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Cyclist Chris Clothier reflects on his recent ride from Pisa to Nice as part of the One More City team, raising vital funds for our ground-breaking research into secondary breast cancer.
On 24 September 2025, 37 cyclists from 13 countries set off from Pisa in Italy, over a pass in the Alps, on a route that took them all the way to Nice in southern France. In four days, they covered close to 600km and faced gruelling climbs of 6,000m along the way. They rode with a shared goal: to improve the understanding of secondary breast cancer, and raise much needed funds for innovative research so that more people can live longer and better lives with the disease.
For many of the team members, including Chris Clothier, the challenge was deeply personal. For part of the ride, he wore a polka dot dress – the team’s light-hearted nod to the polka dot jersey that honours the best climber in cycling races. But that didn’t take away from the seriousness of his motivation.
Chris explains what was going through his head during the ride:
“I am above the snow line, even though it’s only September. 1,500m or so below me is the valley where I started my climb. I am on the Col de la Lombarde. In cycling jargon it’s an HC climb (hors catégorie) that takes you across the Alps from Italy to France.
“Ahead and behind me, strung out over the mountain, are my fellow cyclists all in various states of pain. I am suffering: the climb started an hour and a half ago, though we got on our bikes at dawn. I notice the air getting thinner, oxygen is the fuel I lack. Throughout the climb I have been alone with my thoughts with only lolloping marmots to cheer me up.
“Why am I doing this? That question gets more urgent as I get more tired.
“25 years ago, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am ashamed to say I didn’t take it remotely seriously enough. A 20-year-old can’t conceive his own death, much less his mum’s. And like many 20-year-olds I was far too self-obsessed to give enough thought to my mum.
Fast forward 20 years and my mum’s cancer comes back. This time Covid has the country in its grip. My mum is severely immunocompromised from the chemo. When I go to visit her, I sit in a chair in the entrance hall. She and my dad sit on the stairs. I bring my own cup of tea. I won’t hug her for a year.”
Image: The One More City team in Nice, France. Credit: Vincent Engel
“The challenge is never over”
This September’s ride was the eighth of its kind. The annual One More City event moves from city to city, each year starting from where the previous year’s ride finished.
The ethos of the campaign is that the journey is never over – there are always more miles to do, more climbs to conquer and more challenges to face. This is akin to the reality of anyone living with cancer, especially secondary cancer, for whom the challenge is never over. There are always more treatments to endure, more scans to face, more side effects to manage
Chris completed this year’s ride alongside Christine O'Connell, the One More City founder, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 at the age of 40. Six years after Christine’s treatment she was told the cancer had returned and spread to her brain. Following surgery and radiotherapy she was given the targeted treatment palbociclib, the clinical trials of which had been led by the ICR in the UK.
Christine set up One More City in 2017 when she and four friends cycled to Paris to raise money for breast cancer support services. The campaign evolved from there, and over the years, Christine and her fellow riders have raised over half a million for research into secondary breast cancer, partnering with The Institute of Cancer Research since 2020.
They have already funded a PhD student at Imperial College London, as well as two subsequent PhD students at the ICR.
The aim is to create and develop better understanding of how secondary breast cancer spreads and new treatment options for patients. Funds raised from this year's ride will support a Clinical Research Fellow who will join Professor Victoria Sanz-Moreno's lab at the ICR, to further push forward our research into advanced breast cancer.
Image: Christine O'Connell. Credit: Vincent Engel
“For Christine, and countless others, there is no summit”
Having completed this year’s ride in September, Chris is already training for next year. But he acknowledges the ongoing challenges faced by cancer patients – something he says motivated him to keep pushing forward as he was on his way to the summit:
“Several women who ride with us are currently in treatment or recently recovering from breast cancer. They tackle 100-mile days and long climbs with fortitude and good cheer.
“Our hope is that one day the journey ends, when a cure has been found or - more accurately - enough cures are found to stop this disease.
“I am almost at the top, I see the saddle between the mountains just ahead, and the wind gets stronger and colder as it funnels through the gap, my suffering peaking with the climb. But I know that in a few hundred metres it will end. For Christine, and other women on our ride, and countless others, there is no summit. Today I pedal with them, tomorrow they will be pedalling alone.”
To support Chris and the rest of the One More City team, visit One More City – JustGiving.
To register your interest in joining the One More City team in 2026, visit One More City Ride 2026