240 miles down, and 60 miles to Paris

 

I obviously wrote this mid ride, but thought I'd still show you it as it was, to get a feel for all the things that struck me then:

It is close enough to the end of our big sponsored bike ride to maybe assume that we *will* get there tomorrow, but I have to admit that the little 'accident' (French pronunciation please) had yesterday did throw the whole thing into uncertainty. 

I clipped the rear wheel of the bike in front as we took a right hand turn and went flying to the left to impact the tarmac. The only good thing was that by interposing my body between the bike and the road it saved my bike further damage. Not me,alas. I have lovely 'street pizza' as skateboarders call it. I also have bangs and bruises which are only now revealing themselves.

(anachronistic update: this is my bruised shoulder a few days after the finish. Let's see if it gets through the filters)

But today I rode, gingerly and with painkillers, but happily the pain of some steep hills finds itself able to replace any bruise and graze pain that you have. So a win. And the French countryside was beautiful. We did however learn to look out for any village name that had 'Montagne' appended to it, as that indicated the propinquity of a declivity. We rode about 70 miles up some vicious hills and gorgeous uplands, dotted with picturesque villages. People even came out to cheer us on. France is definitely a country that accepts and celebrates cyclists of any stripe. And incidentally, we have a lovely posse of motorbike outriders, who zoom ahead of us to close off all side roads and junctions, so that our passage is smooth, even if still laced with hill-related pain. In fact, one of the outriders on his huge 1000 cc Honda has a quite powerful boom box, and will play "Je ne regrette rien" as we roll over the finish line each day. Om not sure *every* rider would agree with Piaf's sentiments.

And one excellent thing for me was that I could get to talk to other people who have myeloma, finding out their origin story and trajectory. Some are quite amazing. One woman is cycling the 300 miles after 17 years of myeloma. She uses an electric bike but is tough enough to not turn it on unless it is really needed. There is another guy with myeloma who is going to do the whole 'Tour Dr France' course in 21 days. These people are inspirations to me.

And it is also very interesting to see how your body reacts to 4 days of hard riding. You load up on carbs, stay hydrated and snack through the day but you can feel your body physically changing as you get used to the work. The hills do become somehow more accommodated even if you are tired at the end. You find you are standing up on the pedals sometimes without knowing who decided to do that. And the momentum of the other cyclists can drag you forwards. I have even overtaken some!

But the question in everyone's minds is "would I do it again?". Well in the mind of anyone who isn't already doing it again, as many are. The answer is a hard no from many of us. But for me? It's definitely a maybe. Fancy joining me in 2028?