I’ve officially finished work for the rest of the year! Was very tempted to put that as a facebook status update but thought it wouldn’t really impress most people. School finished with a bit of a whimper, since I was only teaching senior students who left to do exams a bit earlier then the rest of the students.
So now that work is finished for the year – I get the joy of preparing for the holidays for the rest of the year. Getting to do all that ‘fun’ stuff I kept postponing like visas, vaccinations and packing…
Lake Como Weekend
A group of 8 of us headed off to northern Italy and hired out an apartment for 3 days just as school had finished. Again had an amazing race to get there with 4 different routes being used – got to use my gold star alliance status for the first time to get into the lounges. Zurich's gummy bears made the stopover go quicker. After hiring cars from Milan we drove north to our accommodation. Got a bit lost (ending up at the Swiss border accidentally) but managed to find it in the pouring rain.
Luckily didn’t rain the whole weekend – hired out a boat for a very relaxing couple of hours on the lake during the best weather of the whole weekend. Ate way too much gelato (and just so cheap) and even visited Switzerland for dinner one night.
25000 spins – London to Paris
The other excitement that I have mentioned before was riding from London to Paris to raise money for UNICEF as well as seeing if I could physically do it. One thing I learnt very early was how critical good gear is. Luckily had a decent bike that had a good low gear (affectionately called by the group the ‘granny gear’) which I used a fair bit. Meant I certainly wasn’t the quickest but didn’t get off the bike for any of the hills, which was one major achievement.
It actually wasn’t as physically torturous as I was expecting – but it was nice to lie down in my own bed and sleep in when I returned.
Day 1 – London to Newhaven
Met up with the group and took off from south London on our adventure. There were some serious riders in the group and the hills certainly separated those that were prepared and those like myself who were less so. And here I was thinking that England was fairly flat… Unfortunately the small group I was with spent most of the day not actually on the proposed route but luckily managed to link up in time for food. It was amazing how many different small roads there were and I was making sure I didn’t lose the group since I wasn’t riding with a mobile phone or map. Slightly silly now I consider it. Arrived in the town of Newhaven extremely hungry. Had a decent sized meal and was physically exhausted. However, while my body needed to rest, my mind was still spinning. Just wish I had an off switch to go to sleep.
Day 2 – Newhaven to Rouen
So for those confused how you ride from London to Paris when there’s a channel in the way – we caught a ferry over. (and no I wasn’t pedalling on a stationary bike or doing laps around the top deck as we were crossing.) Was nice being first on and off for a change with our bikes – there were quite a few other cyclists doing similar things to us so it was bedlam parking our bikes and then getting them off the ferry. Wish I could have got an entry to Schengen area with a bicycle on the stamp.
The riding was a bit tougher this day. A few big hills – with the worst one being pretty much a v shape. And the diabolical part about that one was a stop sign at the bottom of the v. Lost all the speed and even my low-low gear required some effort getting up that nightmare of a climb. Rouen however had a nice long downhill run into our accommodation and the 2 person pizza that night was greatly appreciated.
Day 3 – Rouen to Vernon
The shortest day riding with a bit of touristy time in Rouen before leaving and some pleasant riding. Unfortunately my luck ran out regarding flat tyres and managed to get three flats in the same day. Was all from the same piece of tiny glass we found at our end point. However before all the hassle had some great rhythm going. We lost the fast guys – they headed off to race to somewhere to watch the Tour de France live – but our more relaxing speed group had some time to enjoy the scenery.
(me and the trusty bike)
So after lunch was when the fun of replacing inner tubes started. Luckily the support van was right behind me for the 1st one. This photo was during the 2nd one – thought it was appropriate…
(ruined bike below some ruins)
And finally rode into Vernon on a flat tyre. Not fun at all. With a lot of help from others found the problem and hoped for the best for the final day.
Day 4 – Vernon to Paris
The final day and the longest ride of the whole trip. We started seeing a lot more people riding their bikes on similar charity rides into Paris. Took a few photos as our whole group but unfortunately some dodgy weather started heading towards the group.
(last day – before the rain)
Our route took us toward Versailles but as we were about 30 minutes away, the horrible storm cloud that had been haunting our journey that afternoon hit and we got drenched. Wasn’t the most pleasant experience with the rain absolutely bucketing down and a strong wind buffeting us as we rode. Didn’t spend long around Versailles so headed off to Paris. Rode through a bit more rain but reached the Arc de Triomphe where we had the 1st of many celebrations. Rode through half of the most dangerous round-a-bout in the world and onto the Champs-Elysees and headed to the Eiffel Tower for some more celebrations.
(success)
Slept amazingly well that night!
Tour de France
We had arrived on the Saturday and I was booked on the midday Eurostar back to London since it was cheaper than staying around till later. I had booked this without really considering or knowing what was happening in Paris that weekend – big mistake. Luckily for me, one of the group needed to get back earlier for work so I was able to stay in Paris that day and actually got to watch the cyclists from the Tour de France .
(first lap by the tour)
Was an amazing experience, especially with Cadel Evans achieving something that’s being compared to Australia winning the America’s Cup. Was incredible being there and also something to remember for a long time. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay till the presentation and had to rush back to the train terminal. And just to rub salt in the wound, there was a bomb scare and the train was delayed about an hour.
Finally got back to London and am now just preparing for my parents to come over and visit, and then my trip to Africa for two months. Can’t believe how quickly time is passing.
