January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.

Jones opts for cycling tour rather than Tahiti


By James [email protected] | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Knapton Hill is the toughest climb amateur cyclist Nick Jones has ever attempted.

Yet the World Cup anchorman will jump out of the television hot-seat and straight into the Tour de France next week to take on some of the toughest peaks in the world.

Nick and his wife Jayne will take part in six-stages of the most gruelling race on the planet as part of a group of cycling tourists, riding ahead of the main race.

They're taking the trip instead of a three-week cruise to Tahiti, which had been the original plan, to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.

"I'll have to get the credit card out, when we get to Paris," joked Nick, a familiar face to viewers through his World Cup show.

And he admitted hosting ZBM's coverage of the tournament had interrupted his training schedule.

"I was training seven days a week at the gym and had been doing some hill work on the road but a lot of that went out the window during the World Cup," he said.

The couple will be among a group of cyclists with tour operator Euro Cycler. They'll take on roughly half the distance of the main riders each day.

The group leaves four hours before the race and is finished in time to watch with the throngs of supporters as the pros come through.

Close to a million cycling fans will be on the route as they ride one of the most famous stages of the tour through Alpe de Huez.

A graph at the couple's Tone Zone gym, where daily spinning classes are being put through a scaled down version of the tour, shows the difference between Knapton Hill and the Col de la Madeleine, the towering 6,000 feet peak along their route.

It's something akin to comparing the size of Bermuda to the U.S.

"I was going to take my wife to Tahiti but we have swapped that for the toughest mountains in the world. "It is something I've always wanted to do. We've been on the waiting list for three years so we had to do it. Simple as that."

Jayne, who is racing for the SPCA, said: "I agreed to it because I didn't think he would get us in.

"But Mr. Jones being Mr. Jones, he managed to sneak us in there and it was bye-bye Bora-Bora.

"He's definitely going to have to make it up on the 10th anniversary."

It won't all be hard work for the couple though who will do the final stages of the tour in relative luxury.

They'll be staying in smart hotels along the route and will be well looked after by the tour operator.

They'll also have a prime viewing spot along the Champs Elysee as the riders race home to the finish line at the Arc De Triomphe in Paris.[[In-content Ad]]

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