Day 10 - Rest day at Paris

Day 10 brings a well earned rest day for the team and as like before, people went off in little groups and did their own things.

Russell, Phil, Paul, Anthony, Gavin & Dave all went together and headed off walking into the city centre, where they managed to visit a few sites and do a spot of shopping. Here is Phil auditioning for the lead role in the remake of Some Mother's Do 'Ave Em!

They also went onto visit Pere Lechaise, which houses the grave stones of Jim Morrison & Oscar Wilde.

Luke & Katherine, Spike & Danielle, Simon & Tracey all went off separately to do sight-seeing. It transpires that they all pretty much went to the same places. So much so, that both Spike & Luke got frisked by the same man at the Eiffel Tower. They also each went for a French meal - however not sure a cheese & ham baguette can be classified as that. As Spike was still hungry, he topped it off by going to McDonalds - these lads are so cultured.

Rik and his wife Sue, went for a walk and got fleeced 22 euros for a coffee and Orange Juice. Sue then had to head back home, leaving Rik to map out tomorrow's route and clean his bike.

Myself & Kinga went to Montmarte, the location of Sacre Coeur. I have to say that the area is filthy and stinks of badly run park toilets! Such a shame they have let it get like that. However, excellent views of Paris from the top. This was followed by a trip to the Arc and browsing in the shops down the Champs d'elysee. We then headed back to the hotel and took advantage of happy hour in one of the local bars.

This evening saw the arrival of Dylan & Shelley who are cycling with the team from Paris back to Hatfield. They flew over on seperate easyjet flights and both of them were delayed by 60 & 90 minutes respectively. The drama did not end there for Shelley - at the airport the taxi driver advised her that the main motorway into Paris had closed so he refused to take her so she had no choice but to opt for a motorbike taxi, who ended up dropping her off at the wrong hotel meaning she had to walk 10 minutes down the road to the correct one!

Let's hope the rest of the trip is not as traumatic for her.

After chatting to some of the group, a lot of us cannot see what the big fuss about Paris is - the city is dirty, smelly, not very romantic and a total rip-off. Roll on Belgium.

Day 9 - La Chapelle St Mesmin to Paris

Planned Mileage: 77.12 miles
Actual Mileage: 93.86 miles
Temperature: 16.5C
Top Speed: 38.48 mph
Start Time: 08:00am
End Time: 16:32pm
Total Saddle Time: 8hr 32mins

It was going to be a very slow today for the ride into Paris, simply because of the sheer number of traffic lights we would have to go through, so everyone was very punctual and for the first time on this trip we started on time.

The weather was wet, with a few spots of rain the air so the team donned their wet weather clothing and set off for Paris. As mentioned yesterday, there was one additional member with the cyclists today - Michel Dormoy, who works in the Paris office joined the team to ride into Paris. The local knowledge would come in very handy indeed.

Getting out of the Orleans area to head to Paris proved tricky for the cyclists - it was difficult to do without having to go down some of the busy dual carriageway's and as a result they lost the lead vehicles for a while. We also had the first mechanical issue of the day - Anthony had his first puncture of the trip. This was closely followed by Rik also suffering the same fate.

The team then had to cycle down some long dual carriageway's, and the rain was getting very heavy and there were a few hailstones thrown in for good measure. As visibility was down to virtually zero, we had no choice but to direct them onto some safer, less busy roads.

This led us to a place that seemed very apt indeed:

They even had his age right! However, I do have to report that we have a very different Phil on our hands today and someone else has taken up the mantle.

As a result of this unplanned diversion, we had to navigate roads in the pouring rain, some of which resembled rivers due to the amount of surface water. One of the roads we wanted to go down was blocked off by a group of gypsies and their caravans, so yet another alternative had to be found. This led to a few wrong turns, which caused Rik to spit his dummy out and have a mini tantrum. Karma paid him a visit almost immediately and gave him yet another puncture!

 

A lunch break was required to allow the team to refuel and agree on the final few miles into Paris. Once the route was decided, I led them into the city centre. It is then, that the benefit of having someone with local knowledge really paid off. Michel took the lead and cycled the team around some of the sites of Paris including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triumphe and cycling up the Champs d'Elysee. Gavin and Anthony cycled two laps of the Arc de Triumphe roundabout and struggled to get off.

Unfortunately, due to the traffic and the team wanting photo stops at every opportunity, I was not able to follow them around. Instead I located the hotel and then went to the airport to pick up some of the riders partners who were coming out to join the lads on their rest day.

