroenterologist and your surgeon), laugh yourself silly whenever you can and learn to not eat foods that will make you poo your pants.

Note from Damian – I made contact with Melinda through a friend of mine. Melinda has just released a book about Crohn’s and her website can be viewed here.

Today’s images can be viewed here

Stage 17 Video Diary

Sponsor Profile:

Sponsor Name: Bergerac French Cuisine

Sponsor Level: Project Partner

Sponsor Website: www.bergeracrestaurant.com.au

Jean-Francois of Bergerac French Restaurant has provided 4 x $100 vouchers to be used as competition prizes for subscribers to the Crohn’s Crusaders e-newsletter.

Bergerac Restaurant is the best French Restaurant in Melbourne. Established in 1985 by Chef-owner Jean-Francois, Bergerac is an authentic French restaurant with classic cuisine from the south west of France, French décor and French waiters. Try our duck confit, escargots, steak au poivre and cassoulet in winter. Bergerac is a popular venue for business lunches. Look out for our specials on the blackboard and see our menu at www.bergeracrestaurant.com.au

Today was the most beautiful stage of the tour so far. We had two massive climbs to complete high in the Alps covering Switzerland, Italy and France. It really was magic and days like today are so inspirational and just made us so happy that we are crazy enough to try a mission like this.

Pre Ride Video Diary

It was very cold as we made our way up the first climb to the highest point of the tour and we were all kitted out with leggings, jackets, booties etc. The scenery was beautiful and I’m sure our photos don’t do it justice. You’ll just have to come and visit for yourself some day if you get the chance.

Thanks to “You and I Ride” I have been riding the most awesome Bianchi of all time which has helped me to get through the course to date and to the highest point of the tour this morning.

We have drawn the competition to name my bike and it was won by Paul Guy. His suggestion of “Ed” was in honour of Bianchi founder Eduardo Bianchi. There were some other great suggestions such as “Celeste” (Bianchi’s trademark colour) and I was leaning towards “Bruno” (as it is a great Italian name and the “Bruno” movie is getting heaps of publicity over here). But, Ed it is. Thanks to all who entered and congratulations to Paul who wins a $100 dinner voucher at Bergerac French Restaurant.

Anyway, we rewarded ourselves with plenty of Swiss chocolate at the top of the first summit and then found another reward in the enormous descent.

The weather warmed up considerably as the day wore on and it was quite hot in the afternoon.

On our way up the second climb we hit a bit of a second wind and averaged about 14kph for a good stretch (that is flying for me on a climb!). Anybody can overtake a vehicle on the way down but I was very proud of my efforts when Dale and I passed a truck on the way up the hill! That was a first for me.

We had a massive headwind as we approached the second summit but it didn’t bother us as we were inspired by the beautiful surrounds and inspired by our efforts of climbing above the snowline and above 2,000m for the second time today. We were really just savouring the stage because we have had a few shockers over the past week and this was just heaven in comparison.

We were rewarded with another gigantic descent and loved it. I love the international flavour of the tour – saying “Bongiorno” to fellow cyclists on the way up the mountain and “Bonjour” on the way down the other side after crossing the border at the summit.

The rest of the day was just pure gold and I loved every second of it. We are staying quite high up in the Alps again tonight and the views are just sensational. I could do this every day!

Stage 16: On The Road

Crohn’s Fact

Despite much research, the exact cause of Crohn’s Disease is still unknown. A number of genes have been identified that may predispose a person to Crohn’s Disease or ulcerative colitis. It is likely that an environmental trigger – possibly a virus, bacterium or protein – prompts the immune system to ‘switch on’ and begin the inflammatory process that leads to Crohn’s.

Crohn’s Profile

Name: Andrew

Age: 43

Lives: New Westminster, BC , Canada

Age of Diagnosis: My son at 18mths

OUR Story:

Our family has been living with IBD for 41/2 years. Our family consists of myself, my wife, and our two sons. Our youngest son, Nathan, was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis when he was just 2 yrs old. He is now 6. For over 11 months, local doctors, our local hospital emergency department, mistreated and misdiagnosed Nathan’s condition. On demanding a specialist, we went to BC Children’s Hospital where their GI’s put Nathan through tests including an endoscope which resulted in January 2006 with his diagnosis. Since this date, we have twice needed to “up”his drugs to bring him back into remission. He’s a tough little guy and always upbeat, except when blood tests and needles are concerned!!

His bout on steroids to get him in remission 18mths ago was horrific. Scary mood swings, massive weight gain all compounded the problems, but he came through and since then, has only had minor flares.

Our whole family has altered our diet, we watch what we all eat. Nathan is a good barometer for us  Since 2006, Nathan has raised over $19,000 for the CCFC (Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada) to help fund research to find a cure. We are very thankful for the living angles that work at BC Children’s Hospital, at the CCFC including the over 5,000 volunteers nationally, our sponsors, supporters and all those directly and indirectly who share our trials.

