L2P - Day 4

The excitement, apprehension and relief of the last day were evident amongst the magnificent 7 before we started to pedal for the last stretch to Paris. Bad weather was forecast for the majority of our riding time today. We have been very lucky with the weather over the entire ride so a bit of rain on the last day surely wouldn’t hurt us. My legs, thighs and bum were really pounding now with the last 3 days starting to take its toll.

We set off a little later again today and after breakfast we collected Ryan as usual who had suffered the Kyriad treatment the night before. Simon led the pack out of Beauvais and our immediate first challenge was a long and irritating hill. It wasn’t too steep but it seemed to go on for a very long time. We were only a few miles in and the rain came and came all over us for a very long time. Along with the rain the wind decided to turn up and add to the torment by double teaming us with the rain. The conditions had really turned for the worse. The wind was driving the rain at us very hard and it was really hurting at times when it hit our faces. The only way to avoid the body getting cold was to get down to business and pedal hard without stopping for too long. This led to more solo riding than the previous group riding and teamwork we had on previous days. Everyone had to get through today at their fastest paces to get out of the awful conditions as soon as they could.

The conditions were awful and naturally there were a lot of grumblings from the group about this. I had done pretty much most of my training in this type of weather having cycled a horrible 80 miler to Oxford in horrendous weather and a previous ride to Brighton for 7 hours of hell so I was well prepared for this. Today's cycling was really head down stuff and just get through it and then enjoy the last few miles riding in to Paris.

Fighting the conditions the group did meet briefly at the 22 mile water stop but we didn’t hang around long as we were drenched entirely through. When we set off again there were 3 sub-groups formed for the last 30 mile push in to Paris with Michael and Ryan teaming up, me and Paul pushing each other and then David, Lucy and Simon sticking together. I enjoyed the ride with Paul at this time as we really spun through it at a good pace. We did however miss the lunch stop and rode straight on through to holding point where the entire group would meet at 2.30. We obviously arrived too early at this point and in this holding area there was really nowhere to eat, drink or keep warm so we turned around and went in to town and found a lovely little café where we had some scram and a very overpriced beer at €12 euros a pop.

After warming up as much as we could and celebrating our achievement so far we headed back to the holding area and meet the group for the ride in to Paris, which was only 3 miles away. As you can imagine it was very hard to coordinate 158 cyclists riding in central Paris and finishing under the Eiffel tower. The good news was that the rain kindly stopped and granted us some respite for the final roll to the end.

Once we got moving on that final 3 miles to the tower it gave me time to think about why I was actually doing this. It was a very strange ride in. I was very pensive, emotional, removed and constantly looking up at the sky. I thought a lot about close family members lost to illness and hoped that the money I raised for my charity Mind could help prevent people going through some of the experiences me and my family have had. I also write this now quite emotional hoping that my father would have been proud of me as that it all I would have ever wanted.

Once we got to the last approach to the tower we came in to the end point where all the cyclists’ families and friends stood clapping us on to the finish. This again was so emotional and I really enjoyed the feeling of all the joy and emotion together at this point. It was an excellent uplifting feeling.

All that was left to do was congratulate each other, sip some bubbles and get snapping to remember and document the superb achievement that this group of 158 cyclists had completed.

I am really going to miss the cycling, the great group of guys in the magnificent 7, the bonds created, jeans man, speed freaks, electric bike woman, vicars and just the experience. I will not miss the 50 notifications on the Facebook group every 10 minutes including SP updates. I feel lucky and privileged to have been able to do this and I am looking forward to many more miles on the bike in the near future. On that note, I love you Rex you have done me proud and did not let me down at all. I might even give you a clean when I get back as a special treat.

Congratulations to all that completed the ride I am proud of you all and myself.

Chris “Big Cog” Lee out...