London To Paris Day 3

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I woke up this morning having severe difficulty in getting my head into this. I was having a severe case of not wanting to do this anymore. Hungry, really, really dehydrated: two pints of water and loads of orange juice and I still feel like a dried out prune. We got underway quite early today; on the road by nine and on our way to the first stop at St Germer de Fly through beautiful French countryside on lovely smooth roads with very little traffic. At the first stop we were met by the support crew with Gallons of water and energy powder and the best ham and cheese baguettes that I have ever tasted. After that my sprits really lifted and I got my head into gear and remembered why I was doing this.



After the first stop the hills started, long drawn out climbs that seemed to go on for miles. In fact at every bend you got to you hoped it was the end of the climb only to be greeted with a vision of more climbing, and grinding it out in bottom gear. Add in to this the heat and the water consumption went through the roof. Luckily the girls helped us out with an additional stop to top up the fluids and we hit the road again to the third stop at Marines. By this time the support team and more of the wonderful baguettes sat on the steps of the town hall. We cracked out the ice packs for the aching thighs, refilled the water bottles and set off on the last leg to Poissy, pulling in an additional stop for water then down the best decent hill so far into Poissy, across the river and into our hotel.



The ‘fast’ group had to make do with just the first stop – they went their own way, managed to get themselves lost, had to buy their own food and water and added more than 30 miles extra to the day’s ride. They also had to suffer the indignity of being demoted to ‘group C’ by the support crew, but they made it to the hotel eventually.



The hotel was in the centre and was a typical bed factory – smallest space possible for the double bed and bathroom. Because there wasn’t much space in the rooms the receptionist kindly allowed us to put our bikes in the large wet room in one of their disabled access rooms. It was fun taking the bikes up one by one in the lift. Then out for a lovely Italian but as we near Paris the service is going downhill. Anyway to sum up BEST DAY so far.



So the Stats



· 69 miles



· 8.5 hours in the saddle



· 5000 calories



· And no falls



Injuries



· Elbow still hurts



· Arse hurts more



· Not quiet so dehydrated



· Feet still hurt



· Legs hurt (new it couldn’t last)

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