Well the weather has been a bit cold, damp and horrible in Yorkshire over the last few days so not much chance to do any training. Before you say it,I know that I'm a fair weather cyclist!
So lets tell you a bit about the route for the London to Paris cycle ride.
Day One
We make an early start from Bexley in south London on Wednesday 23rd July. This is the longest and toughest day as we travel 80 miles through Kent to the white cliffs of Dover. We pass through Rochester and tackle some of the climbs that were used on the first stage of the 2007 Tour de France. Once in Dover we catch a ferry to Calais where we stay the first night.
Day Two
After a hearty french breakfast, (surely that's an oxymoron!) we head out through the green meadows of Northern France to Arras. I love Arras, its a beautiful historic town which was one of the main battle areas of the First World War. Today we cover 73 miles and no doubt our legs will all be aching after our strenuous first day.
Day Three
No doubt the tiredness will really be settling in now as we travel 73 miles to Compiegne. En route we will pass through Bapaume and past the battlefields of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. My Grandad fought at this battle so I will be remembering him as we go along. Compiegne is the start town for one of the most famous one day professional bike races; Paris - Roubaix which runs every April. Its known as the "Hell of the North" and I'll tell you more about it in a later blog.
Day Four
It's now Saturday 25th July and on our last day we journey 66 miles from Compiegne to Paris. We finish by riding up the Champs Elysees and around the Arc de Triomphe before finishing at the Jardins du Trocadero overlooking the Eiffel Tower. The Tour de France will be finishing on the same roads the following day so all the banners and bunting will be out for that and we will be able to dream of being Lance Armstrong as we ride up the Champs Elysees. I think this will be the scariest and most dangerous part of the ride as anyone who has seen the traffic on the Champs Elysees will know. After that we finish off with a celebration dinner.
So plenty to look forward to and only 168 days to go.
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2 comments:
I still think you should set off a day earlier and cycle from York.
DP,
I would like to but I'm worried that the other riders might think that I was trying to get an unfair advantage from the extra training!
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