Online line at the hotel !!

I've only just got web access today, so you'll have 3 days worth of updates, my apologies in advance for any bad spelling or grammar, but but I hope you'll find them interesting.

Saturday 4th:

Early start, waking up and remembering things I should have packed, breakfast then off to St Swithun's in advance of start for group photo and to get team shirts to everyone.

It was a great turnout, lots of people were there, all very positive, the support van looked brilliant and all the continental riders looked very professional in their new shirts – courtesy of sponsorship from Knorr Bremse and Peter Hansford Winchester.

I then shot back home to pick up the rest of my family and the bikes, we started the ride at 11am with Bill and David Bath (my sisters husband and son), Paul and Toni Moseley and the McGill family, plus Tom May. The going was far slower than I've been used to, plus my parents (who were acting as support in my car, missed the 1st rendezvous at Bishops Waltham, but we then met up outside Botley to get some much needed food at 1:30ish.

Next stop was at Park Gate where we saw Jenny Moseley and her boyfriend Ben (why did they not do the ride??), it was then on the Lee on Solent for ice creams, before final few miles to ferry and then Victoria Park at around 4:30.

All in the group did really well and no complaints at all, the route was well signed and marshals excellent.

My family left after a while, then it was a case of waiting for the ferry, which was by far the most boring part of the day, as we al just wanted to get going.

We finally got onto the ferry, I made a final phone call to y family to say goodbye and goodnight, had a meal before a team briefing and then to bed tired but ready for tomorrow and the ride really begins.

Sunday 5th:

Wakeup call on ferry at 7am, off for full English type breakfast, then packed bags, collected bikes and rode off ferry at around 8:30 to meet up with the van. Packed bags, put on sun cream and did some stretching before setting off at around 9:30.

Lovely riding conditions, hazy with the sun breaking through, got out of town, met up with local cyclist who joined us for 10 or 15 km, got to Dinan (???) with lots of cobbled streets, had problems with working out the route and ended pushing bikes up the cobbles, not nice!!

The on to first stopping point, met up with van, topped up water and had some food, after the others left, Tim Frank and Lionel found out Guy Rafferty's cleats would not clip into his pedals (seems the cobbles did them in), so called the van and got them to wait for us while we rode to make the 1st call on the spares provided by Peter Hansfords. Re-clipped, we three then pushed on through some lovely countryside on wonderfully smooth roads, the bikes just flowed along.

Caught up with some of the group who had got lost and were just about to have a big argument about which way to go, so our satnavs came to the rescue just in time. By this time the sun was out, it was getting hot and we were drinking lots of fluids. We rode along as a bigger group and got to the lunch stop at around 1:50, just as my 2nd bottle ran out. Filled up both bottles and then got some lunch, found it was a bad idea to come in late as while there was bread, most of the fillings had already gone, but made do with big chunk of bread and some salami, plus downed one of the refilled bottles almost instantly.

While some of the group set off after lunch, we decided the crepeirie was too good to miss, so ice creams and coffees delayed our restart for quite a while longer, leaving Lionel, Tim and Guy Raff well behind the rest, but with the sun out and the roads clear, we just enjoyed ourselves eating up the miles, in time catching up some of the others and getting to the hotels around 5:30. This night we are spread over 3 hotels, and the van had yet to drop off the luggage at our hotel.

Locked the bikes in the hotel garage, then checked into rooms and ate flapjacks to help speed recovery while we waited for the van, which turned up a few minutes later. After refreshing shower, and a bit of rest time, met up with the group in a local bar, found the restaurant / bar next to our hotel was open and did a 2 course steak meal including drinks for 10 or 15 Euros, and had space for all of us !! Not surprising for 30 some people, service was a little slow, but the meal was good, so filled up, was off to bed, ready for the next day.

Day 3 – Monday 6th.

Up at 7, continental breakfast at the hotel, bags into van at 8:30, on the road just after 9, weather was slightly overcast but warm, so no need for jackets. Almost immediately we had a problem as Guy Richenbach could not get his shoe to clip on. It turned out he had stepped into some dog mess and this was holding a small pebble in the clip, yummy !! Lionel and Peter Langley stayed with Guy but let him to sort out the 'mess' on his own. Once the pebble was removed, they got going and caught up with the group on the outskirts of town and everyone had a smile at Guy's expense.


Soon after, the group came up-to a large roundabout, the leader missed the turn and in the confusion, two riders got locked together, with poor Pam ending up in the brambles, fortunately she only picked up a few scratches, but it was a reminder for us to not get too close to each other and be aware of who's around you.

We then split up into smaller groups and carried on through the countryside with the beautifully conditioned roads allowing us to eat up the miles, so much so the my group went straight past the morning stop, only realizing this about 5 miles later. With the help of a couple of phone calls, the van was able to find us, so we topped up on water and set off again. By now the sun was out although a southerly breeze had picked up, which was slowing us down a little, but as the road surface was so good (shame on you UK councils) is was not too bad. However, we then hit Nantes and had the problems of weaving through busy traffic, although again the Garmin GPS systems came to the rescue and help speed us through but we were glad to get out of the city and arrive at the lunch stop, where having found out how much the group could eat yesterday, there was a veritable shop load of baguettes were waiting to be eaten, along with other goodies, including fruit tarts !! David and Hannah are proving invaluable with the support they provide.

After lunch we had 35 miles to go and started off in groups, Lionel, Tim F and Guy Raff started after most of the others riding one behind the other, with each taking a turn at the front, as the wind had picked up and was right in out faces, but this slip streaming is really effective, it's said the people behind can save around 30% energy by doing this. We ate up the miles, catching people ahead of us by the next service stop, which was around 10 miles from the end. After a brief stop, we pushed on as a group of 7, getting to the hotel about 5 minutes before it started to rain.

The riding today was really good, the road surface is generally excellent, many of us are beginning to get our cycling legs and the positivity of the whole group is really strong.

Finally, I know the GPS tracking system is not working, we are trying to fix this as best we can, please bear with us.