Dear all,As some of you may already know, I have not always been a cyclist. I took on cycling a bit by chance in 2019 when I decided to take part in a fundraising challenge organized through work to link our London office to our Paris office. Back then, it was the most challenging endeavor I had ever undertaken, not only the cycle itself but the training leading up to it. I got stuck in, found a cycling club/family in the RCC, started racing, and successfully completed the challenge.Fast forward 4 years and I have fallen in love with this sport. Cycling taught me a great deal about myself, and given me so much through the adventures it took me on and the amazing friendships I have forged on the bike. For 2023 I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and do something one can only dream of: le Tour de France. As a kid, I used to watch le Tour with my grandpa during the summer holidays, me until I got bored, him until it lulled him to sleep. No matter how fleeting this memory is, it is a connection to my grandpa I have felt more and more as I have been cycling.Now, I know that my chances of doing the real one are getting slimmer and slimmer as the years tick by, so that is why I will be doing my own. I will cycle the 2023 Tour de France route in June, all 21 stages and the transfers between them, all the way from Bilbao to Paris. The pros will cover the route&#x27;s distance, 3,404 kms, in 21 stages with 2 rest days, so 23 days total. Because I will be cycling the transfers as well, I will have to cover 5,005 kms and 72,500 meters of elevation. My aim is to do it over 28 days, which equates to roughly 1,250 kms / week. I have been training throughout the fall, winter, and spring with this goal in mind. I recently did a high-volume week where I covered 950 kms which sets me up well for June. I have one last month to close the gap to the required 1,250 kms / week, and hopefully, I will be able to sustain it for 4 weeks. I don&#x27;t even know if it is possible if I am entirely honest with myself, but this wouldn&#x27;t be called a challenge if I knew the outcome already. One thing that is certain though, is that I will be needing all the support I can get from my colleagues, friends, and family if I want to stand a chance to complete it.This is the perfect segway for me to ask you to extend your support and generosity to The Bike Project &amp; The Felix Project, the 2 charities I have chosen to raise funds for in this adventure.The Bike Project takes secondhand bikes, gives them some love and ensures they&#x27;re in perfect working condition before donating them to refugees and people seeking asylum in London and Birmingham. We can all agree the UK is an expensive place to live, even more so when you&#x27;re trying to navigate the complex asylum process and with few resources. The great people at The Bike Project believe that no-one should have to choose between eating a square meal and catching the bus to go to your next appointment/interview. This is why they give bikes to refugees and people seeking asylum: to enable them to travel/commute more freely and at a lower cost so that they can access food banks, legal advice, healthcare, education, and interviews much more easily. If they’re lucky enough to receive official refugee status, a bike can help refugees find employment. The Bike Project has been supporting refugees for a decade, donating more than 11,000 bikes, teaching 670 women how to cycle, building a network of 287 bike buddies, and saving over 10 million pounds on transport costs, along the way. To put it in concrete terms for you, £25 could fund a cycle safety kit (helmet, high-vis vest, bike lock and lights), £40 could pay for a cycling lesson for a refugee woman in The Bike Project&#x27;s Pedal Power programme, £75 could provide a refurbished bike for a child refugee, and £150 could provide a refurbished bike for a refugee adult. So if we reach £2.500 to be donated to The Bike Project, this could be 8 adults bikes, 8 kids bikes, 15 cycle safety kits (1 per adult/child), and 10 cycling lessons, which would be amazing!The mission of the Felix Project is simple - to take surplus food from their suppliers and deliver it to any charity that helps feed people. It&#x27;s all nutritious and would otherwise go to waste. Not only that, but it helps fight food poverty and reduces costs for hardworking organizations. In numbers, every day over 3,500 meals are cooked, 2,877 kg surplus food is rescued, and over 100 kg of rice is cooked. Meals are delivered to almost 1,000 organizations across London&#x27;s 32 boroughs and the City of London, reaching families and children, the homeless, the elderly, domestic abuse survivors, refugees, people on low incomes, people struggling with mental health and addiction, and more. In the current economic situation, with the cost of living crisis, now more than ever, The Felix Project needs all the help they can get. £10 equates to 29 meals, if we raise £2,500, that&#x27;s 7,250 meals, which would really help make a difference!My company, Morgan Stanley, will match up to £500 of the money raised for The Bike Project and will match all donations, pound for pound, for The Felix Project as it is Morgan Stanley London&#x27;s charity partner of the year. Which means that if we reach the fundraising goal, £5,000, £3,000 GBP will go to The Bike Project, and £5,000 GBP will go to The Felix Project, so please donate generously!Thank you for reading and engaging!NB: The first to donate £1,000 or more will get my jersey signed, and framed, to go with your collection.The Bike Project - https://thebikeproject.co.uk/The Felix Project - https://thefelixproject.org/

British Pound

Alex's very own Tour de France, raising funds for The Bike Project & The Felix Project

Anyone with a link can now view this page.

Alexandre Proy

Alexandre's Bio

Alexandre's Fundraising

Alex's very own Tour de France, raising funds for The Bike Project & The Felix Project