Its all over now

Well its all done. And a great adventure it was too. It’s difficult to express the enjoyment of riding a bike for four days through unknown lanes to those who don’t do it. I lost count of the number of times someone would ride up to me and comment on how much fun they were having. Just riding a bike.
Day 1, through Kent was the hardest, lots of relatively short, sharp hills. Each day was structured by an early start (7:00am mostly), drinks stop a couple of hours in, (a long) lunch, afternoon water stop and a sprint finish (for me). Day 1 I took relatively easy. Rode with Peaches and Mad Mackem out of London, then rode on with Mackem to the drinks stop (whilst Peaches proceeded to get lost, but picked up a new friend – big up Rich).
I started to notice a looseness in my headset (the bit that holds the handlebars on) and after the lunch stop (we seemed to arrive for lunch an hour early every day, making for a long break) it got noticeably worse. The support guys had a look and managed to stiffen it, but advised finding a bike shop in Calais to have it replaced.
So after an uneventful, ferry crossing, getting to know new friends and a good night’s sleep, I sprinted off the front of the bunch on day 2 to find the bike shop in Andres 20km south of Calais. My own personal time trial (20km 38 minutes) brought me to the shop 20 minutes before it opened. By the time it did the bunch had caught me and Peaches, Mackerel (thanks to predictive text), Rich and Brian kindly waited with me whilst the bearings were replaced (for €10!). The bike shop was a dream with a chance to savour lots of stuff made from carbon, French jerseys and general bike porn.
It was a happy rouleur that pedalled away from there. Nothing much else on day 2 except a sprint to the finish in Arras, which is a lovely town.

Day 3 brought another early start, more fabulous roads and jaw dropping countryside and very high pace enjoyed by our new gruppetto enhanced by the Macmillan twins (Andy and Mark) and the Shropshire lads, Ben and Nick. At one point 6 of us in line hit 56kph (~35mph) on the flat! Followed by a race downhill to a town (who’s name escapes me). By the time we stopped at traffic lights we were all grinning, chattering excitedly and generally pumped on adrenaline. Definitely the highlight of the tour. On day 3 we passed many war graves, stopping at a coupe for quiet contemplation. These men died for us to be able to do things like this. I have no words to describe their sacrifice.
Day 4 was bitty. We only covered 105km, but an early start meant there was no need to rush so we had leisurely breaks and even a café stop en route to Paris. A huge downpour engulfed us on the Parisien outskirts but couldn’t damped spirits despite Rich puncturing (and me ignoring him, having misunderstood his hand gestures). We gathered in Parc Monceau with a couple of miles to go. Sure enough our group was first in and 90 minutes waiting for the rest to catch up only resulted in me finding I had a puncture. So I held up the whole group whilst it was fixed,
Arrival at the Eiffel tower was emotional. Beth was there to meet me and we both shed a quiet tear in deference to Tom and the reason we were there.
Peaches, Beth, Leanne and myself took 24 hours to celebrate in Paris.
Nearly £2500 raised.

Lots of pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11586362@N04/sets/72157620481336478/

Job done. Thanks to everyone who helped.

gabba gabba hey!

last minute hitches. It seems Peaches' tyre problem is systemic and the Schwalbe ultremo is prone to catastrophic failure. Schwalbe customer service suggested we both remove our tyres and replace them at their expense, which is indicative of how serious they think it is. Now, I've hit 76kph plus on those tyres, I dread to think what might have happened if, as they said, they split like a banana along the seam, at that speed. Shudder. Anyway, we're both now newly shod in Michelin Pro3 tyres, French tyres for a French odyssey I guess. Thanks to Peaches for doing the running around and getting the replacements.

A final thought from thewashingmachine post, show a little friendship..http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net//



Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (assuming my phone can get roaming internet access)- chakkchimp

endgame

Glorious weather today, so I took a final 20km spin (38 minutes!) to check the bike was OK before the off (and to check I hadn't ruined 4 weeks of abstinence with a relatively boozy weekend). Got back to find the mad Mackem had been out on a long fast ride with the Kenilworth boys and Peaches had ridden over to Rugby but on his return his back tyre was fit to pop. So he's off to get new tyres ahead of le depart. I checked mine, because we bought them together, but mine seem OK. Mechanicals I can do without thanks.

I've packed today so I'm pretty much set. I won't be blogging while I'm away but I will be Twittering, you can follow me as @chakkchimp on Twitter http://www.twitter.com. I recommend Tweetdeck for managing tweets http://www.tweetdeck.com, the native Twitter site I find a little cumbersome. I suspect most of my tweets will say "just climbed another hill,, shattered" or somesuch. Tune in to find out.