I implore you to volunteer with your local charity which is dedicated to helping others with IBD. We can all help Damian by generously donating on the Crohn’s Crusaders site as well as telling others about his incredible feat of raising awareness and funds for IBD. He is an inspiration to all of us who live with these diseases everyday…..GO DAMIAN! Thanks for your help and support of Crohn’s Crusaders!

Today’s images can be viewed here

Sponsor Profile

Sponsor Name: Cover More Travel Insurance

Sponsor Level: Official Travel Insurance

Sponsor Website: http://covermore.com.au/

Covermore Travel Insurance have been kind enough to cover the travel insurance for the entire Crohn’s Crusaders team. Visit Covermore online to arrange your travel insurance requirements.

Today was meant to be a relaxing rest day in the Alps but because we didn’t finish the final climb yesterday we had to go back and do it today to successfully complete the stage.

This was a real pain as I had a great friend of mine from Switzerland (Carole who I used to work with at the Grand Prix Circuit) coming over to visit and show us around her homeland and my relatives from Italy (Gian Luca and Gabriele) coming over to spend a relaxing day with us.

We went into town to the bike shop to get Dale’s bike fixed (by Ben Afflleck’s twin brother) and then ended up chatting with Carole, Gian Luca and Gabriele for a couple of hours before bidding them farewell and starting our final climb.

We paid the category 1 climb up to Verbier absolutely no respect and were lucky it didn’t make us pay. Standing around in the sun for hours and not drinking any water is no way to prepare and we didn’t have any lunch which didn’t help as we left at about 5pm with no fuel to help us up the climb. We were all a bit sluggish and in rest day mode so it was slow going but it was a beautiful climb and descent and despite the lack of energy it was quite nice.

We had a great dinner back at the restaurant where we are staying and had lots of laughs with the waiters. We made sure that we fuelled up adequately in preparation for tomorrow’s two monstrous climbs after slipping a bit with our nutrition today.

Today we were also joined by our neurokinesiologist, Margaret Stuart, who has been working with us to prepare us for the huge task of riding the entire Tour de France route. A massive effort for her to make her way over to Europe to join us and ensure we are mentally on track. Greatly appreciated.

Today’s images can be viewed here

Martigny Rest Day Video Diary

Sponsor Profile:

Sponsor Name: Bicycle Victoria

Sponsor Level: Project Partner

Sponsor Website: www.bv.com.au

Bicycle Victoria’s mission is “More people cycling more often”

Bicycle Victoria have provided logistical and technical assistance to Damian throughout the course of the project and allowed Damian to have an expo booth at Bicycle Victoria events and promoted the Crohn’s Crusaders project via their publication “Ride On” and e-newsletter “In The Loop”.

Bicycle Victoria says: “It’s great to see a Bicycle Victoria member changing the world through his riding. Damian’s enthusiasm and willingness to achieve something fantastic is infectious. We’d love to see his determination not to let a medical condition dictate his efforts to inspire others.”

Today sucked. It was our worst day for the tour so far and probably the worst ride I’ve ever had. It was a hard enough course to begin with (with 6 categorised climbs) but we were just absolutely hammered by the conditions. We had the worst headwind of all time and it was absolutely freezing. We had 4 x category 3 climbs, 1 x category 2 and 1 x category 1 climb to get through which meant we were working very hard and getting hot and sweaty which made us even colder when the wind blew straight through us.

To give you an idea of how windy it was Dales’ sunglasses actually got blown off his face while he was riding! That’s pretty windy!

We entered Switzerland, our fifth country of the tour, which was a bit of a buzz but not as much of a buzz as it would’ve been if it wasn’t zero degrees Celsius, overcast and we weren’t freezing our bits off.

Dad was stopped by police in a town where we were lost and told to hurry things along a bit as he was driving slowly in front of us riders to direct us through town. It wasn’t our last meeting with police for the day.

We were back to our bad old ways of the early days of the tour by getting lost in two towns today. The first time was hard to avoid as there are lots of roadworks along the tour route and our GPS lost the plot a bit as we ran into some major works in the first town. The second town was human error and we messed around and wasted about an hour which made us all quite angry.

When we regrouped and got back on track we thought that mum and dad should do some grocery shopping for the day so us three riders sat in the car and tried to thaw out while they were gone. I’m not sure if is school holidays here or not but there were children everywhere and every single one of them that walked past our 3 bikes stopped to have a look (and usually a touch) before moving on. One group of kids started to pick up the bikes and treat them a bit rough (they didn’t realise we were in the car a few metres away) so I gave them a blast of the horn and their reactions were priceless. They jumped metres in the air, looked very guilty and quickly departed the scene. Sadly, that was our highlight for the day up to that point! I’m not sure how many other children past by because all 3 of us fell asleep in the car and didn’t wake until mum and dad returned.

We had still only ridden about 75km for the day so we decided to push on for 100km before lunch. The headwind was extreme, we were very cold and our legs were stiff. It was looking very unlikely that we would even make 100km for the day at this point

It took us 9 hours to do the first hundred kilometres (just under half of the entire stage). We weren’t all that thrilled with our progress and less impressed with the conditions but we had a better run in the afternoon.

A gradual downhill straight after lunch helped the mental state a bit and reaching the category 2 climb was satisfying as it was a small milestone that we had been struggling towards.

We had our first view of the Alps today and they appear bigger, more rugged and more intimidating than the Pyrenees. That doesn’t bode well for our days of climbing in the Alps but they do look impressive.

The category 2 climb started off extremely steep but gradually improved as we surged higher. There was a great reward waiting for us with a huge, fast decent down the other side. This also felt like the warmest part of the day which was weird as the descents are usually the coldest parts of the day. Dale reached a max speed of 79.5kph, so again he has just missed breaking the 80kph barrier. There were a lot of roadworks on the descent and a highlight for me was stopping behind a car at a temporary red light and just standing in the warmth of their exhaust for a few minutes. It was the first time I felt warm for the entire day.

The clouds cleared at one stage, as if choreographed, to reveal some massive snow-capped peaks which stole my concentration from the 50+kph descent and nearly threw me over the edge.

Just when it looked like we were going to complete the whole stage, which looked impossible earlier in the day, Dale was unlucky enough to get a puncture. He fixed it in no time and we were off again. I had enough energy back in the legs to lead the group towards the final climb but wasn’t as sharp as I should’ve been and just missed a big rock which Dale, who was following me, hit. He got his second puncture in a matter of minutes. He again fixed this one in no time at all and off we went. We only had about 20km to go and we were really determined to make it after the shocking day we’d had even though the light was getting quite bad. We came to a tunnel that was 2km long. There wasn’t much traffic so we decided to go for it. Dad was in the front car followed by the three bikes and then mum was following with her hazards on. The tunnel had a speed limit of 60kph and we thought we could do over 30kph on the bikes so we didn’t think we would delay anybody too much.

Just before we entered the tunnel Dad let a few cars through ahead of him and I realised that the last one was a police car. There were four policemen in there and they gave us a bit of a funny look but continued on so I thought that all was well.

We got through the tunnel OK but just after we reached the daylight on the other side one of Dales spokes broke. It just really wasn’t our day. Mum and Dad pulled up at a nearby service station to wait for us and found that the police who Dad had let through in front of us were waiting for us and told us to pop the bikes on the roof and call it a day. We were still determined to get up the top of the climb so that we didn’t have to do the remaining 20 odd kilometres on our rest day tomorrow but it was nearly dark so we did the common-sense thing and packed up for the day. We were all disappointed as we knew we could’ve made the end of the stage if it wasn’t for mechanical problems and getting lost a few times earlier in the day. It was a massive effort to make it this far though after the atrocious conditions we were faced with. With our wrong turns and getting lost we did 201km for the day so we were happy that there was something positive to come out of it because 100km looked near impossible for a long time this morning.

We will just finish the rest tomorrow after fixing Dale’s bike and then put our feet up for the remainder of the day.

After all of this happening you could imagine that we weren’t in the best of spirits but thanks to my mum, Nancy, who has provided us with so many moments of pure gold during this project she managed to get everyone laughing again with one of the best quotes of the tour to date. When we were at the service station feeling a bit angry at the whole situation and a little bit down on life Mum broke a moment of silence with “If you’re only 33 years old Dale, why do you have so much grey hair?” This came totally out of nowhere and had everybody in stitches and is a great example of Mum’s influence on the trip and her ability to keep everyone in high spirits.

The other classic quote came earlier in the day when I imagine the temperature would’ve been zero degrees Celsius, it was overcast and dark and really no reason for anybody to be wearing sunglasses. Marika noticed Dale was wearing his glasses and asked “why are you wearing your glasses Dale?” “Just trying to keep my eyeballs warm” came the reply. It really was that cold!

My ears were ringing extra loud tonight from the constant headwind all day.

Swiss castles would have to be the most impressive yet, and there have been some pretty impressive ones along the journey to date.

We are staying high in the hills and it is beautiful.

