We got to Paris on August 12 and dragged the bike case from the airport to the train for the ride to St. Quentin where the ride started the following Monday. Well it turns out that the transfer station at St. Michelle was under construction so we had to drag the bike case and luggage out of the train station and across the street to the subway. It wasn't all bad though because that's where I met Pia. I told you about her, she was the art salesperson from Canada that went to school in Paris and lived there now. We talked during the subway ride and agreed to meet after the ride, in Paris, when she got back from Spain. We never got together but had some nice correspondence after I got back from the ride.We finally got to the hotel in St. Quentin and since I didn't make reservations, I slept the first night in the hotel lobby. I talked to a lot of people mostly from the USA that were staying at the Hotel Campanile. One of the guys, Alexei from the Ukraine but living in Virginia asked if I would join a group of about 7 guys that were going to take a bike tour of Paris the next day and I said sure. After putting my bike together the next morning along with everybody else, the group of us took off for Paris, about 20 miles away. We went past Versailles and after taking some pictures Alexei knew this park that connected Versailles with Paris so we rode through this beautiful park with views of Paris from the heights (more pictures). All this time I had Sport tied to the back of my saddle sitting on top of the saddle bag facing backwards, he stayed there for the rest of my stay in France including the ride. I think you'll love the pictures of Sport at all the sites in Paris. We even rode up the "Champs de Elyse" on the cobblestones where the Tour de France finishes every year. After riding back to the hotel and having some beers one of the guys, Hank from upstate New York, offered to share his room with me so that's where I stayed until the ride. A few days later the rest of my group from New York City came in; most of them were delayed by the blackout in the states. Some had to sleep at the airport for the night before they flew over. We got together the next day and discussed our strategy for the ride.We got together just before the ride on Monday, August 18th and rode to the starting line about one kilometer away for the 10pm start point. I was awake from early that morning. I tried to nap in the afternoon but I think I got only about 15 minutes of sleep; that caused a problem later on in the ride. Since we were some of the last people to get to the start that night we started in the last wave that left at about 10:45 pm. (we were given credit for the late start.) We all had our reflective vests and lights on and took off in a crowd of thousands of other riders. There were people all along the first few kilometers clapping and cheering so the adrenaline was pumping and I didn't feel tired at all. The eight of us, Tom, Paul, Robert and Annaline, Janet and Paul R., Margo and I, took off together but only about 20 or 30 kilometers into the ride Tom and Paul decided to go it alone; they felt it was too dangerous trying to stick together in a tight pack amongst all the other riders. We were going slowly at night because everybody rides more slowly when its dark, plus there was a big crowd of riders around us; probably 12 mph or so. Riding at night was not bad at all. We had others to talk to, the weather was great and the French people were unbelievably supportive. At one point at about 2 or 3am, we stopped at a country house were an old lady and her husband were serving coffee and cake from their window to any rider that wanted some (more pictures). We rode through the night, all the next day, Tuesday, and into Wednesday morning when we stopped at Loudeac for our first sleep stop at about 2am. Well, by the time we ate, we had to eat mass quantities of food, burning about 10,000 calories a day, had our magnetic cards swiped and books stamped, we only got about 1 1/2 hours sleep before we had to get up for more food and a 5am start to Brest and then back to Loudeac for our next nights sleep. The first leg to Loudeac was about 275 miles and the next leg to Brest and back to Loudeac was about 200 miles but the miles got tougher because of fatigue and the lack of sleep and it got progressively worse as the days went by. (Now you have to realize that my sense of time and when things happened and were is a little fuzzy because of the lack of sleep, so some of what I'm writing may not be at the right time or the right place but you'll get the general idea.) The ride to Brest was pretty good and the ride back from Brest was even better. On the way back the six of us led a group of about 40 international riders up the biggest climb of the entire ride, Roc Trevezel, and guess who pulled the entire group to the summit, that's right your dad. It felt really good. (Of course, this was the 90 hour group and probably at the middle to the end of that group but still ...) Earlier in the day Annaline was having some trouble keeping