Day 4 Cholet to Rochefort Sur Mer - 103.79 miles

So we rolled out of Cholet, Oscar felt better after a night of icing and resting his knees and some large doses of anti inflammatories from our mobile pharmacy.

The villages were a constant delight and the countryside really was stunning. We loved these rides and the lack of traffic and good road surfaces made them a perfect spot for a bike ride. We cruised along gently not wanting to put too much strain on Oscar who was by now suffering again. By morning coffee it was clear that for him to continue would jeopardise his whole trip and possibly his knees in the future so we made the unenviable decision to put him in the car. Thank heavens for our superb support crew who were soon at the rendevouz point and taking care of loading Oscars bike on the roof of the car. We all hoped that with a day or two of rest he would be able to continue the trip, it was a long shot but worth a try. Anterior knee pain is not fun and with legs that are as long as Oscars the joint forces in his knees are alot higher than most so he was always likely to be predisposed. Seeing the bike on the roof was a sad sight. However he is a young man and needs his knees. Some decisions in life are hard but have to be taken for the longer term good. He had ridden a fantastic distance already. |We waited to see what difference a rest would do.



The afternoon we sped up a little as we were making slow progress had still had a long way to go to get to Rochefort on the Atlantic coast. We were just too late by a few weeks it seems to see the now regular fields of sunflowers in the fields who all hung their heads solemly as we rode past. The yellow faded and the sun apparently all gone from their wilted bodies. Occasionally though we found a field where they were still at full strength and they were at those times a real sight to behold.

We crossed various canals and streams and as the late afternoon sun started to set eventually made it to Rochefort Sur Mer where our hotel was in the Ramparts of the old city. It was on the other side of an open bridge into the enclosed harbour so our final hurdle of the day for Jeff was to navigate us around the harbour to the hotel on the other side. Sadly there was no time left to use the facilities and try the thermal baths attached to the hotel. we were far too focussed on food and sleep.

Of course the trouble with writing these blog posts so many days after the event is that you forget some of the important things that happen along the way. I did grill the team the other night to prompt me for the things we should be including and yet I have managed to forget the fact that on our way to Rochefort we stopped for our now customary picnic lunch in a quiet spot and it was hosted by Mr & Mrs Cleminson (Kate's mum and dad) who live in France. We have really enjoyed the family aspects of this trip, meeting so many family members and having a support crew that contains people of all ages. It really has been one of the major highlights of the trip and has made it more than just a team event. Its made it much more personal and in true Healix tradition it we all feel part of a wider family.  

Day 3 Mayenne to Cholet - 106 miles

The day started with the first of many 'faffing' sessions. It was the first morning with access to all of our bags and bike kit so there was much organising and no established routine yet.

We ate breakfast in the hotel then set off out of town. This is a luxury we have rarely experienced since, generally leaving before breakfast has even been thought about.

Leaving Mayenne meant leaving Gary Edmondson behind so the day started off very quietly without the usual quips emanating from the peloton in a thick yorkshire accent. We missed his company but our peloton was now 7 and we rolled through beautiful lush green farmlands of the western Loire region and the beauty of the scenery was a welcome distraction from the relentless number of miles we had to pedal until that nights stop in Cholet.

One routine we had quickly established though was our morning coffee stop and no matter how quiet rural France is there is generally always a little tabac or coffee stop in a village or town so this morning was no exception.

A long day on the road of 100 miles or more is much more easily achieved in the mind when its broken into sections. It does of course also break up the physical effort to stop for breaks and so morning coffee and afternoon ice creams have become some of the highlights of our days.

If the peloton were larger we could be mistaken for a plague of locusts, arriving into towns, eating everything in site then moving swiftly on.

The lunchstop on this day was a memorable one. We sat on the steps of what looked like a local government building in a pretty square and ate our picnic. An interested french man and his wife came to interrogate us over lunch on our trip and with full mouths we were able to point at the support vehicles to offer him most of the answers to his questions.

This was the day that Oscar's knees started to become a real issue for him, the pain was increasing as was the size of the effusions of the knees although he rode on not wanting to get off his bike. The gradients were fairly gentle as were the size of the hills so we all moved on aware that we were really in the heart of some of the nicest wine regions in France. I was really looking forward to a glass of a local dry white wine that evening as a treat at the end of the day.

