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So this was it, the final day! A quick 8am breakfast before wagons east at 9! In case you're wondering, that's Mr Hannam's saying of the trip 'wagons east', aka departure time! I'm not sure how much of the time we were actually heading east, but hey, let's not get caught up in minor detail. Anyway 'wagons south' doesn't sound half as good!
Ride 1 of the day was a beautiful 32 miles through the French countryside. It certainly wasn't as flat as we expected, but as we know, what goes up, must come down, so we enjoyed some fantastic descents!
The weather was blisteringly hot and there was a big focus on hydration throughout the morning. Our trusty van man Neil also played his part, helping to keep us cool with a fairly simple but effective technique (see video!)
Stop 1 was in a lovely little village 50 miles ish outside of Paris, the temperature was continuing to rise so the focus was again on hydration and sun cream!
Nutrition was the usually gels, bananas and energy bars for most. However, Craig had showed some very impressive forward planning, making himself a cheeky cheese and ham sandwich at breakfast and smuggling it out for later in the day! That's why he's a portfolio director!
Then we were back on the bikes and into the penultimate ride of the trip!
The fact that we were in the later stages of the trip began to show this afternoon, mainly in the form of how comfortable and uninhibited we have all become around each other. In particular I'm talking about flatulence. It's descended into a rugby tour like free for all, no exceptions, even in the presence of ladies.
I just hope that the team can revert to more polite and private ways after the trip, no one needs that sort of thing halfway through a team meeting in Craigivar!
In other news, Matt became the second faller of the trip, managing to go down from a stopped position and with 1 foot already unclipped!
After another quick stop at the 55 mile mark we set off for a group ride all the way into Paris, a mere 25 miles away!
However, that didn't go quite to plan, we lost the route and spent an hour or so climbing hill after hill in 30+ degree heat only to end up pretty much where we started! It took its toll on us all!
Unfortunately that extremely tough period saw a retirement. After completing a inspiring 190+ miles in 3 days in super hot conditions and with some hellish climbs, it was with absolutely no shame that Debs had to call it a day.
Group morale of course took a bit of a knock as we were a 'man down' but the show had to go on, we rendezvoused with the support van and Debs headed back with Neil. For the rest of us, it was onward to Paris!
Matt, Shane and Craig did a top job of finding us an alternative (and much shorter) route, not an easy job, and that was it - off we went.
45 minutes later we were within touching distance of the Arc de Triomphe!
We could see the arc getting closer and closer for the last few miles, and pretty quickly we were there!
There had been a lot of talk of a Tour de France style sprint finish up the Champs élysées, however our new route brought us in on the other side of the arc, and after a long hot day in the saddle we were all happy to ride in together!
So that was it, job done! Mucho hugs, high fives, photos and whoops followed!
Later that night it was time to celebrate! It was a quick turn around and back out for steak and chips!
Following that we really showed what a bunch of culture vultures we all are, heading to a British pub and then on to a Irish bar to continue the celebrations! Needless to say a good time was had by all!
So thats it, what an effort from a fantastic team, 200+ tough miles over 3 days in extreme heat, and over four thousand pounds raised for Just a Drop!
Special mentions must go to Neil who did a outstanding job of being our supporting driver and also to Shane who organised the trip and was a top team leader throughout! Thanks chaps!
Finally, thank you again to everyone who has supported us, if you would still like to donate you can do it here: www.justgiving.com/the-reed-wheelers
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