Three friends took a Barclays “Boris bike” on a trip from London to the top of a French mountain – and returned it with 22 seconds to spare before the 24-hours rental limit expires, reports The Telegraph.
Cycling up Mont Ventoux, a gruelling 6,273 ft peak in the French Alps, is a feat that has overwhelmed even professional cyclists, but that did not stop a British man from taking on the challenge on a heavy London cycle hire bike.
Matthew Winstone, along with friends Ian Laurie and Robert Holden, paid £2 to hire the bike for a day.
After collecting it from a docking station in Southwark, south London, at 3.58am on October 26, the trio then took it by van through the Eurotunnel to Mont Ventoux where Mr Holden, from Teddington, south west London, pedalled the three-speed 50lb bike to the top.
Mont Ventoux became infamous when cyclist Tommy Simpson died of exhaustion just short of the summit in 1967. Eddie Merckx needed oxygen after winning the climb in 1970 and this year Britain's Chris Froome took a famous stage victory there on his way to winning the Tour de France.
The group then managed to get the bike back to London by 3.57am the following day – just in time to avoid the £150 Transport for London fee for going over 24 hours.
Their efforts have so far raised more than £3,600 for Macmillan Cancer Support which was chosen because Mr Holden's father suffered from the disease.
Mr Winstone, who, like Mr Laurie, comes from Kingston, south west London, said the idea came as the three friends went for a cycle ride and decided to see how far they could get a Boris bike in 24 hours.
He said : “We thought : 'Let's get it somewhere that's a real cycling Mecca' – and it doesn't get much harder than the Ventoux for cycling.”
The group filmed the challenge and the YouTube video has since gone viral, helping to boost their fundraising drive.
Mr Holden, who completed the 14-mile climb to the summit at 6,273ft in two hours and 55 minutes, said : “The ride itself was ridiculously hard. My whole body was in pain but I managed to fight on to the summit.”
Read more of this PA report published by The Telegraph.