With the bottom back to "comfortable" and the legs well on the way to recovery it's amazing just how quickly the unpleasantness has started to fade. Getting home, reading the blog and finding out that I raised my target of £1000 has really given me a sense of accomplishment that I think was lost of the day of completion. In fact the charity aspect had all but receeded into the memory banks. I'm sure with every passing day and week the achievement and dare I say the desire to do something similar again will grow.
To all those people who thought the incessant moaning about how hard it was and how sore and tired we all were was a bit much I can assure you it really was horrible. And with nothing else to focus on for hours at a time it was pretty much the only topic of conversation.
It was a very odd experience because it was at the lowest points that I felt the most enthusiastic about the trip. I guess it was the tough stuff that made it an adventure and a challenge and therefore worthwhile. I'm glad I've done it and nearly 48 hours after completing it I would consider doing something similar.
Finally a big thanks to Adam, Neal, Richard, all those that sponsored us and took an interest.
The final thanks is to Zoe who's been supportive of the whole endeavour. Allowing me time to train, making sure she came over to Paris to see us in and not getting tired of my moaning about how hard it was.
Thank you all and I'll see you all again next year! (Maybe)
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
On the train home - NEAL
Adam asked what I would do differently next time. The answer was quick to come. I'd be the one waving them off!!!
We have had some lengthy dicussions about what enjoyment can be attained from this sort of endeavour. On any scale of cost\benefit analysis, 11 hours of deeply painful riding on the first day compared with the 5 minutes of elation (actually more relief I feel) at reaching dover, firmly falls the side of not enjoyable.
I have joined the ranks of those people who have looked deep within their souls and learnt something about themselves.
I have learnt that I can cycle 273 hilly miles in 4 days.
I have learnt that when I think I can't go on, I can.
I have learnt that I can climb multiple double chevron hills.
I have learnt that I can do all this with a rucksack on my back.
But most of all I have learnt that I don't like doing it!!! I'd rather sit and watch football!!!
Au revoir mon amie (I never liked french at school either)
NEAL
On the Eurostar
Walking to the Gare de Nord this morning was interesting. It feels (and I'm sure LOOKS) like I'm walking like Herman Munster!
Both Neal and I woke before our alarms this morning. Paris was deserted as we walked to the station. We walked past the most delicious smelling bakery, yes you read that right - PAST it! We even passed up the Sex Shop offering "zapping". Not only could we not even IMAGINE what that would consist of, but we presumed it would either hurt or delight...or possibly both.
I'm really looking forward now to seeing my lovely family and most especially seeing Hannah my lovely wife.
Thinking back over the trip, the experience has been quite surreal. My brain has already begun the process of deleting the more unpleasant memories to make space for unrealistic nostalgic moments!
Things I would do different next time:
Pack EVEN lighter
Consider paniers
Take the D roads earlier or bring a proper GPS
Consider finding a different way to reach Dover that avoids all of Kent's hills
Learn more French
Invite a sports massuse along
A lot of the above could quite easily be replaced or struck off the list if we could have sorted a support driver. I would have liked to have been able to film more of the experience. Poor old Rich, who brought his camera along did a lot of the filming. As you may have picked up, we really only filmed or took pictures and blogged when we had the time to do so, which is a shame.
This train ride, as Neal pointed out to me earlier is making a mockery of our efforts. It's going to be stopping Calais in no time at all!!
I've asked Neal and Spencer and I'd ask Rich too once we're all home, to write more of what they remember of this tour. We hope to put up the video on YouTube for you all to see. I'll put the photos up on Flikr and once all the written accounts are complete I'll try to assemble them into chronological order.
It'd be quite nice if you had some specific questions about our trip or experience that you wanted to ask, if you could email them to me and I'll put up a Q&A post to finish this blog.
Finally from me, I wanted to thank all of you who sponsored me. Before I left, I believe I'd crossed the £1000 mark, which I'm really pleased with, so thanks for that everyone.
Adam
Monday, 25 May 2009
The end is not quite nigh
Here I am sat in the final restaurant in Paris about to fall asleep. Today, as has already been mentioned was a scorcher. Luckily the cycling gods finally decided to give us a break and it seemed that most of the journey was actually downhill, which created a nice breeze. The downside of that was that going up any hill caused a dead calm, which was difficult to breathe in, as the air was hot.
Riding in Paris was chaos. Everyman for himself, which is okay if everyone understands this concept. We were all darting in and out of the traffic in the style of dispatch riders. Arc de triumph was a great experience. People warned me that they would not like to drive a car around it, let alone cycle around it!
