NEIL TACKLING THE TOUR DE FRANCE FOR A GREAT CAUSE!
IF you listen carefully, at the shed to the rear of the Berry house in Ferndale Park, you’ll hear the whirring of furious pedalling. Take a look inside and you’ll find Neil Berry in the saddle, drenched in sweat as he pedals and pedals over hours and hours. The reason is, despite not being able to leave his shed, Neil is actually cycling the infamous Tour De France route, and he’s doing it all for a great cause.
A massive cycling enthusiast, Neil has set up a turbo roller/resistance trainer in the shed, allowing him to cycle while stationary. He has the whole route planned out just like the legendary cycling event and can increase and decrease the resistance to mimic the mountain/sprint stages etc. A mammoth undertaking, Neil is nearing the midway point of 21 race days, with just two rest days in between, covering a whopping 3,400km... all from his shed!
While he loves the challenge, Neil also has an extra incentive for completing this goal. He’s doing it to raise funds for a great cause - Wexford Special Olympics Club. It’s a cause that’s incredibly close to his heart. His cousin is a member and his mother, aunt and cousin are all volunteers. In pre- Covid times, Neil himself would even have donned the apron to help out with the yearly cake sale, but sadly that’s not possible this year.
With the club down on funds, the Ferndale Park man decided to do what he could to help them out and so started his Tour De France journey.
Speaking on day 7 of 21 and his first major climbing stage of the virtual Tour, Neil said: ‘It was six hours of pain and a stage that I really wasn’t looking forward to with climbing being
NEIL IS NEARING THE MIDWAY POINT OF 21 RACE DAYS, WITH JUST TWO REST DAYS IN BETWEEN, COVERING A WHOPPING 3,400KM... ALL FROM HIS SHED!
a bit of a weak spot. It has an 8km finish at 8% kicking up to 13%. You can see in the videos I’ve posted the suffering and my legs were on fire. It was a constant fight not to quit. I’m glad this one is down. The way I cope and get through it is by listening to classical music. That’s what I do when I do yoga, so it helps me pace my breathing. It’s all part of the sport I love and I have that extra bit of motivation thrown in with the great cause I’m doing it all for.’
People are asked to give whatever they can to support Neil’s mammoth efforts, via his GoFundMe page by searching for ‘Neil’s Tour de France 2021’. You can also follow his progress on Facebook where he’ll post daily updates at www.facebook.com/NeilBerry.