We reached the Loire river and stopped at a little picnic spot for an ice cream. The weather had noticeably imprpoved and each day was getting warmer. Ice cream suddenly seemed like a perfect snack not something anyone of the first leg to Portsmouth would have been looking for I am sure. The road turned to cycle path for a few kilometres before we crossed the Loire river and headed onto Cholet.

The last few miles Oscar was suffering and he Chris and I rode a little way back at a more gently pace. Oscar was determined to finish the day and I was torn between helping him achieve his goal and worrying about the state of his young and precious knees. Eventually we made it to the hotel which was a fabulous little place and where they couldnt have been more helpful. We took our bikes into our hotel rooms for safe keeping and Oscar put some ice on his rather sore knees before we all tucked into some take away pizzas.

We had finished quite late in the day and the onus was on eating and preparing for the next day. So we were quick to bed to be ready for an early start to Rochefort and our second day of more than 100 miles.



We are alive and well!

OK so there have been no blog posts of late. Sorry, I had been hoping to catch up with myself but have failed miserably.

Suffice to say it's because we have been busy. Still cycling, eating and sleeping everyday for more than a week (well except the recent rest day in Biarritz).

I have been taking photos along the way and of course there are all sorts of stories to tell which I will eventually update but for now I am simply going to tell you of today.

It's after 11 and I have to be up for breakfast at 06.00hrs. So it will be quick.

This morning we left a beautiful 'Parador' hotel in Sos del Rey del Catolico. Sadly we had to leave before Dawn and also we waved goodbye to our second support car containing Kate and Lucy. We left before Dawn and headed straight up our first climb of the day. About 3-4 km up to a summit in the dark.

As we reached the top the sun was up for the descent down the other side and thankfully the day was mostly overcast so we were spared the full brunt of the Spanish heat. We seem to have the perfect ability to climb the biggest hills at midday.

Our new support team quickly got into the swing of things though and were passing out cold water bottles as we climbed. Earlier in the day we had got a waterbottle refill from a fireman when we couldn't find a shop open.

3 more punctures took our total to 10 so far.

The landscape in Spain has changed to a more semi arid one and we passed many olive groves and vineyards. Its no surprise that the temperature appears to ride daily too. its like riding directly at a hand dryer all day blowing warm wind in your face.

A quick stop in the shade to refuel and meet the support team at lunchtime is a welcome ritual now. The logistics of keeping 6 hungry cyclists happy is not easy.

The last few miles of the day rolled gently through an almost deserted but stunningly beautiful gorge where the only other people we saw were the fruit pickers and a man cutting his lawn in his speedos! He was also using a hand scythe to cut it. Jef says he will take the image of that man to his grave it was such a vivid and unexpected one. ;-)

I didn't manage to write as much as I would have liked last night before I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I am trying to finish this as I shovel in more calories in the form of breakfast. Today's ride profile doesn't appear to have any large climbs (more than 3-4 miles at a time) but it goes up and down all day. It's only 94 miles too...! That's exiting and feels like a holiday to do less than 100. It's been more than a week. The forecast is showing 81 degrees by midday. Ouch so I had best head off so we can get on the road.

Adios Amigos...

Photos won't upload so I have had to remove them but will add them later on another connection.

Location:Paseo de San Nicolás de Francia,Calatayud,Spain

Day 2 Caen to Mayenne - 90.6 miles

I know we are almost through France but today is a rest day, so I finally have time to try and catch up with where we have been. I can also show you some of what we have been up to.

Jill is asleep next to me. Today there were no alarms to wake us in the darkness of pre dawn. When I awoke this morning it was light already. I think that's the first time in more than 2 weeks.

So we left Blighty on the ferry from Portsmouth and by the time the ferry was loaded and we had found cabins it was close to midnight. Then we were all gently awoken by music from the ships intercom at about 5.45. It was at that point I was glad the ferry wasn't run by Ryanair. Can you imagine that horrible trumpet sound telling you the ferry has arrived early?

We unpacked in the car park of the ferry and faffed around quite a bit with bikes and water bottles and chain lube etc. At this point we still hadn't got into a routine and had some trouble locating kit. Some bike clothes were still damp and most of us had the pleasure of cold wet bike shoes to wear.

So 8 of us rolled off into the early morning light. The rain had made way for light clouds and blue skies. When it eventually came up, the sun was shining on us.

