Day 4 - Le Mans to Chatellerault

Kevin disappearing just as everyone saddles up and is ready to leave. 100 miles of lovely rolling hills. A few miles of torn up road that left everyone speaking a semitone higher. Plenty of water stops after the previous days’ drought debacle. All in all: a good day – even Fribbins didn’t moan quite as much.

The route took us down part of the famous Le Mans road course circuit. The Mulsanne Straight, with arnco barrier still in place from last month’s 24hrs race, was an eeire calm as pedals turned through the forest route. The thought of cars tearing through this area over 190mph faster was a strange feeling.

The most contenious moment of what was a relatively smooth sailing day came during a debate about how to pronounce Chatellerault. It’s not that the debate was particularly fierce; it is just a reflection of the smoothness of the day.

It’s also interesting that the group, whose Garmin devices were measuring the routes at slightly different accuracies, each added a few hundred yards to ensure the mileage clicked over the magic ‘100’ mile mark

This was a long day, mileage wise, and a fiercely hot and humid afternoon. But the tucker and banter in the evening quickly wiped away those memories.

Day 3 - Bernay to Le Mans

Kevin started the ride with his heart rate monitor already on. But he did start 5 minutes after everyone else was already ready. Unintentionally, the group left the main D road and took to the winding back roads south toward Le Mans. Freewheels chirped joyously as the group enjoyed the quiet small French towns, and the lack of pedalling allowed the Garmin devices to point in the right direction (generally).

3 punctures later and we arrived at our first water stop. It was nowhere near the planned stop and so Steve had to navigate his way off of the main road and through the lanes to find a quaint little town that nobody can remember the name of.

Multiple coffees later and with a new front tyre the group were on the road again and chewing through the miles on their way to Le Mans. Then disaster struck.  The temperatures soared into the high 30’s and the group missed a turn off from the main road where the van was waiting. This meant that each rider had roughly 1 litre of water in 37 degree-ish heat for over 30 miles of rolling hills. Add to the equation the main road turning into something that resembled the M25 on steroids and a happy bunch they were not. A fourth puncture just pissed everyone off even more.

Eventually the gang rolled into Le Mans, which is pretty big place, and the SatNav died. David ventured into unknown and stopped roughly 150m away from the hotel before a very helpful group of students claimed that there wasn’t a hotel in the area.

The group cycled back up the hill and set up camp in a MacDonalds that offered ice cold drinks before Steve saved the day again. This time he opted to journey on foot and leave the van behind, walking the whole 350m to the lost little guys with their iced beverages.

The day was rounded off well though with kebab pizza for nutrition, super league on big screen for soul restoration and lager for rehydration in a local sports bar. Then everyone slept uncomfortably close in a triple room that must have been designed for Hobbits.

Day 2 - Dieppe-ish to Bernay-ish

It took just under a mile for the first incident of Day 2. Apparently cars drive on the right hand side in France.

The following 64 miles went pretty much without incident and years of hearing about how great France is for cycling finally made absolute sense. Long straight roads that roll across gentle hills with beautiful lush greenery on all sides. Traffic was sparse and those that did come past us where very generous with the space that they offered and where often accompanied by a friendly wave.

The finer points of the day’s ride included a free ferry crossing at a place that nobody can remember how to spell which was closely followed by a lunch that saw Kevin ‘#WheresKevin’ Chambers find the form of his life. The general situation unfolded as follows:

*15mins - everyone clawing at food from the back of the van while Kevin points at a bench overlooking the river.

‘Let’s sit here’ Kevin said, ‘I think I’ll watch this butterfly’.

*10mins - Andy glares at Kevin but then realises that David will eat his sandwich if he doesn’t get back to it. David and Andy shout at each other about what route to take before Graham points out that it’s the same route.

*10 mins - Sitting in the shade and drinking coke/refilling bottles. Kevin finds a second butterfly to watch.

*5 mins - Everyone saddled up and looking to start. Kevin gets up from bench and climbs into back of van.

