I took my bike to SWITZERLAND & didn't expect THIS! 😮✨

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Greetings to another video. Greetings to another video series and greetings to another country. I am so excited. I am giddy. I am just so grateful just to be here because I'm in Lausanne, in Switzerland, ready for tomorrow's Grand Depart for the Women's Tour de France Femme Avec Zwift. They are starting their race from here tomorrow. And so I thought, you know what, while I'm here supporting the pros, I'm gonna go out and ride the first stage just to see what it's like, see what it's all about and get about 140 kilometers of Switzerland in my little leggies. So yeah, because the rest of the trip there's gonna be lots of riding, there's gonna be lots of racing, there's gonna be lots of adventures, there's gonna be lots of people that you know. So here we go. Honestly, I am so, so happy. It's gonna be hot. So let's go before it gets even hotter. Ready? Jesus Christ, look at that hill. Okay, straight off, this is a steep, steep hill. God, look at the state of that. Look on the left. Oh, I should look on the right as well. Tour de France Femme Avec Zwift Grand Depart. Either I'm already too hot, I'm tired, or getting out of Lausanne is like, it is solid. It feels like just very steep, urban streets. Kind of like, I mean, look at that. Feels like I'm putting San Francisco or something. Might not look on camera, but that is steep. Just come past the van that are putting all the road signs out for tomorrow, for the race. Another little climb. This is meant to be classed as a flat course, but over 136K is about 1,600 metres. To the average person like me and you, that is not particularly flat. Zwift made Coke. Just stopped off, just fell over a twig as well. Just stopped off in this beautiful little village to get a drink, a banana. And the route is, it's just kind of very pretty, very, I mean, it's going to be so fast with the pros tomorrow. And just rolling, and there's a massive lake. You can't really see it. I'm hoping, look on the map. I want to get a little bit closer so I can actually see it, but it's so nice. First impressions, I have been to Switzerland before, but first impressions this visit. Everyone's just so helpful, even at the airport. First off, I was unpacking my bike, like building it up. I rode out of the airport, I mean, to the train station. Anyway, this guy just came over who worked there and was like, oh, if you just take your box outside, someone will collect it. Just leave it on, like, just outside the doors. I was like, that's so nice. And everyone here is just so friendly. People are just very, very nice and helpful. So, got about 100, I think I've done about 50K. But yeah, it's very pretty. The temperature's really nice as well. It's not too hot. But yeah, so far, very, very, very nice. Look at these bottles I've got, how fancy is that? They will not be that clean at the end of the trip. This is my favourite bit. I love, love coming through little towns and villages. But it is Switzerland and it is very spenny. Look how nice all the coloured buildings are up there. I've just had the loveliest moment. I was just coming through this little, beautiful little village and there's a sports shop and there's two guys outside jumping up and down, like cheering me, waving me. Oh, I just think it's so cute. I love it. Makes me feel like a pro and I'm absolutely not a pro. But it's nice, just the support is lovely. And then I was just thinking, isn't that what the whole thing is about? Just supporting each other, being nice, cheering each other on. I mean, that is like cycling in general. Look at me, I don't know why. It doesn't make me so smiley. So this group, Cure Leukemia, are raising money for charity and riding each stage the day before the pros. Amazing job. You just actually let me zip my jersey. Right, so I'm just riding along, along the Rue. I spot this peloton in the distance, these beautiful jerseys. I get closer and then I get even closer, I'm on the back. And then I'll get to the back rider and then I run into, dun, dun, dun. So this is Holly. So we basically used to race together on Zwift. That's how we met, right? So we're on a Zwift racing team and we're just riding. I was just like, what are you doing here? I recognise that voice. I was like, I recognise that. We used to do everything, like Discord, chatting. Holly used to do all the warm-ups for us. Incredible rider, racer, honestly. And then, so in fact, don't just tell the, I'll let Holly introduce and explain. I'm just so excited. Tell us what you're actually doing. Is that okay? Right, I'm gone, one sec. Riding for Cure Leukemia. The women here are riding one day ahead of the professional race. They're riding every single kilometre that the pros do. Just 24 hours in front of them. Plus a bit extra, because we've got to get to and from hotels. And they're raising money for Cure Leukemia. Unfortunately, a few of them have got personal stories, which is why they're here. But they've already raised over £250,000. The sponsorship's still going, so if you're able to give, please do. I will leave a link. Yeah, that would be amazing if you can, because it's just absolutely incredible. It's so brilliant to ride with just a group of women for a common cause. They're riding as a team. They've just met each other. It's just an incredible thing to be a part of. How many women are together? There's 19 who are on the team, and then four ride captains. Holly's one of the ride captains. Honestly, it's such a lovely bunch. It's really inclusive. Everyone's so friendly. I was like, I'll come and sit and have dinner, but I'm not going to take any of the food. They're like, you have to come and have food. Have a drink, help yourself. I was like, no, no, no. And they're like, we insist. So thank you. Honestly, people are so nice, inclusive, and friendly, and kind, and doing an amazing, incredible thing for the charity. I'm going to leave a link if you want to donate. I'm going to be riding back with them. So how long have we got? We've got about 70k? Yeah, it's good. 70k? Okay, right. I'll see you on the road. What was going to be a solo ride has turned into the most wonderful day with all these lovely women. And then we're getting water as well. Yeah. No, it's all right. No, you get it at your back. Yeah, look. Hello. Hi. Hello. No, Michelle. I don't really want to turn. I think I've been with you on the show. Have you? What about Grand Canaria? This is Fatima. I'm from Bahrain. I am the first