Despite phoning Sarah at 3.30 to say we'd arrived, it wasn't until 7.30 that Adam and I got into our hotel room.
As the subject indicates we will still have to get on our bikes tomorrow morning to ride from St Pancras to Paddington. Does this riding ever end??
In respect to my physical state, I'm hoping not to have to use my legs for the next 3 months. This is definately the last bit of excercise I do for the rest of this year!
The only chaffing I got was from walking back from the train station to the hotel - oh the irony! My "nappy pants" are clearly designed for 270+ miles of cycling but not 30 minutes of walking.
I am also glad not to have to wear, for the fifth consecutive day, my set of unwashed cycling gear. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of fluid that I have lost through those clothes.
Viva las tour!!!
NEAL
Paris
We're finally here! Neal and I have dropped our bikes with some dodgy looking chaps in some outbuilding at the Gare de Nord. Neal bought his ticket and we walked, nay stumbled home.
Paris is VERY hot. As we approached the Arc de Triomphe it was 34 degrees and humid, not great cycling weather!
Today was a really good day's cycling. Apart from the temperature, we made really good progress and maintained a very good average speed of about 14.5 mph despite a couple of big hills.
I took some of the advice from the pro yesterday and kept a high cadence (fast pedalling), which really helped me, especially up the hills.
It was some quite slow going after Van Gogh's home due to an increasing density of traffic lights. As we got into the Paris suburbs, the maps Spen had brought really lacked sufficient detail to get us where we needed to go, so ended up relying on the GPS which was VERY helpful. The downside to that was the battery died on the phone (which we use to update the blog) when we got to the Arc de Triomphe. Which unfortunately meant that I couldn't update you all on the mini-adventure that has been what's happened since the Arc de Triomphe...
So to fill you in on how things went after I sent the victory post. We went for a victory lap around the Arc and to be honest it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it might be. Neal correctly described it as real-life Frogger. It was a total rush, and combined with the amazing feeling of riding to Paris (which is still sinking in) I was feeling very very good.
We decided to stop for some more pictures at the Arc but were promptly moved along by an overly officious police woman telling us we had to move the bikes! After some 300 miles we couldn't believe it, but none of us could be bothered to argue! We all needed water and were planning on meeting Zoe and Kirsty at the Eifel tower after a late change in plans by Spencer before we left.
We stopped off at some expensive food hall and were massively ripped off for the water. At this point Zoe had spoken to Spencer to tell us the hotel we were booked in at had no hot water and the A/C had packed up, the result of which meant they had moved us to a different hotel. Because of THAT they were now running behind and would't be at the Eifel tower for a while.
At this point Spen suggested we cycle down the Champs Ellyses, which to be honest was the last thing I wanted to do. I just needed some shade and water and then get to the hotel.
Eventually after the cobbled streets of the Champs Ellyses, which in the sun and with a blue sky looked stunning and a quick detour around the Place de la Concorde we headed to the Tower. We found Zoe and Peterson, Kirsty and Archie, and celebrated our arrival in Paris by spraying some (cheap) Champagne over the place - Formula 1 style.
We all made our way to the hotel which is in the Opera district I believe. Once we'd found the hotel Spencer started having some discussions with the hotel after there was some concern expressed by the girls about the rooms. He also wanted to sort out where his and Rich's bikes were going to go as they're staying until Wednesday.
That I think brings you up to date. Neal are sat at a restaurant at the moment waiting for our food after which we're crashing out ready for our very early start tomorrow which will take us home!
Once home, I don't anticipate full movement to return to my legs for a week! I'm really really tired, but already thinking about doing another!!
Han, just want to let you know how much I love you and miss you. Thanks for all of your support in helping me get this far.
Will, Josie and Rufus - I'm looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!
Ads
Paris is VERY hot. As we approached the Arc de Triomphe it was 34 degrees and humid, not great cycling weather!
Today was a really good day's cycling. Apart from the temperature, we made really good progress and maintained a very good average speed of about 14.5 mph despite a couple of big hills.
I took some of the advice from the pro yesterday and kept a high cadence (fast pedalling), which really helped me, especially up the hills.
It was some quite slow going after Van Gogh's home due to an increasing density of traffic lights. As we got into the Paris suburbs, the maps Spen had brought really lacked sufficient detail to get us where we needed to go, so ended up relying on the GPS which was VERY helpful. The downside to that was the battery died on the phone (which we use to update the blog) when we got to the Arc de Triomphe. Which unfortunately meant that I couldn't update you all on the mini-adventure that has been what's happened since the Arc de Triomphe...
