TOTAL CYCLING TIME : 155 hours 41 mins
TOTAL ASCENT: 49,250 metres
AVERAGE SPEED: 22.7km/hr
AVERAGE HEART RATE: 98
CALORIES BURNED : approx 150,000
It is the day after the finish in Paris, and it feels great not to be on my bike today... i won't be on it tomorrow.. or the next day.. or the next... We have been in such a bubble the last 3 weeks it will take a few days to settle back into the "real world". I will miss the comraderie of the group, and it will feel weird not getting on my bike at 7am and getting off it over 12 hours later. Over the next few days i expect the 'lead leg' feeling to dissapate, the feeling in the palms of my hand to come back, and for the saddle soreness to disappear. The leg and arms tans are ridiculous. That goes for the glove tan lines too... I am looking forward to weighing myself, but honeslty feel that i haven't lost a great deal of weight, i won't be surprised if i weigh the same as when i left. Some people have lost over a stone and a half, to the point where it looked like they are wearing their dad's clothes at dinner every night. There were multiple drop-outs, but only one from the original 15 that set out to complete the whole course.
I had 2 punctures
I fell off once
I rode a spare bike for 6 days
I didn't get lost once (all down to Claire and her amazing signs the whole route!)
If anyone reading this wants to attempt anything similar, i would advise the following:
Buy the best pair of shorts you can
Ride within yourself every day
Stretch, drink recovery drink and put your legs in the air for 20 minutes after every ride
Get someone like Classic Tours to do all the logistics
Many thanks to everyone for your support all along the way. Getting e-mails, texts and Facebook messages really put a smile on my face - it was great to know that people back home were interested in what we were doing!
I will miss writing this blog, but i have comfort in knowing that i have these daily recollections forever!
Here are the other 13 riders that completed all 20 stages of the 2010 Tour de France route:
Colin
Sandy
Jake
Rowley
Mark
Sam
Rick
John
Davinia
Mark
Dermott
Tim
Steve Young
Phil Deeker (53) Classic Tours Rep. AKA "the Fish"
No comments:
Post a Comment