Ride recap

It's been a week since we got to the Eiffel Tower and I believe we can all sit down again.

Andrew and Chris are safely back in Oz, their bikes will be leaving Beckenham this week for their return journey. The UK crew are all back at work and have been congratulated endlessly.

But I've been thinking... in hindsight, how was it - really?

In a nutshell, we should have driven or caught the train to Newhaven. The weather made day 1 a stupid thing to do. Even with good weather, I'd strongly suggest that people who are thinking of doing London to Paris and who aren't strong, experiences cyclists on road bikes find some other way of getting there. That was really, really hard and you could easily pick up an injury that stops you from even getting to France.

Day 2 was sublime - later in the summer you won't have the time constraints of night fall and could really enjoy that ride. Don't stay at the Sofhotel in Forges-les-Eaux. Just don't. Seriously, sleeping on the street would be more comfortable and better smelling.

The most satisfying and yet most challenging day was the third one. The weather and the hills were appalling, but when it was good - man.... I've never had a better time on a bike than cycling down the D3 from Jouy-sous-Thelle to Fleury. The road was wide, winding and deserted. We were 3 across at over 40km/h and loving it!

Our final day would have been better with 2 things - staying the hell away from Cergy and having bike satnav. Cery was such a crap hole that I hope I never have to go there again. We started the day first lost, then with an endless hill and I had a serious sense of humour failure. Once we got to the top, though, it was down a brilliant steep hill to the Seine and we knew we were close. Having to stop for a map check every 10 or so minutes from there really wore us down, especially having seen the Eiffel Tower on the horizon.

Nothing will ever beat the feeling of stopping the bikes right under the tower - the ride from our hotels to Gare du Nord was quite an euphoric one.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. But I'd probably join a group that has a support vehicle and not have to lug my own kit around. That's what made this ride such a challenge - we were entirely self-sufficient on transport matters.

So now it's on to the next ride, but in the meantime - check out the video from this one.

Thanks for the support,

Pete