Once I got back from the airport, the team were sat in the bar enjoying a well deserved beer and thanking Michel for giving them an experience they will never forget. Michel - you are a star!

The team then got themselves ready to go for a meal nearby the hotel. Half of us went to a French restaurant, and the other half went to an Italian. Whilst in the french restaurant, now for those that know me please sit down, I ate a snail!! Cannot see what the fuss is all about - pointless things.

Also, a shout out to Doreen (Dave's Mum), who sent well wishes to the team and said she was thoroughly enjoying the blog. Well Doreen, I can report that your son is making the team laugh a lot and he has been learning some Polish words - I am sure he will pass them on.

Finally, Rik, myself, Luke & Spike found a local bar to relax with our partners and reflect on the day - we also learnt that Luke's better half, Katherine, had done all of his washing whilst back at the hotel as his Mum was not here to do it for him. You are a disgrace young man!

Day 8 - Chataureux to La Chapelle St Mesmin

Planned Mileage: 83.75 miles
Actual Mileage: 89.52 miles
Temperature: 21.5C
Top Speed: 32.7 mph (20mph average for the day)
Start Time: 08:07am
End Time: 13:42pm
Total Saddle Time: 5hr 35mins (4hr 32mins ride time)

The ride north continues to pose no problems for a bunch of riders who are getting stronger by the day. Yet again, the terrain and conditions were rider friendly and conducive to strong group riding - they worked well together and sped through the miles.

They completed 30 miles, without a break, by 9:40am and this section was incident free. The team then headed further North and during this stage Phil decided to go for a toilet break, as the team are now cycling as a unit, some of the riders slowed down to allow Phil to rejoin the group - this is great teamwork - except in the eyes of Phil! His toys well and truly got thrown out the pram for the second time on this trip, and when he caught up with them he was yelling at them to close the gap and not to have waited for him - plenty of expletives later, the rest of the group reacted furiously to this ungrateful behaviour with one throwing his water over him and others leaving him in no doubt that he was bang out of order.

As we reached the lunch break, a few more words were said and then it was agreed to leave it at that. Phil asked the group to leave him behind in future! All heat of the moment stuff I am sure.

We then approached Orleans and had some issues navigating around the French equivalent of Birmingham's Spaghetti junction, which led to them losing myself. I then caught them up at a crucial moment as we had our first mechanical failure of the day - Phil who was at the back of the group was the victim as his chain fell off for the 1000th time on this trip. This meant that he has to donate £10 to the charities as he bet everyone that it would not happen again! Karma came knocking once more.

As he put the chain back on, the rest of the group did as he previously instructed and carried on without him. Due to the number of traffic lights he was able to catch back up. The riders were then led down an underpass, which Phil refused to go down, and instead opted to take the route over the top. This led to him being left stranded with just Dan, the motorbike rider, left to direct him to the hotel.

In the meantime, the rest of the riders located the hotel, which happened to be right next door to the Computacenter Orleans office so a photo opportunity was called for.

The team now had some time to clean their bikes and rest up before we were joined by a colleague who works in the Paris office - Michel Dormoy cycled down from Paris and will be cycling back with the team tomorrow. Oh, and I nearly forgot, Phil finally turned up and was extremely cheery - we will take this version any day.

Shortly after finishing cleaning the bikes, the heavens opened and we had a huge electrical storm.

As I conclude writing this blog in the hotel, the rest of the team are huddled around a laptop screen watching the docu-film 'Cycling Legends' - tomorrow I expect them to go even faster now they have studied how the pros do it!

Day 7 - Limoges to Chataureux

Planned Mileage: 72.30 miles
Actual Mileage: 78.54 miles
Temperature: 24.5C
Top Speed: 43 mph
Start Time: 08:08am
End Time: 13:45pm
Total Saddle Time: 5hr 37mins

Today was the easiest cycling day on the schedule and the end of it would signify the half way stage. The route was a fairly straightforward fast up and down road all the way to Chataureux.

I have to report that the Campag equipment failed yet again - Phil's chain came off twice. Judging by how the voting is going he is likely to have to pay for the privilege. The only other issue of the day was that Russell needed a tyre change at the first stop.

The team then took advantage of the long straight fast roads all the way to Chataureux and clocked up the quickest time of the whole trip. At one stage, a group of riders had a 'chain gang' going with an average speed of 28mph.

The biggest drama of the day happened on arrival at the hotel, which was in the middle of town. Gavin used the escalator to get his bike and baggage up at the same time, only with his bike in front and his baggage behind he got stuck and dragged up the escalator. If it was not for the quick thinking of some of the team, he would of probably been dragged underneath!

