This is the majority of todays ride put into 4 different videos, had to split them up so I can upload them from my phone to laptop.

Enjoy

Part 1 – Before the Climb

Part 2 – The Climb

Part 3 – To the Border

Part 4 – The Descent

 

Well I said my goodbyes to France today and have arrived in Girona. Spoke French to the receptionist when I got here, out of habit and then she spoke English to me. She said she uses her English more over here than she did when she was at Oxford for a month!

I got a good nights sleep and a big breakfast before my big day at crossing over the Pyrenee’s and the border!

Now I know I’ve cycled over 1100 miles so far and I was pretty sure I was on the right track, until I cycled past The Statue of Liberty! Albeit she was in blue and about 12 foot tall, just had to take a pic. The first sign post I came across today that I took a photo of was the one of Girona with the mountains behind, I really didn’t know what to expect today and was trying to second guess every possible route that then road go head through the mountain range. I then took a pic of the A-9 road which seemed a lot higher than I was at one point which again made me think I had a lot further to go than first thought. The actual climb itself wasn’t too bad, to be honest I actually think I’ve had harder days climbs so far over the last 2 weeks. I looked at what read outs my sat nav has given me, and although the peek height I was at today was around 800ft, I only climbed a total of 2000ft today, compare that to the 2nd day when I travelled to Boulogne, I climbed 5400ft! What hit me hard today was the 2 hills that came after the border, both 400ft climbs and they both seem to come from no where, they didn’t even go from side to side, they were just straight up! Real thigh burners!

Now I’m sorry for the animal lovers out there, but for today’s road kill I had to take a photo, It was on a downwards hill where I wasn’t going that fast, but soon as I saw it I knew no one would believe me if I said I saw a Wild boar! So I had to turn around, battle back up the hill and take a snap. Again it doesn’t break any rules as it is fresh road kill. I just couldn’t believe the size of the thing, Id like to see what damage it did to the car!I have taken some videos on my climb today and the descent, but will have to do that a little later on as they take longer to upload.

Today’s journey was 62.61 miles, riding time of 4:22:29, max speed 30.5 mph, avg speed 14.3 mph, 3837 calories, 3.15 litres so far.

Today has been one of the better days. It was pretty much the same road the whole way, and I’m back on that road again tomorrow. I thought I needed a day on the flats to let my legs recover from the battering they took over the hills yesterday. But when your on flats you need to work just as hard to keep the pace up. So I’m feeling a little bit tight now and will be stretching like crazy tonight.

Rode past Toulouse Stadium today which I didn’t realise until I got there that it was the football stadium and not the rugby ground. Although the rugby team play there for the big games.

Got honked at a few times today, firstly because I wasn’t on the cycle path on the road going out of the city. Which was an honest mistake as I didn’t see the cycle path, and the road was too narrow for me to ride on and let cars go past at the same time. Then the other honks were for no reason what so other! I swear the odd random Frenchman loves to sound his horn when he see’s a cyclist!

I’ve added a short little video of part of my journey today, It seems to work better and uploads to my computer when I make it smaller, so this was about 10 miles of my trip today. As you can see its pretty much flat the whole way. I did start it with glorious sunshine but then for about a minute I was riding in the shadows of one of the few clouds up there. Even had time to stop and give you a little spin of the views I could see. Also a little accidental de tour into a little town when I took the wrong turning, which was quickly adjusted! Looking forward to doing some more of these as I had the dark outline of the mountains in the distance for a little while today. Got a feeling the next 2 days are going to be well worth it!

I broke my average miles per hour today, 16mph isn’t bad going with all my kit on the bike. Doubt ill be braking that tomorrow, I need to make sure I take it easy tomorrow as the mountains are the day after!

I’m now off to try and find somewhere to eat as I’m feeling pretty hungry and I can sense it being quite a walk. I got a feeling I’m in the middle of no where at the moment!

Today’s journey was 64.54 miles, riding time of 4:00:55, max speed 29.9 mph, avg speed 16.07 mph, 4106 calories, 3.15 litres so far.

So I got up nice and early and set off to the Decathlon shop that was about 5 miles away. I got there for when it opened but the man inside said that they didn’t have the right size spoke for my wheel. With the language barrier being an issue we managed to work out where the other Decathlon shop was so I headed off there. This was a further 5 miles away but it didn’t matter as I had to get the spoke fixed. The man in this shop said the same thing that he wasn’t sure about the size. But after a little while hunting around he found the right one. He tried to keep the tyre on whilst changing spoke, until he accidentally moved the wheel and the nipple fell inside the rim (for those of you that don’t know bikes don’t worry just read on), so he then had to take the tube and tyre off, I didn’t like the fact that he had to do this and was worried that he might nip the tube putting the tyre back on but then again it was his job. I bought a couple of spare spokes for the back wheel and couldn’t get hold of any for the front. I asked if they had any spoke keys and he gave me his one as a present. I had told him where I was going and where I had been. So all was well and off I went.

