Israel Start-Up Nation rider climbs Montreal ascent 100 times in 14 hours
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Piccoli racing earlier in the year(Image credit: Con Chronis)
Piccoli descending on his charity ride(Image credit: Charles Ouimet @refinedmoment)
Piccoli chose a nice day for it(Image credit: Charles Ouimet @refinedmoment)
James Piccoli raised more than $15,000 for COVID-19 frontline workers after climbing Mont Royal 100 times for a total of 330km in Montreal on Saturday. The Israel Start-Up Nation rider will use the funds raised to help buy protective gear for workers combating the pandemic.
"Thank you to everyone who donated, cheered, showed up or rode with me ... but more importantly thank you to all of our healthcare workers," Piccoli said on his Strava page.
The supplies needed include masks, disinfectant and hand sanitizer for organisations with the most need such as residential and long-term care centres, hospitals, and non-profits such as homeless shelters in Montreal.
Piccoli partnered with 'Groupe Laudie' and created a GoFundMe page with an initial target of raising of raising $6,000.
He took on the challenge of climbing Camilien Houde Avenue, which is the main road that leads to the summit of Mont Royal, as many times as possible in 12 hours. The number of hours ridden represented the 12+ hour shifts that the frontline workers have been working during the pandemic.
Piccoli started riding at 4:30am (EDT) on Saturday and finished his campaign at roughly 9pm EDT. He posted the ride on Strava which showed a total riding time of 14:40 hours, 330km, 165km and 12,000m of total climbing, an average of 240 watts and 12,000 calories burned.
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