The team arrived at the hotel just after lunch and some of us decided to go and explore the town. We managed to find a local bar, had a beer and then moved onto meet the other half of the group.

Whilst in the bar, the line of conversation was as follows: triples, compact, standard triple, double setup,  53-19, 50-34, 12-27, 11-28, integrated, BB30 - yes I agree, all boring rubbish.

The team then spoke about shaving - it turns out, only the MK guys have not shaved their legs. There are other areas that have been shaved too, but I will leave that to the imagination.

We were then recommended a place for dinner. Turned out to be a large tent!!!

As it was, what is known in the trade, as a slow news day I asked the group what was there best & worst experience of the trip so far:

• Anthony - Best: Coming down the Pyrenees mountains on Day 3. Worst: End of the same day - such a slog.
• Simon - Best: Descent from 7800ft in the Pyrenees. Worst: Pyrenees Ascent - could not breathe and ended up in the van after 2 minutes
• Russ - Best: Descent from 7800ft. Worst: The end of day 3
• Rik - Best: The climb to 7800ft in Andorra. Worst: End of day 3
• Dave - Best: Cycling on a Tour De France route and seeing the names of professional cyclists on the road - awe inspiring. Worst: The start of Day 3
• Luke - Best: Reaching the top of 7800ft. Worst: Day 6 was a huge struggle - the rest day did no good at all
• Spike - Best: Reaching the top of the Pyrenees. Worst: Luke's snoozing of the alarm every few minutes in the mornings
• Paul - Best: Ascent of the Pyrenees. Worst: Day 7 - total lack of energy but pulled through by the rest of the team
• Phil - Best: Descent from Andorra. Worst: Gravel Path roads


• Gavin - Best: Col De Port climb. Worst: Falling up the escalator! 

Col de Port



The man on the right is called Port D'Envalira

Day 6 - Labastide Murat to Limoges

Planned Mileage: 98.26 miles
Actual Mileage: 110.24 miles
Temperature: 26.5C
Top Speed: 41 mph
Start Time: 08:24am
End Time: 17:58pm
Total Saddle Time: 8hr 34mins

After a day's rest, the lads were looking forward to getting back in the saddle. However, judging by the time-keeping of some of the group, you would beg to differ. Today was going to be a long day, with a few hills thrown in for good measure so an early start was important - oh well!

Spike then went onto tell the group about his dalliance with an enormous spider which invaded his bed last night - he seems to have a way with the local insect community on this trip.

We set off from Labastide Murat and started with a descent and a small climb to get the muscles warmed up. Nothing much happened, until 18 miles in when Luke's chain fell off.
 

At the 40 mile mark, we were actually going over the same roads as used in the Tour de France in 2012, and they still had "Go Wiggo" painted on them. I then inadvertently took the group off-road cycling - the Sat Nav led us down a road that was more like a gravel dirt track, but once that was overcome, it was back onto smooth surfaces.

One of my roles on this trip is to lead the group and mark the route - this involves me driving ahead and stopping at places where we need to turn so I can show the cyclists the way. However, the support van passed my marker and sped off in the wrong direction, in trying to catch him up to turn him around, I inadvertently was driving on the wrong side of the road - 22 years of driving on the left is hard to get out of your system.

Shortly before lunch, there was a section of steep hills, which meant the riders had to work hard to get to the top.

After lunch, the hilly terrain did not get any better, which led Phil to go off on one at myself - as the riders are not allowed on the dual-carriageway motorways we had no choice - anyone would think I was to blame for the road system the way he carried on! If we had a swear box going on this trip, he would be spending an absolute fortune! So he proceeded to throw his toys out the pram, and sped off from the rest of the group which caused them to lose site of myself and temporarily get lost. The route we were going down was that of Richard the Lionheart - more like Phil the big pussycat!

As we neared Limoges, it seemed the hilly terrain had taken it's toll on some of the bikes - Russell  bust a spoke, and had to have a brief stint in the van to catch the group up and Phil's unreliable Campag equipment failed again. He then managed to fall off his bike and end up on his backside - maybe this was Karma for his earlier outburst.

Then came the most shocking incident of the day - Rik had to have a number 2 in a bush! Armed with only 2 sheets of toilet paper, he did the deed in the company of a rabbit - poor thing.