So to fill you in on how things went after I sent the victory post. We went for a victory lap around the Arc and to be honest it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it might be. Neal correctly described it as real-life Frogger. It was a total rush, and combined with the amazing feeling of riding to Paris (which is still sinking in) I was feeling very very good.
We decided to stop for some more pictures at the Arc but were promptly moved along by an overly officious police woman telling us we had to move the bikes! After some 300 miles we couldn't believe it, but none of us could be bothered to argue! We all needed water and were planning on meeting Zoe and Kirsty at the Eifel tower after a late change in plans by Spencer before we left.
We stopped off at some expensive food hall and were massively ripped off for the water. At this point Zoe had spoken to Spencer to tell us the hotel we were booked in at had no hot water and the A/C had packed up, the result of which meant they had moved us to a different hotel. Because of THAT they were now running behind and would't be at the Eifel tower for a while.
At this point Spen suggested we cycle down the Champs Ellyses, which to be honest was the last thing I wanted to do. I just needed some shade and water and then get to the hotel.
Eventually after the cobbled streets of the Champs Ellyses, which in the sun and with a blue sky looked stunning and a quick detour around the Place de la Concorde we headed to the Tower. We found Zoe and Peterson, Kirsty and Archie, and celebrated our arrival in Paris by spraying some (cheap) Champagne over the place - Formula 1 style.
We all made our way to the hotel which is in the Opera district I believe. Once we'd found the hotel Spencer started having some discussions with the hotel after there was some concern expressed by the girls about the rooms. He also wanted to sort out where his and Rich's bikes were going to go as they're staying until Wednesday.
That I think brings you up to date. Neal are sat at a restaurant at the moment waiting for our food after which we're crashing out ready for our very early start tomorrow which will take us home!
Once home, I don't anticipate full movement to return to my legs for a week! I'm really really tired, but already thinking about doing another!!
Han, just want to let you know how much I love you and miss you. Thanks for all of your support in helping me get this far.
Will, Josie and Rufus - I'm looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!
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Pims o'clock
We're making great progress today, we're currently in Auvers-sur-Oise (home of Van Gogh). We've stopped outside a "Shoppi" to get water and some delicious Pims.
We just crossed paths with some guys doing Paris to London!
Systems Check
Feet: OK
Ankles :OK
Calves: SORE, TIGHT, Left calf sunburnt
Knees: OK but dodgy knee played up yesterday
Quads: ACHE, TIGHT and SORE also Burnt
Glutes: ACHE but OK
Back muscles: OK
Belly: Still plump! Where are all the calories being expended from?
Shoulders: TIGHT
Arms: TIRED, Cramping and right inner elbow burned.
Ankles :OK
Calves: SORE, TIGHT, Left calf sunburnt
Knees: OK but dodgy knee played up yesterday
Quads: ACHE, TIGHT and SORE also Burnt
Glutes: ACHE but OK
Back muscles: OK
Belly: Still plump! Where are all the calories being expended from?
Shoulders: TIGHT
Arms: TIRED, Cramping and right inner elbow burned.
Well you get the picture! I'm feeling pretty rough this morning 50 miles seems quite a ways away, but I'm optimistic. We made such good time yesterday, getting here while it was light.
Retribution from my quads
My quads are close to failing me this morning. I woke up soaked in sweat last night. Could be the thought of another 50 miles today. All my dreams consisted of telling people why I couldn't walk and that was the reason I was in a wheel chair!!!
My beard is going great guns.
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Finally having a french meal
Well here we all are having completed our third days riding sat in an open air restaurant in Beauvais having a proper french meal. I am having some sort of pancake for starters, steak tartare and creme brulee.
At the hotel we spent quite some time speaking to a 75 year old who was an ex professional cyclist. He really liked to talk ,but he was fascinating. He pointed out in the nicest possible way all the mistakes we have made. Firstly he said that we should have only done 97 miles on the first day if we were club riders. He also said that wearing a rucksack was a bad idea and that we should never do that. So much kudos to me for managing what I have done, despite a professionals reservations. Hardcore.
Hopefully tomorrow will be over as quickly as possible.
So close and yet...
For anyone who happens to be checking the blog at this precise moment may be wondering why exactly I'm not just powering through after all it looks as though we're so close (as indeed we are) but it's so hot and there is (hopefully only) one more long climb. I needed to stop, catch my breath in the shade for a bit and wait for Spencer and Neal to catch up....which they have now done so I best crack on.
Allez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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