I also got another £50 sponsorship (word up Mark Dunn), but paid in underlay, which I need to translate to cash. I also finally got the check from Waitrose for £400, a big thanks to Ganny for organising that.

nearly there

despite taking a week off to rest ahead of le depart I couldn't resist a session in the gym yesterday. Mainly weights but also some rowing but consciously avoided straining my legs, I'm in London today and took time out to drool over the hardware in Condor Cycles, oh for a lottery win to fund a spending spree in there.

Last night I took my bike down from its perch on the wall and gave it a good clean and oil ready for the off. If i can find time I'll do a short spin to check its all in working order at the weekend. Then its focus on the met weather forecasts and pack my bags. I'm really looking forward to it now.

T'is done

Last training session today, spin with Tony. I've just been reviewing my training profile which doesn't have the nice 45 degree line to a peak that I'd hoped for, largely due to the constraints imposed on training by Beth's Uni work (she's currently doing three 12 hour days per week, plus an hour travelling at each end, ouch! Cycling to Paris is a breeze by comparison) and also the DGB (Dreaded Gastro Bug) which wiped out my Bank holiday weekend.

Here's the summary and a profile of distance (with avg HR overlaid)for the last 12 weeks (click on the image to enlarge)

and calories burned per session:

You can clearly see the gap from the DGB and a disappointingly incoherent pattern which reflects the lifestyle of someone fitting training around life rather than vice versa (which I suspect is what Mark Cavendish and Lance Armstrong do). I'm pretty confident I've done enough but I think these graphs illustrate the challenge really of taking on this kind of 4 day ride. Its not that it can't be done, I'm sure anyone with enough time and enthusiasm could get there, its more about having the focus and desire to make it happen with the time and tools available. I know I'm not alone in struggling to train as often as I would like. I feel fitter than when I started LEJOG which gives me comfort. I am really looking forward to le depart now. Peaches, Mad Mackem and I got together with partners on Saturday to talk plans. I think we're all set. Talking of focus there's nearly £2500 in the sponsorship pot now which is all the motivation I need. That's £5 per kilometre. Thank you to everyone who has supported me (and Beth). Its not too late however http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid

Boys keep swinging

A funny few days. Gym Wednesday, Thursday nothing, but cycled to work, Friday 50km in the rain (& got soaked despite the new Rain Face jacket), Saturday declined another wet ride and did a big session in the gym instead.

Friday's stats:
Duration 01:44:29
Calories 1251 kcal
Distance49.8 km
Average HR 139 bpm
Maximum HR 164 bpm

Friday evening was quite bright when I set off. I didn't really have a plan but avoided Warwick town centre traffic thinking it would be busy at 6pm, so I went up Rouncil lane, then turned towards Pinley Green, not a road I follow much. This took me all the way out to Lowsonford where the rain started (22hours later as I type, it's still falling). I got a bit lost around Preston Bagot and started heading back on myself. By the time I'd realised my mistake I'd done 30km so thought I'd just head back the way I came as my feet were already soaked and cold and the Race Face shower proof was soaked through (looks great though!). So back into Lowsonford but returned through Shrewley to add some variety. 50km by the time I got home in 1:44, which given the weather and the fact that it's Warwick Council resurface the roads with loose grit season which is a) lethal to cyclists because it piles up into loose banks b) dangerous because cars kick it up and c) horrid to ride on because of its rolling resistance, I was pretty pleased with.

Saturday was forecast heavy rain all day, so having tested myself Friday evening, the planned 100km with Peaches and Ed was ditched in favour of a heavy gym session (3000m row, 12 minutes; 30 minutes bike reps; weights and stretches):
Duration 00:57:53
Calories 682 kcal
Average HR 138 bpm
Maximum HR 163 bpm

I can feel the aches as I type. 10 days to go and no real plans for much more training now. I'll try and get to spin on Monday and that's pretty much it until the off. Excitement rises.

Hold on to your friends

A quick bloglette to say thank you to everyone at the The Vale pub in Coventry who took part in the pub quizzes organised by Rich King, to raise £150 for FSID. Many thanks to you all, if anyone reading this is around Nod Rise please pop in and have a pint with the regulars and say hello from me. If anyone else wants to follow their lead you can do so here: http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid




This time in two weeks, I should be well in to Kent on the way to Dover, wish me luck!