I started the day not feeling very well at all, after only getting 2hrs sleep - my roommate, Gethin, can snore for Wales. As the day wore on, I got worse and by the end of the day I had an extremely high temperature, aching muscles, headache and kept shivering so I went ahead of the group and tried to find the hotel. At the same time, I was running out of fuel, and every station marked on the Sat Nav had closed down. I did the last 5 miles on fumes before finally managing to fill up.

The group arrived at the hotel, after a long tiring day and enjoyed a well deserved drink, having managed 8148ft of climbing for the day.

A treat for the ladies - Part 2!!

Day 5 - Rest Day at Labastide Murat

Well, we could of had a better location for a rest day. Although nice, this hotel is in the middle of nowhere, in a village at the top of a hill which has 2 restaurants (1 doubles up as a bar), 2 hotels, 1 pharmacy, 3 patisseries and a mini-supermarket! So finding something to do for the day was challenging. As a result, a number of groups formed and they went onto do their own thing.

Mark, Spike, Luke, Rik & Phil decided to go into the local town, Cahors, some wanted to check out the bike shop, and some a local winery - I am sure you can easily guess who wanted what.

As we set off in the car, Spike soon became agitated - turns out he had a passenger on his body. Under his shirt was a "huge" wasp - he then flapped around like a big baby trying to get it off.

We arrived in Cahors and found the local bike shop - disappointed to say the least - you would of thought a country like France would have decent bike shops. Toys R Us put this one to shame! Shortly afterwards, we had lunch, and Spike had a huge bowl of mussels. This was then followed by a bit of culture - we went to a wine tasting place where we were educated about the wines of the region. Even Luke & Spike seemed to enjoy it.

Anthony went for a bike ride - headed 5 miles downhill and due to the heat decided that he did not fancy cycling back up much more hill so he turned around.

Dave waxed his legs. Gavin went back to sleep, woke up and did his washing. Paul went for an hours walk.

Simon and Gethin (one of the organisers), decided to go for a naked swim in the river. Turns out that they did not swim at all - but instead had a little paddle and a playful splash of each other!

Finally, Russell went with his Dad to a local historic fortified village called Cirq Lapopie.

Once everyone had returned from their activities, a few of us had a civilised game of Boules and somehow managing to upset one of the locals who was claiming we were playing it wrong (she was a little tipsy it has to be said).

The lads are now enjoying an evening meal and preparing themselves to get back in the saddle tomorrow, for our trip up to Limoges.

Observations from the Car

Having mentioned this to some of the team, they insisted I posted it up on the blog. When driving behind the cyclists, I have noticed that one person in particular seems to have different coloured cycling bottoms, which have a distorted font and a different sponsor. What should be NetApp, is Network Appliance - turns out Simon opted for the large kit when quite clearly he should of gone for XL, so Dylan if you are reading this - see if you can get him the right size and bring it over with you :-)

Day 4 - Toulouse Lavaur to Labastide Murat

Planned Mileage: 76.53 miles
Actual Mileage: 85.86 miles
Temperature: 27.5C
Top Speed: 40.92 mph
Start Time: 08:52am
End Time: 16:15pm
Total Saddle Time: 7hr 23mins

What a boring day! I hardly have anything to write :-)

After the last few days, today was a godsend. The strategy for the day was to follow my Sat Nav system and aim for about 80 miles. Everything was running smoothly - the first incident being that Phil's chain fell off after 16 miles, however with Dan the mechanic nearby, the group was not held up at all.

After leaving Lavaur, the group cycled through some nice countryside with steady climbs and descents - nothing like the first 3 days. At one stage, we had a 10% drop which judging by the sounds of the whoops from the riders - they enjoyed that one.

Shortly before the breakfast stop, Simon decided to bunnyhop a bush, only for his water bottle to fly off and landing 6ft into a thorny bush. Dan decided he would retrieve it for him as Simon did not want to spoil his "good looks".

33 miles into the route, and Phil's chain falls off yet again - the group gave him some stick about his Campag equipment!

In order to inject some excitement into the day, and for us to be able to have some content in this blog, at the next break I left my mobile on the back of the car - not realising this I set off only to realise a few miles later. It transpires that Phil had picked up the phone and after I went back to the point where I left it, and rung the phone, Phil answered and did an awful impersonation of a French person in order to fool me into thinking one of the locals had it. Fair play to them for picking the phone up, but they must try harder with their pranks!

Later into the journey, we experienced the usual satellite issues where it was trying to send us down a dirt track. This did not delay us too much and we were soon on our way again.

