Eighteen amateur cyclists on the Tour 21 team completed the entire Tour de France route across Spain and France between Saturday, June 24, and Sunday, July 16, a week before the professionals biked the 110th edition of the race. Among the Tour 21 participants was Gary Bohn of Sedona, who surpassed his fundraising goal to raise approximately $47,000 for Cure Leukaemia, a British nonprofit that funds leukaemia research.

“2,300 miles of riding,” Bohn said of his adventure. “We rode about 100 miles more than the pros because some days we would ride from the finish line to the hotel because it was easier than a bus and some mornings we would ride from the hotel to the start line.”

The Tour 21 has raised nearly $1.3 million so far and will continue to take donations until the end of the year in support of a new clinical trial for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

“All funds raised by The Tour 21 team will be invested in the national trials acceleration programme, which has been solely funded by Cure Leukaemia since January 2020,” the Tour 21 organizers explain on its website. “The TAP network is a network of specialist research nurses at 15 blood cancer centres located in the UK’s biggest cities. This network enables accelerated setup and delivery of potentially life-saving blood cancer clinical trials to run, giving patients from a UK catchment area of over 20 million people access to treatments not currently available through standard care.”

In an interview withNBC Sports at the onset of the ride, Bohn rated his nerves as an eight on a scale of 10 due to this year’s tour being the most mountainous in decades.

The opening day of the ride in Bilbao, Spain started with 10,000 feet of elevation gain. The team tackled five mountain ranges during the tour, including the Pyrenees, Massif Central, Jura, Alps and Vosges.

Between the ups and downs of the road and the unexpected emotional experiences of the trip, Bohn described the journey as compressing an entire life into the course of one month.

“This is, without a doubt, one of the most grueling sporting challenges in the world [on] behalf of Cure Leukaemia. I am just immensely proud of every single one of them.” Cure Leukaemia Chief Executive James McLaughlin said in a press release. “What they have done is put their bodies on the line to raise funds for Cure Leukaemia, and for that, we will be forever grateful.”

The biggest challenge in endurance sports is overcoming a perception that a task is not possible. There were also obstacles along the course that the riders had no way of anticipating.

“One morning in the middle of the ride, the team got a text from one of the employees from Cure Leukaemia and their 11- year-old son passed away from leukemia that night before,” Bohn said. “That was sobering because he was just reminding us why we were all there and put away your agendas and egos.” Bohn also reflected on the importance of not dwelling on the future during the ride.

“Even Jesus said, ‘Tomorrow will take care of itself, today has enough trouble of its own,’” Bohn said. “My faith is super-important and I got an opportunity with several people to share that in a loving way, I felt, so that was exciting. I always pray for those opportunities. A lot of people said they have a spiritual or a religious experience [during the ride]. I’m pretty grounded in my faith, so I can’t say that.”

Currently, Bohn has no plans for more cross-country cycling trips, commenting that he has already asked his wife Janet to sacrifice enough of their time during the last year of training.

However, he will continue to be a fixture on Sedona’s mountain biking trails, since those trails are what first brought him to the area after he retired.

“The scenery is so beautiful,” Janet Bohn said. “We were watching the Tour de France after reminiscing. ‘Do you remember when you went through that town, and that lake?’ It was fun for him to relive the stages while we were watching the tour.”

The highlight for Gary Bohn came 20 kilometers from the end of the ride when he was able to ride ahead of his group for 35 seconds to snap a photo with his family, who were there to cheer him on. Immediately afterward, intense rain and hail set in.

“Those are memorable moments you’ll never forget,” Bohn said.

To contribute to Bohn’s fundraiser, visit. “Gary Bohn” on GoFundMe.com.