Within 20 minutes I had to stop as I didn’t put any sun lotion on this morning so I thought I had better as the sun was out all day. As I was rubbing it in a man on a bike stopped and asked if everything was ok, then about a minute later a guy in a van stopped and asked the same thing. Why is it I get asked for help applying sun lotion yet when I’m sat there on the side of the road with the bike in bits no one stops!?

I took a photo of what the scenery was like today, lots of woods and forests either side of the road, completely different to northern France where its vast open landscape.

I then took a gamble, I came across this road block sign, I thought to myself do I go down there as it is the way I need to go or do I follow the diversion? I took the gamble and tried my luck at the roadworks, it was fine and I coasted through, until the guy working in the digger thought it would be funny to honk his horn just as I ride past! Yeah my sides were splitting!It was probably Karma getting me back for not following the diversion as when I got to the next Town I took a wrong turn, I headed the wrong way down the D655 and it was a lovely downhill section that lasted 2 miles, It wasn’t until I coasted to a stop that I realised I had gone wrong. Doh! So turned around and headed back the 2 miles up hill! Stupid mistake, what an idiot! It was when I got back upto the top of the hill I noticed my back wheel had lost pressure so I had to pump it back up.

There’s a picture of a hill below swell, I took this cos I had a feeling it was going to be quick, and boy it was! I broke my top speed record for the trip so far, just over 36 mph! I have also just found out when entering in the data down below that I have also broke my record for best average miles per hour, it was actually 15.55 for the 91 miles I did after the Decathlon shop visits.

I broke rule 1 today, for those of you that haven’t been following me from the beginning, rule 1 was to never stop on a hill. I broke that rule today taking the photo of the country house with the awesome backdrop!

As I mentioned earlier that I had to pump my tyre back up, I think they may have even effected my top speed today as with 10 miles to go I struggle to avoid going over a small pot hole with the back wheel, I managed to lift the front wheel in time but couldn’t help the fact the back one hit it. The wheel went down in seconds and I came to a stop 10 foot away. This time though, I knew i had 10 miles to go so I relaxed and changed the inner tube. I’m now rocking a michelin latex comp tube!

Just as I set off again and get 5 minutes down the road, I had to wipe my eye, My sunglasses fell off and luckily got stuck in between my pedals and didn’t make the floor. Saying its been an eventful day is an understatement!

The last photo is what a man looks like after being out all day riding near on 100 miles! I was dripping from head to toe with sweat. Its probably the hardest day I’ve had, not just physically but mentally swell. Guess I’m going to sleep well tonight!

Today’s journey was 99.16 miles, riding time of 6:35:42, max speed 36.1 mph, avg speed 15.04 mph, 5830 calories, 4.5 litres so far.

Well I’ve had better days, but I’ve also had worse days. Started with a bad nights sleep, couldn’t get into a deep sleep and kept tossing and turning all throughout the night. I forced my tired self up though when the alarm went off and then set off on schedule. Today’s journey was going to be around the 70 mile mark, so my first longish ride in a few days. I was using the google route that I had printed out as there was a stretch of about 65 miles all on the same road. The weather wasn’t the best and has been cloudy all day. As im typing this the heavens have just opened and its raining chats et chiens! Good thing I got here about an hour ago and managed to miss it otherwise that really would have topped things off.

About 7 miles into my journey I could hear a funny noise coming from the bike, now it was different to the squeaks I get when my cycling shorts rub on the saddle and it wasn’t a brake pad rubbing on the wheel. I couldn’t figure out what it was. Anyway I was about to approach an ascent when ping! A spoke broke and started rattling about on the hub. Great! Not having any spare spokes with me, I had to give Tony yet another call, should have him set up on friends and family by now, would be a whole lot cheaper! He said I needed to get it to a shop and get the spoke fixed and make the wheel true again (spinning without a wobble). As I was 7 miles away from where I had set off and there was a Decathlon shop there I didn’t know whether to head back or try and carry on. It would have been very risky to head back the 7 miles as I don’t even know if the shop is open on a Sunday, I know not many places are as everywhere I have rode through today has been like a ghost town! So with Tony’s advice I secured it with a velcro tie wrap so that it wouldn’t rattle and then took it easy for the next 63 miles. I got here in good time even with taking it easy, there were some slow up hill parts but I tried to coast down as many downhill parts as I could. I have googled my nearest Decathlon shop and will be outside it first thing tomorrow when it opens! I will probe pack all my gear up with me and take it as the shop is on the way to my next destination. No point riding the 5 miles there and back, that’s just pointless. So I’m hoping they can fix the spoke and re true the wheel. Fingers crossed for my guys as I have a tough few days ahead.

Today’s journey was 70.04 miles, riding time of 5:16:16, max speed 28.3 mph, avg speed 13.29 mph, 3906 calories, 3 litres so far.

Well I had myself a really nice relaxing morning, little lay in, and got up and ready in my own time no rush and set off on my way just after 10:30.

