London 2 Paris - By any means necessary

I just explained it to my coach in google chat..

me: oh
right
yeah so i'm up the back like a muppet
fuckers are on and off the brakes every 10secs
i miss one of them... the braking bits that is
and i take the 'nice' option of not also slamming on my brakes coz i don't know who is behind me
so.. instead of braking hard i just ease em on and ride up the outside
only the outside isn't much of a gap at all and in fact there is a big solid edge to the grass verge from car wheels when wet or something
so i hit that and flip over
nice
nothing wrong with that
but the fucking bike goes over me and lands straight in the canal!
i scramble up and all i can see is the front wheel
so i lean over to grab it and basically just slide in
one arm on the wheel holding bike, one holding grass edge
i can't see shit
i don't even know if anyone was behind me and saw
it
there was luckily
moto rider shat himself and helped me out
got back on bike and chased
mind you.. we were doing 45kph on a little fucking goat track beside the canal
mental
jenny, some irish pro later told me i crashed 'professionally' haha
she was thankful i didn't just slam on the anchors too
unfortunately for me there was the big lip on the grassy bit which it rode into instead of just a nice flat gap
oh well.. made me famous
then chasing back on at 50kph+ behind the van.. i hit the deck again on a super tight corner
fuck
powertap was bent so i got wheel change and continued..

i was know by everyone as "the fish".. and got mentioned in the speeches at the end
unfortunaately it was overshadowed by a guy getting hit by a moto outrider.. he died in hospital
it was after i'd crashed and we'd regrouped
i was already at the lunch break and i think a bunch had been caught at a level crossing.
he hit diesel and went down and the moto couldn't avoid him
emma davies announced his death to the riders..
all very upsetting which spoilt it a bit
this was after riding into paris though which was amazing!
road closure on sat night riding along the champs elysees! past the arc di triumph and into the eiffel tower park!
awesome
Lawrence: heh
me: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/2625500467_36f5f2b60a_b.jpg
Lawrence: the ride was awesome?
me: yeah
everything was great except for the guy gettign hit
well.. i would have preferred not to crash
but it did give me a certain cred :)
and a story to tell
i told sven (organiser) that i wasn't going to win anything so i had to do SOMETHING interesting to blog about! :D

Sounds great-well done on recovery-but story tells a tale-in a canal -"the fish"-diesel/moto-dead
feel for his kids

Pics off the phone: http://www.thehippy.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=208

thats fucking nuts how do you ride a bike for 17 hours..?

doesn't just like every part of your body go numb..?

I am completely flabberghasted

I mean how do you do it..?

Password required for pics?

I tried throwanothertinnieonthebarbie but it didn't work.

thats fucking nuts how do you ride a bike for 17 hours..?
doesn't just like every part of your body go numb..?
I am completely flabberghasted
I mean how do you do it..?

17? Oh, over the 3 days?

Step 1: Stop arguing with me about wearing expensive knicks :)
Step 2: Wear Assos knicks.
Step 3: Ride lots beforehand.
Step 4: Lube up (if required).

Password required for pics?
I tried throwanothertinnieonthebarbie but it didn't work.

Something odd is going on with my gallery. Passwords? Odd files appearing in new Albums?

Try again.

Well done to all !

Love the canal story :D

Ha! great work!
altho I think a true HTFU would be London 2 Rome? ;)

always sad to hear about unfortunate accidents on these events.

nice one.

i love this bit from the msn conversation

Lawrence: the ride was awesome?

thats fucking nuts how do you ride a bike for 17 hours..? doesn't just like every part of your body go numb..? I am completely flabberghasted. I mean how do you do it..?

just like everything else, practice. we put in loads of training in the lead up. so that you get used to the distance and the pain. i was putting in 250-350kms per week for couple of months. with training you get to know when to drink, when to eat, what your limits are. but really, anyone can do it. some in group 4 only started riding 3-4mths ago

as hippy said, it's over three days. getting 8hrs sleep helps (i only got 5-6hrs tho). i pigged out at every opportunity. your legs do feel tired in the mornings. but they'll be ok once you get back on the bike. my toes cramped up near the end of day two and three. still feel it at the tip of my toes right now. bit like a slight pins and needles.

oh, i still argue over the credibility of a £100 knicks. i use £50 bibs

Nice one dudes! Seems like you had a blast.

Well done again. Sorry to hear about that poor fellow.

Hippy's new ride?

My last pair of Assos knicks was <£65. I've ridden 200k in cheaper knicks before and been fine but I've ridden 50k in cheaper knicks and chaffed like a chaffy thing!

I crashed in them too and my skin went missing but the knicks were fine.

That scooter was left in the hall recharging.. haha muppets.. did they not see the bunch of us drinking like fish?

There's that fish word again.

I was reading the Comic on the Eurostar home yesterday (Rollapaluza gets a mention) and there was a section on avoiding crashes! Oh how I laughed.

So I binned them medium shorts and bought some cheap XL shorts which I have yet to try on my regular 50km run - I still can't quite figure out if this is the right size - these ones feel to big - so maybe I need large - anyway when I figure it I'll invest in some ASSOS - one thing I don't quite get - is why are bibs better than shorts? the other thing I am curious about is the bike. I am planning to go to mosquito bikes later this year and get measured up. The plan is to build an Italian lightweight based around a 1990 C-Record groupset. This I figure ought to be good enough to get me to from Paris to the coast !

yeah, i was wondering about the bib thing. i think it's just cos they stay up and in place instead of slipping down

People who like bib shorts tend to like them because there's no elastic around the top to cut into your guts.. basically. I'm far to trim for any gut cutting so find shorts to be generally easier to use, not to mention cheaper.

Nimhbus, Hippy, I think you are both correct. Bibs for staying up and not cutting your gut in half. Shorts for wearing on social rides under 'normal' clothes. Shorts also popular with the ladies who find it easier to pee with them.
Oh BTW Hippy, have you got some bands for me?? Please!! FE.

Did you abuse the guy on the recumbent?

HTFU bands for fasteddy?! um, yeh, cos you only finished 4th in group 1 KOM?

on bib shorts, i like em cos they dont roll down...keeps my flab in!

How in hell can you have FLAB if you are training 250km a week..?

I take you guys are all riding CARBON? one thing I don't get about carbon bikes is this

Normal steel bikes come in a multitude of different sizes to fit the exact dimensions of the rider

Carbons come in small medium or large

I have had enough trouble figuring out the right size in steel

So how do you size a carbon?

Also are carbons like really fast

buddha - I ride a titanium road bike which is v.nice and you can get some very light steel road bikes

they don't only come in small medium and large, they come in normal sizes too don't they? depends on the manufacturer, i thought?