I finished the London to Paris bike ride (NAS write up of last year's) for the National Autistic Society on Sunday.
I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that you can still sponsor me even after the event :-)
We set off from Crystal Palace in South London on Friday morning - 80 participants, mostly from around the UK but also some from further afield. Crystal Palace is close enough to where I live that I rode my bike to the start line. I found it very satisfying that I was cycling not only from London but actually from my home to Paris.
The weather was good, with beautiful scenery through the Kent and Sussex countryside. We rode through some very picturesque villages, with architypical cricket greens and duck ponds. The cycling was challenging with quite a few hills and some poor road surfaces. You notice the quality of the road surface much more on a bike than in a car; particularly on a road race bike, with narrow wheels, high pressure tyres, and a stiff frame.
We earned our lunch with a long steep climb up Turner's Hill; the traffic was pretty busy too which made the ride up Turner's Hill quite unpleasant.
After lunch, the weather deteriorated a bit, particularly with a strong head wind for the final few miles to Newhaven; on a bike, a headwind makes it much harder work. Arriving into Newhaven I was very tired; I'd done 62 miles and had over 100 left to get to Paris - it seemed like it was going to be a very tough trip, particularly given that we had to get up at 4 am the next morning to get the ferry to France.
After a horribly early start we got the 6 am ferry to Dieppe, arriving 11 am local time (an hour ahead of UK time). The ferry journey was uneventful - I slept through most of it. We did all look rather odd in our cycling gear on the ferry though - so probably more memorable for the other passengers than for us. The roads in Normandy were fantastic - lovely road surfaces - smooth - like a race track - with only gentle undulations making for high speed and enjoyable cycling. We rode through villages that were so quiet it seemed like they were deserted. The traffic was much less than our first day too - and the weather very pleasant - dry, sunny but not too hot. It was a shorter day of cycling due to the late start after the ferry journey - we did 52 miles - with the good roads and fewer hills it felt like a lot less than the first day. Cycling through Normandy you really appreciate how rural it is - cycling past fields that looked like Monet's poppies painting.
The weather took a turn for the worse - rain and cold. Nevertheless, the roads continued to be great, with one particularly great downhill section where I reached 43.6 mph - which didn't feel quite that fast due to the smooth road surface. Some of the views, e.g. overlooking Paris in the distance, were excellent dispite the weather. When we got into the suburbs of Paris, the roads became more bumpy, and there were lots of traffic lights. Some roads nearer the center were cobbled (cobblestone), including one of the roundabouts (traffic circle), which were treacherous in the rain on a race bike with narrow, slick, high pressure tyres.
We finished at the Eiffel Tower, in the rain, having done 76 miles - the furthest I've ever cycled in a day. My wife and two friends came to Paris for the finish which was great of them. Thanks to my coach, Jason, I was very well prepared. I feel like doing something like this again - again for the National Autistic Society.
Posted by ivan at May 23, 2007 8:40 PM