The peloton was now down to Paul Beven, Matthew Beven, Kiwi Jill, Chris Vaughan, Oscar Geen, Jeff Cleminson, myself and Gary Edmondson of the Avid All Stars. Gary had joined us from London and has been a veteran of many a Healix road trip in the past. He couldn't come all the way to Gibraltar but wasn't going to miss the opportunity to ride to Mayenne, (where his parents live) with us.

We were delighted to have him as he definitely makes the peloton a more lively place and keeps morale high. There's never a dull moment with Gary around. We have to thank him too for taking more than his far share on time on the front and pulling us along as much as he could to help save our legs. A real team player. Thanks Gary.

Having avoided the breakfast scrum on the boat in favour of sleep we were pretty hungry after just a few kilometres and with about 90 miles to ride needed to make sure we had fuel on board.

The support cars found the first of many Boulangeries and stocked up on the first of many croissants and pain au chocolat.

They caught up with us for breakfast on a small tree lined avenue and we all ate swiftly. We had very definitely arrived in France.



The other fabulous thing about France is the distinct lack of potholes and traffic. We made quick progress across flat arable land, weaving between the crop fields.

Later the ground started to undulate gently, only improving the scenery and not even disrupting our rhythm. We were all suffering from a lack of sleep though and there was a feeling of just wanting to get to the hotel and catch up on some sleep. I personally was shattered. The week before the trip had been so busy that, I was worrying about the physical effects of mounting fatigue on muscles and nervous that the leg pain I had got at the end of Land's End John O'Groats may return. I need not have worried as it's been fine thankfully.

Jeff continued to lead us as he had done to Portsmouth with his preprogrammed Garmin. It's a fantastic device that removes the need for many head scratching sessions at junctions wondering which way to turn.



We just followed Jeff and I was more than happy to hand over the responsibility of navigation to someone else and enjoy the view. Heaven. I started to think about all of our sponsors, the man who gave me the 50p in his pocket, all the people at Pimlico tube station and all the other events that have consumed this year and all the other faces and people we have met and who have supported us to get this far.

The route Jeff had programmed was given to us as the recommended route by the BHF. It was originally recc'ed 6 months ago so we knew it had potential to be out of date and we tinkered with it too to adapt to our hotel choices etc. So we weren't too surprised when it led us down a rough gravel path (the first of a couple to date). We seemed to be running out of road. "Why don't we just use that new motorway?" shouts Gary. To our right was a new road being built, not yet open and (like most of France so far) deserted. The chance to ride the wrong way down the fast lane of a motorway on a bike was too tempting an offer so we carried our bikes across and climbed the crash barrier to the new Tarmac.








After a few minutes of picking mud out of our cleats we were ready to conquer new French territory.




After all that excitement we needed a coffee and the next village had a small tabac serving strong coffee. We stopped for what has now become our ritual morning coffee stop. Also a chance to clean more dirt from our cleats.








We rolled on and on and eventually met up with our support cars again for a late lunch. They had been to the supermarket and bought what Healix folk will know as a 'Sainsburys lunch': bread, cheese and all sorts of other goodies. They also found a fabulous lunch spot beside a lake although sadly the weather had closed in on us and having a couple of 'northerners' in the team meant the rain clouds followed us all day. We seemed to be riding in the rain with blue clouds visible on every horizon.








That lunch was truly memorable though, it was like an oasis of food appearing in our desert of Tarmac. We did it justice by stuffing as much as possible before getting too cold and moving on towards Mayenne and the finish at the Campanile hotel. The last few miles of the day rolled through pretty French villages and we couldn't help notice the large number of decorated bicycles.



Perhaps this was on the route of the Tour de France?

Once we had settled into the hotel we had the delight of a night at Chez Edmondson. Gary left us here at his parents house and they very kindly laid on a BBQ with the best burnt sausages (just how we like them) followed by cakes and cheese and every other home comfort imaginable. They even let us make use of their Internet to sort out some route issues I had with my Garmin and use the washing machine for all the soggy, and now smelly, damp clothes from our ride to Portsmouth. We could have stayed and enjoyed the hospitality longer but mindful of the need for an early start and lack of sleep we left early. It wasn't just little Lucy Cleminson who was fading fast.

It was a shame to say goodbye to Gary but we wish him and the Avid All Stars well for their 'Race the Sun' event this weekend. Hopefully the training helped and he might finish the event and make it to the bar at the end this time. We certainly hope to see him in the bar in Gibraltar.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone