A bike ride with a difference
Wednesday June 16, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Land's End to John O'Groats has been done many times, but Verbier to John O'Groats hasn't. A couple of locals from PlanetSKI's home resort in Switzerland are preparing to set off.

Phil Field and Natt Moore are doing it the hard way.

Verbier to Dunkerque and then from Land's End to John O'Groats.

They will be pedalling over 2,500Km (1,500 miles) in 16 days. This is just under 100 miles a day or more because surely they must have a rest day.

"It all just started out as a conversation between Phil and myself. He mentioned that he wanted to do the end to end and I'd said that I'd done it when I was younger," said Natt. "I pointed out that I had the whole of July off and Phil said why don't we do it then and it kind of grew from there".

Practice makes perfectPhil and Natt's initial incentive was purely personal; to push their own boundaries in cycling, physically and mentally.

39-year old Natt is an ex -pro road cyclist and mountain bike rider and Phil, 27, only really started riding last summer.

"Phil's in amazing form and I'm getting there. My older bones need a few more miles in them but I've just hit 1,200k and feeling good. Can't wait for my new frame and even more exciting, my new saddle that's designed to be be kinder to the Biffin's Bridge."

Whilst Natt is in charge of the technicalities of their ride, Phil has designed the team strip from the Livestrong colours and the Verbier flag.

They make a great team and a pretty exciting adventure lies ahead of them.

The ride begins on 13th of July from Verbier and they will reach John O'Groats towards the end of the month.

They are raising money for Livestrong, Lance Armstrong's charity.

"Livestrong was the most obvious charity to go for because of the cycling connection, but I had a big scare back in 2004 when I actually thought I'd got testicular cancer so I understand some of the emotion behind the disease," adds Nat.

They have formed a team called Team Exiles and you can donate to the charity through its site http://www.teamexiles.com/.

We'll keep you posted how they get on.

Training hard