2010-11-05 - London to Paris

What are you talking about?

ah youre awake,
just about carrying spares and shit-- when I first met you it wasnt a priority

Really?...I've always carry a spare tube, multi tool and tyre levers on rides.

And rather than me sticking my number up on here, pm me if you feel it could be useful and I'll provide it, or at least the number of a south American ladyboy.

is everyone ready?
passports?
food & hydration products?
a good supply of htfu?

the last may be required as the weather forecast is for wet and windy condidtion, though they seem to be toning down the forecasted severity of both over time.

I usually use weather.com

Tonight (Newhaven): 12mph headwind (SW) gusting to 28mph, light-moderate rain
Tomorrow (Dieppe): 17mph headwind (SW), moderate rain
Monday (Dieppe): Light rain

http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/UKXX0274
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxdetail/FRXX0224?dayNum=1

went a bit apeshit o the pizza action last night. slept badly as a result. now feel like shit.
fucking need to sleep on the ferry or tomorrow will suck balls.

Remember to eat plenty through the night guys, and take advantage to the early opening patisseries!

^ agreed.
i'm bringing some homebrew pot belge too, to keep us going.
i made it from neurofen plus, brandy and proplus because i dont know any coke dealers anymore, let alone where to find morphine. anyone who who can hook me up with that stuff - please pm.

Nice to meet you guys, thanks for the pastries Gerald and thanks for the beer Sophie.
Good solid riding through the wet and cold.

Got very, very lost in Paris indeed...

It's quite easy on the way in.. Not a huge amount of sign-age through the suburbs are there? Did you guys do any night riding or was it all timed to be daytime?

great ride, thanks all.

minor mishaps included a puncture in brixton (thanks BC for the use of the pump outside the store) and ta2 and Pifco not being allowd on their train out of town until 7pm and having to train it all the way to Lewes as a result. other than that all went very smoothly.
cycling past Lewes was surreal, cops had the roads in and out locked down with roadblocks. once we were through it was a weird ride down roads with no cars but drunk peds appearing out of the darkness and all being occasionaly lit by fireworks from above like the bridge scene in apocalypse now.
sleeping on the ferry sucked. cabin next time for sure but at least it was fairly quiet.
on the french side all was great except for the continual rain which eventually soaked us all, regardless of our kit and chilled some of us pretty badly. beautiful riding though and made all the more dramatic, and melancholy in parts, by the rain.
for me anyway the ride was defined by the cold. keeping an eye on cadence knowing that staying warm required a steady 100rpms. my own fault for getting soaked first and putting on a stowaway after.
couple of factors caused us to decide to bail about 40km outside Paris. we really werent confident that riding in through the city would get us to gare de nord in time to check in bikes the required hour before the 5:15 train.
still, my odometer showed 170 miles of riding. not bad for an overnighter with 2 hours of sleep.

great bunch of riders, all running roadworthy and suitable equipment, all dressed to handle cold and miles, all carrying sufficient spares for minor mechanicals and all fit enough to do the ride without flagging.
beautiful french riding and the fairly familiar english roads down to the coast made even more enjoyable by the dark and anticipation.

many thanks all, lets do it again soon.

Did you guys do any night riding or was it all timed to be daytime?

left london late afternoon, got to newhaven approx 2200.
arrived dieppe 0400 french time and started riding. sunrise was at approx 0745 (we'd made a note of this so we knew when to expect daylight)
about 8 hours of riding in the dark i guess.

Matt and all.. very well done.. hope you are all recovering now.. maybe i'll join you next time if i can get home office approval.

Al

Only managed 60km of my weekend ride before the rain. Doesn't matter what you wear in that sort of rain! How did you guys get back to blighty?

kristian, keep riding and i got on the eurostar asap.
ta2, pifco and sophieelizabethr stayed in paris.

good effort all of you in any case, that was some nasty weather! Even without the rain that's a decent effort of course.

t'was fun.

2 Attachments

Today brings new meaning to the words cold and wet. Saturday has been downgraded to 'damp' and 'chilly'. Fucking 30mm rain, 25 mph wind and max temp 6C. Oh and no waterproofs. Apparently my nose was purple just before we abandoned. Still in Dieppe.

oh no matt what happened?!

Shall we organise celebratory beers now we are all back in blighty and dry?

oh no matt what happened?!

Shall we organise celebratory beers now we are all back in blighty and dry?

+1

i'm up for a beer.

So beers, when, where? Thursday night?

yeah, lets get a beer on thursday night.
everyone ok with ths?

Was just looking at the monthly weather forecast for a potential 2nd attempt.

well done to everyone involved in this. the weather gods were not with you on this one, were they??

another attempt this year would be foolish brave!