Sorry this has took a while but I have been recuperating in Menorca, great to have a break from everything and have time with Jemma and Jackie!
This is how the trip went.
13th June 2007 - Day 1: London to Calais
After a hearty breakfast it was out onto Blackheath Common at 6:30 for registration to get an early start of 7:15. Skyline, the organisers, collected our baggage, handed out the route plan and wished us bon voyage! All we had to do now was cycle for four days making sure we followed the orange pointers that were conveniently positioned at road turnings, all the way to Paris....easy!! (If you cycled more than two miles without seeing a marker you had gone wrong....who would be careless enough to do that!)
To keep check and make sure everyone was ok, there was a team that drove in front of the cyclists, one that was always at the rear and a maintenance van on hand if anyone required assistance.
The first stage of the journey took us from the common, past Dartford and to our first water stop at Harvell (22 miles). The first 15 miles was along busy roads but country lanes after that. Only one tough hill so far but it was starting to get hot.
Water stops and lunch were provided by Skyline. These were excellent every day, the choice of refreshments and food were top notch, the catering company definitely got a big thumbs up. As the ride progressed you realised how important these fuel breaks were, in fact at times, knowing that the stop was only a few miles away, was the only thing that kept me going!
After a few cereal bars, bananas and a hand full of jelly babies, off I set. After skirting Maidestone, cycling through some really picturesque Kent countryside and tackling a killer hill at 40 miles, I arrived at Doddington (47 miles) for lunch.
After re-fuelling of I set, in what was now, very hot weather. Through Newnham and then up to....whoops!....wrong already! Not on my own though but the other 20 or so riders who I caught up with as they were reading the map and scratching their heads decided to carry on off the map and find there own way! not me, no way could i keep up with them so i turned round and went back to the lunch stop point and started again....6 mile detour....not what i needed!
I now felt like I was cycling against the clock (ferry departure 6pm!). The rest of the journey was very hilly and tough going. On reaching 70 miles I really faded, this was the most miles i had completed in training so perhaps it was psychological! I eventually arrived at Dover (91 miles) after 7 hours 40 minutes on the saddle, the last 44 miles I only had one 5 minute stop because i was worried about missing the ferry....no panic....made it with 3/4 hour to spare!
The day did not end when we arrived in Calais, we still had a further six miles to cycle to the Holiday Inn hotel. This was done in a record time due to two gangs of youths throwing bottles at each other....lovely!....welcome to France! What a day that had been!! 97 miles - 7 hrs 40 min - Average 11.8 mph - Weather: Red hot!
14th June 2007 - Day 2: Calais to Abbeville
Luckily this was a later start, breakfast 7:30, cycling by 8:15. Legs were aching and dead and only just managed the hilly and hard first 23 miles to the water stop at Desvres. Felt awful and energyless but the 4 cereal bars, 3 bananas and 1000 jelly babies did the trick, the next 21 miles was the first time i actually enjoyed the cycling! Arrived near Campagne for lunch (44 miles) which was good again.
After lunch I really enjoyed the ride. The terrain was quite flat, which made it easier going, and found time to stop for a drink with Tinkerbell and a few other riders. This was more how i expected it to be, relaxing and leisurely, country side beautiful, THEN....the heavens opened and I got drowned in torrential rain. This lasted all the way to the Ibis hotel at Abbeville....oh well good why it lasted!
All the bikes were locked inside out of the rain, quite a few as you can see!72 miles - 6 hrs 23 min - Average 11.2 mph - Weather: Sunny and warm then torrential rain!
15th June 2007 - Day 3: Abbeville to Beauvais
Today, we were told was a leisurely day. Before the rain yesterday I did actually start to enjoy myself so looked forward to this one! After a mile I reached a milestone of completing 3000 miles on my new bike (not bad from August and with two month lay off through injury!)
I decided to make the most of the "leisurely" day and enjoy the scenery. This photo does not do the view justice but it was really lovely....for the first few miles!!
Even though I had got up feeling good and looking forward to the day, after 3 miles I managed to get lost again. How could I, all you had to do was follow the orange markers (see photo)!
Then the aching started in my legs and neck, managed to make it to Heaucourt, the water stop (20 miles) but it was painful and hard. After refreshments and rubbing in plenty of deep heat, it was time to carry on and try and reach the lunch point at Sarcus. The weather had everything, sun, cloud, rain and an extremely strong head wind (25mph +). After battling against the elements for 43 miles, I finally reached lunch, excellent....I had three plates full of rice! The re-fuel helped a lot, the deep heat had started working, I now felt reasonably comfy again. I felt good for the last 20 miles even though the head wind was constant. For the first time in the ride i actually rode alongside someone for a distance which was probably another reason why the spirits were lifted.
We eventually arrived at the Premierre Classe hotel (it was that bad we had to change to another hotel!) in Beauvais at 6 pm, even the pros thought that was a hard day....where did the leisurely day go!!!!
65 miles - 6 hrs 05 min - Average 10.8 mph - Weather: Everything especially wind!
16th June 2007 - Day 4: Beauvais to Paris
Final day at last! not before time! Now this was an easier day. We set off the slowest first (count me in that group) and made our way to Auvers for lunch (35 miles) which was next to the River Saine.
Everyone congregated and put on their London2Paris T shirt ready to cycle together into Paris, meeting point was a park a few miles away from the Eiffel Tower.
Things were getting exciting now, 120 riders all in the same colours, riding through the centre of Paris, bringing the traffic to a stand still. The final stages of the journey was finally here, up the Champs de Ellysees, past the Arc de Triomphe....
Turn left....and YES finally there after nearly 300 miles....THE EIFFEL TOWER!
120 very relieved and emotional fund raising cyclists!
What can I say after all that! To be honest, I did not particularly enjoy it. Even though I had trained hard, the days were too long and too tough to make it a pleasant experience. I never seemed to have any time to relax at the end of the day and during the day it was just a matter of trying to get through it....BUT....the crowd on the trip were brilliant (especially Alun for his support and nutrition advice and Vinny and Jay for the Paris night out and touristy bit on Sunday), the organisation was fantastic and the sense of achievement is really good.
Most of all though non of this would have happened if was not for the support that you have all given me and the John Eastwood Hospice over the previous months and together it looks like we will raise hopefully a sum of £4000....that makes it all worth while....THANK YOU ALL AND A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO JACKIE AND JEMMA, HOPEFULLY I WILL HAVE MORE TIME FOR YOU NOW!
Footnote: Fellow cyclist Marcus Carrozzo (below) raffled off a mountain bike to raise money for his chosen charity. His mates won the bike and offered Marcus the bike back so he could raise more money, on one condition (which he agreed during a boozy night out)....he had to ride his bike 100 miles through the Alps then cycle 11 miles and 4800ft up the famous Alpe d’Huez....wearing a tutu....and only two days after finishing the Paris challenge!
WHAT A CRAZY FOOL!! HOPE IT ALL WENT WELL MARCUS....WELL DONE!