Arab ever to cycle the Tour de France FEMS. Cycling is not really something that is quite famous in Bahrain among females. So I'm trying to, and hope, I'm taking this and hope to pave the way for the younger generation to kind of take part in cycling and be more active and, you know, pursue a healthier lifestyle. We are definitely there. We just need more. The girls need more encouragement. They need a role model to look up to. And I hope- And this is where you come in. I hope, I'm hoping by doing this, I can just tell them, hey, if I can do it, I think you can do it as well, you know? It's definitely not easy being covered, you know, arms covered, legs covered, but, you know, we can always find excuses, but we have to battle through and, you know, find our why and, you know, find a bigger reason and bigger purpose to keep pedaling and keep going forward. Yeah. And so I was asking you, like, how were you training for the, because it doesn't, it isn't meant to be a flat route today. It is. And it's hilly. So just for those that doesn't know, Bahrain is pancake flat. There isn't any climbing in it at all. It's an island surrounded by water on four corners. So a lot of my training happened indoors on the Zwift. I did a lot of hilly routes and whatnot. And then I'm married to an Irish guy. So we've been in Ireland for the past month or so. And I was able to do a lot of steep, nasty hills up and down. And I think, I think that's quite gave me the strength and the legs to kind of. But you were saying before, how many kilometers have you ridden this year? So since the start of January, just short of 7,000 kilometers, most of that was done indoors. On Zwift? On Zwift. A four hour, five hours, honest to God, yeah. It's mentally. Thank you so much. And you were saying that your daughter, and that was part of the reason you want to do it. I have a five and a half year old. So after giving birth, I fell into a pretty bad postpartum depression. That's when I actually picked up cycling and alongside therapy, cycling was one of the reasons I kind of pulled out of it. So just putting something forward for the community, I thought, you know what? I can do this for other sick children. So it was kind of my why to sign up for this challenge. Are we taking a selfie? We're taking a selfie. So this is Anna. I know Anna through... Simon Warren. So we just chatted about it. You're a good friend of Simon Warren. I didn't arrive with him. I was like, I know he spoke of you on that ride. I'm like, this is mad. This is so cool. All right, let's take a picture. Let's take a picture. I thought we'd stop for the view, but a little chain off. Straight back on. Look at the view. Hey guys, look at that view. Anna, look at the view. While we're here, I mean, look at this. That was a well-timed... A tactical change. You were doing one kilometre an hour. Yeah, ready to roll. Look at that view. You were doing it? No. You were doing like 30 something kilometres an hour. Fatima, you were incredible on the descent. Just for the record, this Fatima is descending. You can cut that out later. Pros are not doing this route tomorrow. We are making a tiny little detour. We all went in. Obviously, I'm not going to film everyone else. But look at this. Okay, and this is just the perfect end to a ride. I just can't. It's unreal. This is something, honestly, from what started out of me just riding. I mean, I would have been happy. You know I would have been. Riding the route on my own, but meeting all those women, riding with them, and just coming and doing it, honestly, I can't. And then I was speaking to Juliette, who was one of the ride leaders. She said, but this is what it's all about. So I was just saying to her, thanks for letting me tag along. And she just went, no, this is what it's all about, right? Like women encouraging, supporting other women, including other women, and just being a lovely big team together. And it just made me so happy, and so grateful and thankful, and just, like, this is what the tour does. It's just a great way of bringing, look at these lads at the front. I'm gonna go away. I can't concentrate. I'm trying to be all, like, sincere and earnest. And what are they doing? They're just having fun. But this is what the tour does. It brings women together to support each other, and just, don't worry, fantastic. Cool, cool, cool. Right, I'm gonna chill out here for a bit. Hi! Those little lads, that's why, because they want it to be on camera, and they're like, hello, madame. So cute. Yeah? Ciao! Good morning, good morning. Welcome to day two of the first part of this Tour de France to No Exit video series. So today is stage one of the race. We've got about maybe half an hour before the race starts. We've got all the team cars, got riders warming up, and we're gonna take you around a little bit of the behind the scenes. I'll watch the fan. I love this hat. And it is so hot, I need it. We've got kit drying. We've got ice baths in there. We've got the washers on already. And we've got all the Garmin Tacx turbos in there. This is what gets me with this race. One, it's an incredible race. Way more exciting. Not that we have to compare, but in, this is the fifth edition, four years we've had four different winners. And the other thing is, just with cycling in general, you would never be able to get this close in any other sport. We are so lucky and privileged to be able to get this close to our pros in this. I'm so excited. Right, let's go down to the actual start line. Look at the paintwork on these. Always interested to see the setups of what the pros have got. But yeah, they're all Garmin Edge 850s. Also, look at that paint job. I think this is the year of the prettiest paint jobs of all the bikes we've ever seen. Look at these. The Queen is marrying God. I'm sorry, the sun is so bright. So yeah, you have to put up with this. But how good was that? For the first stage of this year's Tour de France Olympics, with unreal first stage. Sorry, I didn't really film that much just because I was all over the place chatting to different people and get the camera out. But this is not over. This is just the first part of it. So the next video is gonna be very, very, very exciting because I'm gonna head cycling down all the way to Mont Blanc too. So that's gonna be a very fun, exciting few days on the bike, riding down to one of the most iconic climbs in the world. So thank you so much for watching. Watch them. That's my final message. So I will see you all next video. All right, goodbye. Goodbye.