{"id":611557,"date":"2026-05-30T05:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611557\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T05:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:39:16","slug":"my-friends-think-im-completely-mad-84-year-old-scales-alpe-dhuez-for-charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611557\/","title":{"rendered":"‘My friends think I’m completely mad’ \u2013 84-year-old scales Alpe d’Huez for charity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late last year, Anne Jones went to see a doctor regarding a bout of Lyme disease that had struck her down. He told her to stay active, keep exercising, and, if she felt up to it, head outside on her bike. \u201cI said I wanted to go up a mountain,\u201d she recalls. \u201cHe just laughed and said, \u2018Yeah, if you think so\u2026\u2019 There was not a question of, \u2018You\u2019re too old for that sort of thing\u2019, which I get quite a lot at my age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones is 84 years old. In the last two years, she has climbed three of the Tour de France<\/a>\u2019s most gruelling climbs: Mont Ventoux<\/a>, the Col du Tourmalet<\/a>, and her latest feat, Alpe d\u2019Huez<\/a>, which she scaled on Wednesday. The 14km ascent took her three and a half hours, during which time she stopped regularly to catch her breath and admire the mini waterfalls pouring down the rocks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a wonderful day. It couldn\u2019t have been better,\u201d Jones tells Cycling Weekly, still \u201cwalking on air\u201d the morning after, having woken up in a chalet at the foot of the climb. \u201cI\u2019d almost say I\u2019d do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A regular feature in the Tour route, Alpe d\u2019Huez is famous for its 21 hairpins that snake up to 1,850m altitude. The climb\u2019s average gradient is over 8%, but the first 2km are the toughest, tilting in excess of 11% at points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI so wanted not to let people down, not to give up at the first bend,\u201d Jones says. \u201cEveryone said the first bit is the hardest, which was quite good in a way, because when you get to the end of the Col du Tourmalet, the end is so difficult. To have the worst bit at the beginning is a bit of a relief, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hardest section over, Jones quickly found her rhythm. She rode alongside friends from Amos Trust<\/a>, the human rights organisation for which she has set out to raise \u00a321,000 \u2013 a thousand for each bend on the mountain. She has so far raised \u00a316,000 of her target, with funds destined to support children affected by the war in Gaza. \u201cIt\u2019s a very dire time for them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, Jones was also joined on her Alpe d\u2019Huez ride by para-cyclists Alaa al-Dali and Mohammed Asfour, two members of the Gaza Sunbirds<\/a> who had to evacuate their homes in Palestine amid Israeli airstrikes. \u201cTo be riding alongside them was wonderful, overwhelming really,\u201d Jones says. \u201cWhat an honour.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jones has now raised more than \u00a356,000 for Gaza across her three mountain rides.<\/p>\n

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\"84-year-old\n<\/p>\n

Asfour, Jones and al-Dali at the summit of Alpe d’Huez. <\/p>\n

(Image credit: Amos Trust)<\/p>\n

Based in London, Jones trained for her Alpe d\u2019Huez challenge by doing reps of Box Hill<\/a> (4.3km at 4%) in Surrey, a climb she describes as \u201crelatively easy \u2013 but the hills around it are quite tough, so I practised there, learning how to adjust gears and push myself to the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was introduced to cycling by her father when she was a child, and rediscovered her love for the sport again in her fifties, when she began taking part in charity rides. She has since ridden from London to Paris 10 times. \u201cHaving done it once, I couldn\u2019t stop,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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What do her family and friends think about her riding up mountains in her mid-eighties? \u201cMy son is 100% behind me,\u201d Jones says. \u201cMy daughter\u2019s totally supportive in a very caring way: \u2018Be careful, watch the heat, eat enough, rest enough, drink enough.\u2019 Most of my friends are supportive but they think I\u2019m completely mad.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then some people look at me and think, \u2018What\u2019s she doing at her age? Who does she think she is?\u2019 It\u2019s a whole spectrum. Old age is something you don\u2019t have to just succumb to. I really feel quite strongly about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get old and a bit achey, don\u2019t give up. Keep hopeful. Hope is what really matters, more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"84-year-old\n<\/p>\n

The 84-year-old isn’t letting her age hold her back. <\/p>\n

(Image credit: Amos Trust)<\/p>\n

Having now conquered three of France’s most famous climbs, Jones has no concrete plans for her next mountain challenge. She’d like to do an annual peace ride in support of Gaza. She’s also been asked to join a fundraising trek in Morocco next spring.<\/p>\n

\u201c[For now] I shall just go home, find ways of raising money, paint my pictures, water my garden, think nice thoughts, and see all my friends and family,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had quite an isolated existence these past few months, just concentrating on getting this training done. I’ve been thinking, \u2018I\u2019ve got to really do this and not be a complete fraud.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The photo of Jones at the summit, flanked by Asfour and al-Dali, is proof she is far from it.<\/p>\n

Donations to Anne Jones\u2019s Alpe d’Huez Gaza fundraiser can be made via her JustGiving page<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Late last year, Anne Jones went to see a doctor regarding a bout of Lyme disease that had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-611557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}