After 10 miles or so I came to a place called Rochefort, it had this really nice bridge that had lots of people running and cycling over. I had to take a picture as I’ve got one sad mate that likes bridges, not naming names (Navin) this one was for you.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago about the rule of keeping your mouth shut so bugs cant fly in, well also a lot of bugs and flying insects have flown into me hitting my cheeks and my arms and chest. Today I had a Bee fly directly into my sunglasses! made a massive noise and I doubt he would’ve been fit for Saturday.

I got a rare add to the list of road kill today, as horrible as it sounds, I’m almost looking for different species now as I’ve set myself the challenge. Now as you know the rules are that it has to be intact and fresh. Today I saw a Fox, and also which after a lengthy google search I can confirm a Racoon!

Now I always have it in my head that’ll stop for some lunch or food after a couple of hours riding. I set the sat nav screen up so I just see map view, and my odometer I have set on the time. This way you don’t get to see how many miles it is to go, as I found out in the first few days that can hurt looking down and seeing 50 miles still to go. So about 1 o’clock I flicked through the menu to see how far I had to go and I had coasted to 16 miles to go without even pushing it. So instead of taking it easy like I said I would today as it was such a short journey, I saw my average miles per hour was pretty good and better than what I had achieved back on day 1. So I opted not to stop but to push on and get here in quick time. Setting a new PB for the trip so far with 14.47 mph average speed.

When I arrived in Saintes I thought I would go for a little walk, big mistake! What I thought would be a little walk turned into being about 5 miles! Not the sort of thing I really wanted after a bike ride and long few days ahead of me. Remind me never to do that again. But i did get to see a couple of Cathedrals and a nice river. Also had what I assume was a local wedding drive by me, there must have been a convoy of about 20-30 cars all beeping there horns following the newly weds down the street. I was gutted not to get a little video, well guess what, 5 minutes later they came back up the same street so I filmed away for you all to see.

Had to get a snap of me with this Avis people carrier, first one I’ve seen on my travels!

I know your all probe thinking why is there a picture of a toe! Well I was walking back from the supermarket and stubbed it on this rock, grazed all the top and even showing signs of a bit of claret! Hopefully nothing that’s going to effect my nice ride into Bordeaux tomorrow.

Today’s journey was 40.93 miles, riding time of 2:49:44, max speed 26 mph, avg speed 14.47 mph, 2372 calories, 3 litres so far.

Wedding Drive By

Pretty much a very similar thing happened like yesterday, I had set off at a good time and then within first mile or so I had photo taken. It was with Napoleon himself and the city was once called Napoleon Sur Yon and built for Napoleon I. The monsieur that I asked to take the photo joked and went to run away with it, which I didn’t see coming, a Frenchman with a sense of humor!

I bought this amazing loaf of Brioche yesterday for breakfast today and lunch. It was amazing, so good in fact that I’ve bought it again for breaky tomorrow swell as a tub of jam! mmmm, I love jam!

I was quite far into my ride today when I was cruising past some fields with barrels of hay staggered everywhere. Now after working with my dad for so long, you pick up his skills for spotting a bit of wildlife where others would fail and miss out on. Perched up on top of a barrel of hay about 20 foot away from me was a Kite. That’s a bird for those of you that don’t know. So I stopped and went to get my camera out, it wasn’t moving and was happy enough to stay and pose. When a farmer and his tractor decided to start up and move in the field opposite! It was like the moment in Ace Ventura Pet Detective when he is trying to catch the White Dove and the mascot pushes it out the way. I missed the moment to take the picture as the Kite took to the sky. Damn tractor man!

I could tell I was getting closer and closer to a holiday destination as I saw more and more English number plates the closer I got to La Rochelle. This is actually the closest I have stayed to the coastline since I left 10 days ago and I really noticed the sea breeze coming in and making it harder to pedal into. What was nice however was the massive sprinklers they have hear watering the fields, every now and then when they spray over the way your riding you get a nice mist to cool you down.

I’m actually staying just outside of La Rochelle in a place called Angoulins. Its a nice little town with a really cool water feature in the main square next to the church, I took a photo of this for anyone interested. Also had to add the photo of me at the beach as I hear the weather at home is a little stormy! Although from looking at google maps I didn’t think it would be that much of a walk, about 45 minutes later I was there, and thats not really the sort of thing I had planned to do after a 60 mile ride!

At one point today I thought sat nav was trying to stitch me up, it took me down this farmers road (pic below) and although it was a shorter route, it wasn’t the way I would have liked to go!

Some more rules to let you know that I have made up over the last few days, Rule 3, Never go one handed to wipe your face or wiggle your numb hand when a massive arctic lorry whizz’s past! Rule 4, Keep your mouth shut when going fast, bugs seem to find there way in like its a homing beacon!

Today’s journey was 59.2 miles, riding time of 4:20:50, max speed 27.3 mph, avg speed 13.62 mph, 3318 calories, 3 litres so far.