Today on the Balfe’s Bikes blog we welcome a special guest writer! Lumes has been a customer of our Streatham store for a long time, and is taking on the incredible challenge of riding the entire Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift route with our charity partner Cure Leukaemia!
Lumes will be sharing a series of blogs on her experience. Read the first instalment below!
This is the story of an attempt to be extraordinary. I learned how to ride a bike in 2020 and in July 2025 I’ll be riding all 9 stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift a day before the pros to raise vital funds for blood cancer patients.
Am I a pro endurance rider with years of experience in big bike distances? No. Do I enjoy flirting with the boundaries of self-inflicted human suffering? Also no. Here’s how I decided to do it anyway – perhaps it’ll help you decide to do the thing you think might be too big for you too.
It all started with an aimless social media scroll trying to scratch that restless itch only a well-structured meme can temporarily distract us from. The itch that day was being fuelled by grief from mourning the sudden loss of a beautiful soul that I’ve been lucky enough to call a friend to another horrific form of cancer, plus an ever-present persistent sense that I could be doing more. Creating more, growing more, moving more. Our brains love to highlight our sense of lack before leaving us hanging on the details.
“You too can ride the Tour de France Femmes!” slid into view and something in my brain shifted. The absurdity of contemplating a challenge this big with an FTP in the low 100s made me laugh out loud. It was the equivalent of going from lovely leisurely walks around your neighbourhood to deciding to climb Mt Everest. And yet, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind this was the thing even if I did not see how it would come to be.
I’ve been asked repeatedly by well-meaning loved ones and curious strangers what on earth I was thinking when I signed up for something so out of my depth. My ability to be certain about the choices I make has taken years to build and cultivate and you can do it too in a much shorter space of time.
These are some of the questions (and answers) that form the basis of every big decision I make today:
Who do I want to be and how will this decision contribute to that vision?
For me, I want to be someone who backs herself and her potential unwaveringly. It might take a lifetime but it’s the commitment I’ve made to myself.
What am I willing to regret?
I weighed up regretting signing up vs regretting not signing up and my soul found the latter way more stressful. Regret isn’t a static state. It’s a normal human emotion and comes for us all at some point so if we’re likely going to feel it anyway then why not be intentional about what we’re open to feeling it for.
What will success look like for me if I say yes?
Success in this case for me will be giving it a go, no matter how many times I have to stop or walk or struggle.
How do I want to feel in the future about the choice I made?
I’m choosing to feel proud and grateful now and in the future regardless of the outcome of this challenge attempt.
This might all sound like a vast oversimplification but one of the most magical facts about the human experience is we all have way more agency than we give ourselves credit for. We don’t have to be at the mercy of the whims of the moment. We can choose on purpose who we want to be, how we want to feel, and what that means about how we get to show up. That is why I said yes to riding every stage of the Tour de France Femmes to raise crucial funds for Cure Leukaemia despite the considerable overwhelm from the size of the task at hand.
Every 14 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a form of blood cancer. This endeavour is a journey I’m incredibly privileged and honoured to be able to attempt so if you have some spare coins, please consider donating to our cause.
