There's a black and pink moon on the rise

The performance roadwear specialists of the cycling world, Rapha, have launched their second challenge of the last six or seven months to riders. The initial test was to ride 500km in a December week between Christmas and New Year's Eve 2010 to keep the winter blues and kilos away. Now, in honour of the categorised hills and mountains of the 2011 Tour de France, Rapha Rising asks us mere mortals to climb like the grimpeurs of the WorldTour peloton and ascend 21,125 metres during La Grande Boucle. Progress is to be posted on the internet and linked to from Rapha's facebook page, and there're some tasty prizes from their product range for the best documented attempt.

My main problem is living on the flatlands of Cheshire - maybe I'll manage 2,000 metres of vertical riding in July.

Rapha Rising