It's the final countdown

Tonight I've been putting the final touches to the route we'll be following on our trusty GPS. I was getting excited just plotting the route in to Paris! We'll be taking in the home of Van Gogh along the way, up the same road that will take us around the Arc d'Triumph, down the Champs-Élysées around Place de la Concorde and then along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. This will round off the roughly 300 miles we will have cycled in some style.

I have a few nerves, mostly due to the fact that Tom is relying on my entirely to guide us through France and ensuring that all the hotels and travel have been booked. However nerves are turning to excitement as Friday draws near.

I went for a little spin with the "Logicalis Roadies" tonight, just to keep the legs warm! Used Strava's Fly-By feature for the first time and it's quite fun...

If you click here you can see that in full-screen. On the first lap, I was just trying to keep up with Dan. On the 2nd lap I got stuck in traffic along the A4, but you'll see me chasing down Allan and Andy, then overtake and attempt to chase down Dan. Andy goes with me and we fight it out back to the finish.

Also tested out the GoPro and handlebar mount on tonight's ride - the results were good enough although slightly jerky. Hopefully YouTube can smooth that out! I'll show off some of the highlights, although I'm sure that's mostly only interesting the Logicalis Roadie group! :)

I hope we get some followers to the blog to cheer us along like we had in 2009. I'd really welcome your questions and comments along the way. We'll do our best to answer as we go!

But even if that's not the case, I'm looking forward to be heading on a cycling adventure with my mate.

Allez!