L2P Off Road 2015 Day 3 : We made it !!

After 80 miles and nearly 12 hrs on the road (9.5 hrs moving time) we made it to the Palais de Versaille just before the gates shut ! .... And i finally managed to use the big cog at the front to race the last mile to get there in time. We've done 300km and not had any punctures, Stu fell off once and the only time the first aid kit was opened was to bandage someone elses knee .... Quite impressive compared to our usual track record.

We were up bright and early this morning to get the bags on the bus .... So early that even the bakery was closed, however the baker took pity on us all and opened early so we started the day on pain au chocolate and croissants.

It was a varied day, lots of off road, some bike track and some road riding, lots of muddy puddles

 and lots of sunshine. We did chicken out and not do the offroad downhill section overlooking the Seine , probably a good move as we found out later that one of the others broke his finger when he came off on that bit so i wouldnt have stood a chance 😀

We got to the last check point 10km from the end and still had an hour before the Palace gates closed .... So we downed a couple of handfuls of nuts and raisins, ate a pepperami and an energy bar and refilled our bottles with energy drink .... Then we were off through the forest with some of the fastest off road riding i have ever done to get to the gates before 7pm, quite how we did it after nearly 11hrs on the road i have no idea ..... But we made it :-) 

It looked sooooo close but the garmin still claimed we had 3 miles to go .... So it was back on our bikes and over some very nasty cobblestones to the finish at the front of the palace and a cold beer !

After a quick shower we headed back to the bar for a celebration meal and even won second prize in the raffle before heading bedwards for a well deserved rest ..... And do you know what hurts most after 300km and 3 days on a bike ?

........Wrong ..... My thumbs from changing gear !!

Quote of the day - why do i have 3 cogs at the front on my bike ? Oh yes ... To race to the palace gates .... Haven't used it for anything else !

Here is the link to some more photos: https://goo.gl/photos/HuE8FsTQCDWSk1NbA 

L2P Off Road 2015 Day 2 : Two down ..... One to go !

So that's it ..... Day 2 over and done with.

Everyone said it would be an easy day ....   But neither of us would agree with that ! Shorter perhaps ....  51 miles in about 7hr (5hr45 ride time).

The first half of the day was along the Avenue Vert, a tarmac path on and old disused railway... and slightly up hill the whole way. The rest of the route was off road along some deep rutted farm tracks, through a ford (wet feet) and some woodland trails (lots of roots) ..... But we survived with a smile on our faces , just about, though I'm sure at the end of it Stu's smile was cos he finally had some birthday wishes as the only texts he had received all day were from ee .... So after the disappointment of yesterday (only realising at lunch time that it wasn't actually his birthday and he wasn't being ignored or forgotten) he was happy to see his friends did care after all 😀

Once we had finished, got to the hotel, waited until they found a room for us (as they had accidentally given someone else the wrong room key ... The up side was that we got a free coffee and pudding out of it) , had a shower and made it out to the town square, we found the only open air restaurant full of other mountain bikers, but it paid off to speak french, as even though we must have been the last to order we still got our food first! 

So one day left ..... 80miles and a start time of 7:30am .... Better get some sleep!

Quotes of the day from fellow cyclists on the avenue vert:

French cyclists : "bonjour", "bonjour", "bonjour", "hello"

English cyclists : "are you JUST going to Paris"

A couple of photos

Off we go on day 2

Cycling on the avenue vert ... Shame you cant see the goth cross on Stu's leg "helping" his calf muscle

A random photo opportunity 

Here is the link to some more photos: https://goo.gl/photos/HuE8FsTQCDWSk1NbA

L2P Off Road 2015 Day 1 : London to Brighton

London to Paris Off Road 2015

It was an early start .... The car was packed the night before and the alarm was set for 5:30am. By 7:30 we were at the start, checked in and raring to go along with 78 other mad mountain bikers.

The route was very different to what we expected, as we were expecting a rerun of the London to Brighton off road we did last year but were pleasantly surprised to find it was different. It felt like we were chasing the clock all day as the map had expected check point times on it and we were just about meeting them but only just. We arrived on the sea front in Brighton at 4pm and were rushed from our bikes to the coach without even stopping to get our breath.

One thing i will learn is not to drink caffeine energy drinks as they really didn't agree with me and my heart was racing all morning making riding hard work, i was slightly better in the afternoon so will hopefully survive the next couple of days but wont be drinking any more.

At the top of the enormous hill just outside Brighton ...... You can just see the sea in the background :-)

So Day 1 done ..... 59 miles in 8.5hrs (6:30hrs riding time ..... Although my Garmin seems to think I'm standing still when I'm actually just riding very slowly, sorry i mean as fast as i can, up a steep hill, so we perhaps didn't have that much rest as the hill to Brighton is very long !!) and an average of 9mph ... Not bad for the first day.

Funniest bit of the day : At lunch time Stu admitted that he thought it was Sat 7th today and so was cross with everyone as we had all forgotten it was his birthday .... until I pointed out it was only Sat 6th so he still had a day to go and we weren't all being mean ..... it cheered us both up and gave me something to laugh at for the rest of the afternoon :-)

Here is the link to some more photos from the event : https://goo.gl/photos/HuE8FsTQCDWSk1NbA

Here is what the route looked like