*20 mins - Bags flying around the van. Kevin finds the heart rate monitor that he hasn’t been wearing for two days.

*3 hours of wanting to beat Kevin senseless while turning the pedals.

Eventually we arrived at the hotel and after a cool shower and a nap all was forgiven... until Day 3 at least.

Day 1 - London to Newhaven

Day one of the ride ended up being somewhat of a day of ‘norms’ if truth be told. The weather was gloomy, wet and windy; the hills were lumpy; London was traffick-y and guest rider Richard Dudman was quick. Too quick. 

The only surprises came thanks to a ferry crossing that had WiFi but no internet and with Kevin ‘#WheresKevin’ Chambers arriving promptly at Sports Dock for the start of the ride.

The 7am start promptly started at 8am and the group quickly found themselves slowed down by the rush hour malestrom of central London. Steve took the long route in the van and watered the group at Forest Row. 

Rehydrated and fueled Richard Dudman began to make up for the time lost in London, dragging the others with him.

2 hissy fits later by David Fribbins and the group arrived in Newhaven with plety of time to get on the ferry and cross the choppy channel. 

The intrepid Andy Preston booked what can only be described as picturesque, comfort laden digs for the gang. But with an 8pm check in time and a ferry crossing that arrived at gone 11pm the toys almost left the pram for the third time. 

All was fine though and everyone ended up with a very comfortable nights sleep before Day 2.

FINAL FEW DAYS!!! WE ROLL OFF ON WEDNESDAY!

The finishing touches to the event are now falling in to place. A few of the riders have been having last-minute remedial and soft-tissue treatments with our sponsor and all round good egg, Sports Therapist Sharon Honey, of  Bodyline Sport Therapy. 

Sharon has over 25 years of experience, and is well known across a number of different sports and sport organisations in the South East for her work. 

In helping us in our preparation, Sharon pointed out that cycling in itself is an excellent way to improve cardio vascular fitness and places a massive emphasis on the muscles groups of the lower limb (gluteal, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves) to continuously push the pedals. 

Sharon Honey

A number of our riders have sought Sharon's help as the weekly mileage built up in preparation for the trip. On each turn of the pedal, during the downstroke the gluteal, hamstring and quadriceps groups of that leg work to extend the hip and knee to push the pedal from the 12 o’clock to the 5 o’clock position, following which almost passive hip and knee flexion occurs due to the same movements occurring in the muscles of the opposite leg to push the pedal on that side down.   

When we multiply that by the thousands of pedal strokes during each (approximately 80 mile) day's riding, it's easy to see how muscular fatigue can become an issue.

Because of these combined requirements, Sharon pointed out that hip and knee flexion may also be aided by the hamstring and calf muscles if extra power is required. 

Cycling is a closed kinetic chain activity, meaning that the foot, in this case, is fixed and this leads to compressive forces in the muscles which are working only concentrically.  Add to this movement which is almost totally in the sagittal plane and we have an athlete with short tight and overworked hip flexor and lower back muscles leading to back pain and reduced power in the gluteal muscles.   

Riders and staff meet Sports Nutritionist David Dixon

Furthermore lack of flexibility in the lower back causes the cyclist to overreach with the arms and put too much weight on the hands which leads to tightness in the neck and upper back.

So as you can see from Sharon's analysis of the physiology of cycling, flexibility work, and some soft-tissue treatment, can go a long way to ensuring us riders are as primed and ready to tackle each day as possible.

Sharon's contribution has been invaluable to us, both in terms of our better knowledge of our own cycling, but also with her hands-on treatments. Sharon, we're really glad to have you on board!!

David Dixon, with nutritional advice

One further update - David Dixon's nutrition workshop at Cycle Surgery on Friday was a welcome help. We now have an outline meal plan for the entire ten days. It even features a 'small glass of red wine' at the end of each day. Thankfully, with my amazing translational skills, 'Un Grand verre de vin, s'il vous plait serveur' should just about sort that one....

We'll have one more update for you, tomorrow evening, as we pack our bags, check our tyre pressures, and shave our legs!