A Day In The Life Of Chris Page

Chris Page is the owner of jelly London and Three Blind Mice, and he's also a firefly. No, not a small glowing insect, but one of the brave souls who's just completed a punishing bike ride over the Alps from Geneva to Cannes Lions, all in the name of charity.

The FireFlies are committed to raising money for Bloodwise, a leading UK charity which funds research into the treatment of leukaemia and cancers of the blood. Inspired by the courage it takes to fight cancer, the riders tackle the gruelling climbs of the Tour de France.

Having rolled into Cannes yesterday after pedalling over 1,000kms and 18 mountains in just seven days, Page shares the highs and lows of life of a day on the long and winding road.

06:30: Alarm time. As usual I’m awake already, there’s something about the bizarre combination of altitude, over-tiredness and the huge vats of sugar we consume that makes every night a fitful experience. That and Dave (my roommate’s) constant volcanic farting. Today we have woken up in Val d'Isère, the end of yesterday’s ride.

07.00: Luggage packed (re-stuffed really) and dragged down to reception to be chucked onto the van and driven to tonight’s ‘rest’ stop.

07.10: Breakfast. Not much talking… yet. Everyone is still half asleep and there’s not much time for chit-chat. We are all too busy cramming as much food into our bodies as is humanly possible in a short space of time, our bodies need around 7,000 calories a day on tour, so food becomes an obsession very quickly. The hotel waiting staff look slightly shell-shocked as they refill the buffet for the third time… any food not being consumed immediately is being stuffed into pockets.

07.45: Roll out. Riders are split into smaller more manageable groups that roll out at different times. We have now reached ‘Peak-Faff’, everyone is fiddling with their kit and equipment and stressing about what they will need with them during that day. Layers go on – layers come off.

08.00: Col d’Iseran. One of the joys of the FireFlies is getting to meet the other riders and to learn about them. The valley up from Val d'Isère is stunning in the early morning sunlight and I get chatting to Bruce, one of the US riders… turns out he produced most of the albums I bought in the 90’s. I fall a little bit in love with Bruce.

10.00: Summit. We reach the top of our first climb of the day: Food. Wrap up warm. Prepare to go down the other side. As we descend in the freezing cold we are bemused to spot a man in yellow swimming trunks ascending (his only other clothes being only a flimsy gilet), respect is given.

12.30: Lunch. Today is a long day so we eat by the road, the crew have laid on a picnic for us so we pull up in a picnic spot and gorge on ham, cheese, tomatoes and more bread than should be possible to fit in a person.

14.00: Back on the road, progress is halted by a pro bike race that is on the same route as us. We do our best to pretend that they we look just like them.

15:00: Col du Telegraphe. A huge climb but still a very pretty ride up through the trees.

16.00: Col du Galibier. I’ve done this tour many times but this is always ‘the Daddy’. People cry. People sob. It is so cold that it is snowing heavily at the top – in June… The last 5 km is a ridiculous ramp to a peak that is hidden in foggy frozen cloud.

18.00: Col du Galibier. The best thing to do is to get off the summit as soon as possible… The sweat that you have earned on the way up starts to freeze as soon as you stop, so you have to get off it fast. The weather is deteriorating and snow is falling hard now…

18.00: Freezing. Proper freezing. And wet. We pull into a café halfway down the mountain in an attempt get warm. The ladies who run the place take one look at us and emerge from behind the counter with large white fluffy dressing gowns to wrap us in and we down hot chocolate in a frantic attempt to warm up… Some tears are shed… Those ladies have saved us from hypothermia.

19.00: We descend the rest of the mountain to the hotel in La Grave. Conditions are still awful so we proceed gingerly and help the slower riders down as best as we can. Bikes are gratefully stashed away in the hotel garage and we stumble to showers, baths and laptops. Check in with all the other riders and it seems everyone got through the day unscathed, which is always a plus!

21.00: Dinner in a local restaurant. War stories from the day are swapped and those of us who drink do so – food is consumed at a frightening rate. After dinner the riders take turns to stand and divulge the reasons that they are here to everyone else on the Tour. There are some incredibly moving speeches as people reveal their stories of friends and family members who are suffering or who have passed because of Cancer. It is a touching reminder of why we are all here… with four days of riding still to come, it’s important motivation.

11.00: Bed. More tomorrow.