No, not a new Marvel character, but famous enough in some circles; John and I had a visit from Fergus Grant on the weekend for a ride, a nice chat and lunch under the platane trees.

If you’ve ever done a Haute Route event you’ll probably have seen (or at least heard) Fergus, who has held various positions in the organization, including his biggest role – The Lanterne Rouge. From 2013 to 2016 he was the guy you really didn’t want to see if you were on the road in Haute Route because if you did that meant you were in the cheap seats at the back of the peloton (a friend says Fergus is like his dentist: a lovely guy but…). The position was created to cheer on the troops in the back and if you’ve ever met Fergus, he was perfect in that role.

He’s now the ‘speaker’ at many events (also unsurprising) and head of Tour Operators who run tours in Haute Route events. That’s where we come in. Fergus came over for a great little ride in our neck of the woods and then we talked about how 44|5 would be doubling or tripling our client base for Haute Route Ventoux and beyond.

So…if you’re reading this and thinking about riding that event this year, do me a favor and sign up for our travel package. We don’t want Fergus on our bad side!