After the final stop, 17 miles from home, we hit a problem - the only bridge for miles around, over the river was closed to vehicles. Luckily, it was open to pedestrians so the cyclists walked their bikes over and carried on with the journey. The support vehicles had a 20 mile detour to rejoin the group. Had they not been allowed to cross the bridge, they would of encountered steep climbs and bad road surfaces. Myself and Dan (the bike riding mechanic), managed to catch the group back up with 6 miles to go.

We then entered Labastide Murat and the comforts of the hotel. Waiting for us was Russells Dad and a tray full of beers - a welcome sight indeed. Even the teetotal Dave could not resist, the trip has sent him off the wagon and he enjoyed his first beer for 7 weeks.

This brings an end to 4 hard days cycling and the group are rewarded with a day's rest tomorrow. For some, they are going out on a little cycle, others will be cleaning their bikes whilst a few of us are going to visit a local vineyard. A few beers will be drunk tonight and there is talk of a game of poker!

One final fact - the group have now climbed the equivalent of the height of Mount Everest!

Day 3 - Andorra to Toulouse Lavaur

Planned Mileage: 111.63 miles
Actual Mileage: 132.4 miles
Temperature: 28C
Top Speed: 50mph
Start Time: 08:22am
End Time: 20:10pm
Total Saddle Time: 11hr 48mins

Well that truly was a day of two halves! The morning session saw the group climb up to a total height of 7800ft, but what followed in the afternoon was totally forgettable and the team were not happy bunnies at all!

The day started a few minutes behind schedule - even the organisers were doing yesterday's washing up at 8:10am! In order to ensure we did not go 50yds down the road before someone had an issue - Phil kindly had a puncture simply by getting his bike out of the hotel garage. I guess that should of been a sign for what was to come.

The hotel where we were staying was at 4000ft, and then the team started what was probably the toughest climb of the trip so far. 3 minutes into the trip, Simon had had enough - he was complaining about a lack of oxygen and settled for a seat in the van, where he remained until the summit.

10 miles into the climb, the group had a dilemma - do we go through the tunnel which cut through the mountain, or do we go over the top. A vote was had, and the majority chose over the top. However, the front runners of the group sensed that some of the team really wanted to go through the tunnel, so they tried to do so, only for the authorities to turn them away due to no cyclists being allowed in the tunnel. The group then had no choice but to climb to the summit. Half way up and appearing to struggle, Russell also succumbed to the van, however, Dave insisted that he would get to the top on his own even if it 'F'in' killed him!!

After a total of 13.3 miles, the summit was reached. Time for a breather, before Anthony took on the challenge to descend as fast as he can and try and break the descent record for the trip so far. He then proceeded to descend a total of 1500ft in less than 5 minutes, topping a speed of just over 50mph.

<< Sequence of 5 excellent descent videos to go here once I have decent Wifi >>

At the bottom of the descent, was the border into France, where we grouped together, waiting for Paul to finally catch us up! A few miles later the group had a bacon buttie break, before cycling onto the next village for another little break. It was at this point, that Phil Hargreaves decided that everyone was ready to move on and so they sped off. What Phil failed to realise was that Spike was taking off some of his top layers and by the time he was ready the group had already gone some distance. This gap proved too much for Spike to claw back and as a result, he ended up going in the car.

53 miles into the journey, Gavin suffered a puncture - this allowed the group to take a toilet break!

59 miles in, the journey started to take a turn for the worse. Due to roadworks, we were diverted onto a dual carriageway heading into a town called Foix. Luke was leading the group, when all of sudden he was startled by flashing blue lights and sirens - it was the police, diverting the group off the dual carriageway. At this stage, he was bricking himself, however, it turns out the road was actually a motorway and the police just wanted the group to find a safer alternative. They apologised for the poor diversion signage and sent the group off in the right direction.

The Garmin technology, which we were following, did not cope very well with this and as a result, they were rendered useless for the rest of the journey. Instead, I had to use good old Nokia Maps on a Windows 8 device - Lumia 925 - (a little plug there) to find an alternative route in order to get the group home. It was 5:30pm and there was still 38 miles to go, tempers were getting frayed and people had just had enough.

Everyone re-grouped and set about the task in hand. What followed was a series of climbs and descents until,18 miles from home another road closure and diversion needed. We started to think we were never going to get back. Paul decided he had done enough, and opted for the car for the last stretch - after already cycling the days original scheduled mileage.

We finally managed to get to our destination before the final bit of daylight disappeared. The team were totally shattered and thoughts of the awesome morning climb and thrilling rapid descent were a distant memory!

In total, the team cycled a total 8281ft of elevation.