Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 76, November 2015 | Page 57

“It was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I’ve ever
done on a bike.”

Grant is now a Laureus
Sport for Good Foundation
ambassador. Photograph
by TrimaXhebdo.

So says former Springbok cyclist Grant Lottering,
who started what he calls the 2015 Im’possible Tour
at 17:30 in the afternoon of Monday 3 August.
“We actually started earlier than originally planned
because rain was expected the next day,” he told
Modern Cyclist shortly after his return from Europe.
“My goal was to average 20 kilometres per hour
which meant it would take 21 hours.”
Grant’s amazing story actually began on 21 July
2013 while he rode the 140-kilometre Leggendaria
Charly Gaul in Trento, Italy as preparation for that
year’s world championships. He crashed into a rock
embankment after entering a wet corner at over
60 kilometres per hour. His heart stopped beating
and he was unconscious when the medical team
arrived on the scene and fought for his life.
After he was airlifted to hospital, doctors continued
to work on him, not only bringing him back to life
but starting the healing process that continues to
this day. Doctors naturally told him he would never
ride a bicycle again in his life.
While lying in hospital, Grant vowed that he would
not only ride a bike again, but that he’d return and
ride the same race the very next year. He rode his
first Im’possible Tour in July 2014, which included
finishing the Leggendaria Charly Gaul and riding
the even longer 174-kilometre La
Marmotte, titling the tour:
“From Death to the Top of
the Alps in One Year”. This
first tour raised over R150
000 for the Laureus
Sport for Good
Foundation.
After completing
that, Grant
started
thinking up
ways in
which he
could

improve on that performance.
“I was told that I’d never get back on my bike.
But I wanted to live my life without limits. I wanted
to see how far I could push myself, so the second
Im’possible Tour became ‘Taking a Second Chance
of Life to the Limit and Beyond’ so that’s what I set
out to do this year,” Grant commented.
He reached the highest point of the ride, the Col
du L’iseran (2770 metres) at 01:00 in the morning of
Tuesday 4 August after climbing continuously from
St Maurice, a distance of around 50 kilometres. At
this point, Grant wasn’t only “on target” but was an
hour and a half ahead of schedule!
“So we had to stop at the top of L’iseran and put on
winter clothing and lights on the bike and t ]