Crohn’s Fact

With approximately 776 new cases of Crohn’s disease diagnosed in Australia every year, Crohn’s Disease is more prevalent that epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, road traffic accidents, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema and schizophrenia

Crohn’s Profile

Name: Kylie

Age: 34

Lives: Gold Coast, Australia

Age of Diagnosis: 27

My Story

7 years ago I packed my backpack bound for Europe for the trip of a lifetime. I lasted 1 month in London before symptoms started: excruciating abdominal pain, no energy, no appetite and I lost 12 kilos. I pushed myself to do some temp work to pay for visits to the doctor and support myself. I was alone, very sick and I had no idea what was happening to me. I was sent away from medical centres being told my symptoms were from the change of food and water in a new country. Four months later after many misdiagnosis I was told I had Crohn’s Disease.

After a year of fighting the disease and little improvement, doctors sent me home to Australia. I spent the next four years trying different medications but never really found relief. I came to a point where I wanted to see if my body could stand up to this disease on its own. 21 days off all medication I ended up in emergency in hospital. In and out of hospital over the next few months my body rejected all medications. I spent close to a year at home unable to work or leave the house.
That was 18 months ago now and since then Infliximab was placed on the PBS. I got approved for the treatment and visit the hospital every 8 weeks for my Infliximab infusion. I call it the drug that gave me my life back – I was able to go back to work and start living again.

This treatment is still only a band aid, I still take Immune suppressants everyday and I still suffer daily with pain in my joints. I have days where I can’t pick up a knife and fork to eat my dinner because of the arthritis in my hands. Despite the pain and lack of energy I still push myself to get through every day with a smile on my face. These are the cards I have been dealt, and I have spent 7 years perfecting my “I’m fine” poker face.

My message

I have spent 7 years keeping my disease a secret because I never wanted anyone to pity me or treat me differently. I realise I am not helping anyone by staying silent. In the past year during my treatments, I have met many serious sufferers of this disease and now I know the only way to help myself and my friends is to share my story and help raise awareness. We need your help, please dig deep and donate anything you can, read our stories, support the Crohn’s Crusaders, tell your friends and help us find a cure.

Stage 15: On The Road

Today’s images can be viewed here

Sponsor Profile:

Sponsor Name: Winners Sports Nutrition

Sponsor Level: Official Energy Bar

Sponsor Website: http://www.winnersbars.com/

Winners Sports Nutrition have provided the Crohn’s Crusaders team with over 350 energy bars to keep them going strong throughout their ride. Full product and nutritional details at www.winnersbars.com (Damian’s favourites are “Cadel’s Mountain Mix”)

I was moaning about no flat roads in France in one of my recent updates. Well, we finally found one! We had a flat track for most of the first 50km and also had a tailwind as well which helped us clock our fastest stage of the tour at over 25kph (which isn’t really that fast at all by normal standards but a pretty good effort over here).

A giant St Bernard sat in the middle of the road as we passed through a small town early this morning and didn’t move one centimetre for us to pass. He stared at us insolently as we went around him. I hope his owner is aware of the date that the tour goes through so he can lock him up out of harms way otherwise he could take out the entire peloton.

I noticed a couple on a bicycle tour who were checking out the signs on the back of our support cars at lunch time and guessed that they may have been Australians. I gave them the most Australian “Bonjour” I could muster and ended up chatting with them. They were a couple from Newcastle in Australia and were on a cycling tour. One of the bikes was a second-hand bike purchased for 40 euro. It was an old classic and worthy of much bragging if they can ride all the way around France on a 40 euro bike. (Thanks for the donation Wendy)

The weather hasn’t been terrible but it has just been very inconsistent. Hot, cold, sun no sun, rain, no rain, windy, still, cloudy, no cloud. This has made it hard to maintain our temperature and has been very uncomfortable and frustrating. We have found ourselves getting very hot and sweaty with our layers of clothing and then freezing when the weather changes which is a great risk to our health, especially when we have been getting very little sleep.

We had our second heavy rain of the tour today. Mother Nature hasn’t even fired a real shot at us yet but she is just playing with us and wearing us down (waiting for the knockout punch, I suspect).

The afternoon was quite undulating but we worked hard and maintained a decent speed.

I realise this is a very boring update so I won’t write any more. I ‘ll try to make it more interesting tomorrow.

Crohn’s Fact

Approximately 28,000 Australians are affected by Crohn’s Disease, with many medical specialists indicating an increasing incidence of the disease particularly among youth and many ethnic groups.

Crohn’s Profile

Today’s images can be viewed here

Sponsor Profile:

Sponsor Name: Salsa Internet

Sponsor Level: Official Web Development

Sponsor Website: www.salsainternet.com.au

Salsa internet was started by three Web Development professionals in 2003 who were sick of seeing companies overcharged for web solutions and often poorly serviced. Salsa Internet have developed their own philosophy and core values to ensure excellent value for money and the best customer service in the industry.

Salsa internet got the Crohn’s Crusaders project on the web back in 2007 and have provided ongoing technical support. Visit Salsa to find the right online solution for you - mild, medium or hot.