After riding the full routes of the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana and raising over £50,000 for Cure Leukaemia you'd thing that Hayden Groves might fancy a rest. Instead the top chef decided that he'd write a cook book filled with recipes inspired by his time riding through these culinary countries!
Hayden wrote Back in the Saddle after he'd completed the epic 3 Tours Challenge. The 3 Tours Challenge saw a team of riders consisting of himself, Geoff Thomas, former England and Crystal Palace footballer; James Maltin, wealth manager; and Doug McKinnon, a telecoms entrepreneur cycle over 10403km in just 63 days, completing each of the famous Grand Tours one day ahead of the professionals. To put the ride into context that's a feat that only 39 professional cyclists have ever completed!
Back in the Saddle features a whopping 63 recipes inspired by every stage of the team's route through Italy, France and Spain but luckily Hayden's cooking palmarès are as impressive as his cycling achievements – he was crowned National Chef of the Year in 2013 and received a prestigious Catey Award for chef of the year in 2015.
"These dishes are accessible to the home cook but deliver on a taste that would certainly grace any top restaurant menu," explains Hayden. "Some of these dishes were new to me, and with those I’ve had to research, practice and refine so that you can make them at home, but I can truthfully say each one has been selected no matter how simple to offer deliciousness."
The book is available from https://www.3tourschallenge.com and 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to Cure Leaukaemia.
You can read more about Hayden's epic rides in the next issue of Cycling Plus - on sale December 1.
Pictures: Dave Hayward and Adrian Franklin