up, so I went back to talk to her and encourage her to continue. I guess it worked and she was not only able to catch back up but later on actually helped me when I started having back spasms; she took my camelbak from me and carried it on her back. By the way, her family drove a van and was our support crew for the entire ride. They were great and her sister even massaged my back when we would stop for food at the control points. They bought food for us so we wouldn't have to wait in line, filled our water bottles and were just generally supportive; it really helped. My back spasms were getting worse and I had to see a doctor at the next control stop. He rubbed my back with some sports creme to heat it up and it helped a little but not enough; I made another stop at the doctor's tent again latter in the day. This sort of made my other problems go away, sores in my mouth from all the ham and butter sandwiches on hard french bread, sore knees, neck, butt and hands from hours in the saddle (doctor it hurts when I do that; well don't do that). By this time I had saddle sores that didn't go away for a week after I finished the ride and my butt was black and blue for that week too. Everybody had some problems and some were a lot worse then mine. Hank, the guy I shared a room with told me later on that he couldn't hold his head up because his muscles failed and even worse his heart rate wouldn't slow down for a while during the ride. Tom had diarrhea; he got a shot from the doctor that fixed him up, Robert got nausea, etc. etc. Any way, I think this takes us to Wednesday night, Thursday morning back in Loudeac. Another 1 1/2 hours of sleep. I shared a room with Janet and Paul R. By the time I checked in at the control and got to the hotel, Janet was sound asleep, I don't even think she ate anything that night. After a shower and that quick sleep we were back on the bikes at 5am for a 175 mile day, so I thought. At this point we were all suffering from lack of sleep and various other ailments like back spasms and nausea. Janet had to ride by herself for a while so Paul R and she fell back as the rest of us continued on. So now we were down to four. It was absolutely gorgeous country and the people on the side of the road were great. There were places in the middle of the night that would have tables set up with food and water for anyone who needed it. Here is where things get really fuzzy. I think it was Thursday that my back got a lot worse and by the night time after a stop in Fougeres(?) we were riding in the middle of the night when I pulled over to the side of the road and told my three partners that I couldn't go on anymore because of my back. I was slowing the group down and they were in danger of not making the next controle inside the time limit. They tried to talk me into to going on but I knew that we would all be disqualified if they waited for me so I convinced them to go on without me. I pulled out my space blanket and tried to sleep on the side of the rode at an intersection in some small town on the way to Mortange? This was about 2am and it was damp and about 40 degrees so I couldn't sleep. I looked at my bike leaning against a building and saw Sport looking at me and I think he said that I better get back on the bike and finish, I didn't want to get his mom upset (you). So, I got back on the bike and peddled squares for a few miles but had to stop again because of my back and the lack of sleep. I laid down next to a farm field under the stars in my space blanket but again couldn't go to sleep so I figured I'd ride to the next controle to sleep inside. Back on the bike again by myself in the middle of the night and my lights were starting to fail; my computer had fallen off the bike earlier in the night but I got that back. I got to Mortagne about 5am just as my three partners were leaving. They asked if I would join them but I had to eat and sleep so I said to go on without me. When I got in, I realized that I had just made the time cut off so I figured after sleeping and eating, I'd continue with the ride and see how I felt. I had to wait until daylight because of my lights so I ate $12 Euros worth of food which was a lot and slept on the floor in the cafeteria. I got back on the bike about 7am in daylight and felt a lot better. the heat of the day helped my back and I was flying through the rolling countryside. On the flats I was hitting 27 mph and passing everybody like they were standing still. The speed really helped with the rollers since I was able to go up the hills with the momentum I had from the downhills. By the end of the day I had caught up with my group; I made up about 2 hours on them in one day from 7am to 4 pm. This was not a flat course and there were some major climbs. Total climbing was about 31,000 feet and even though Roc Trevezel was the highest and longest (miles) the forest at Rambouillet was the meanest. It was near the end of the last day, Friday, and it was very steep. One guy in front of me slowed down so much that he fell off his bike. That morning there were a bunch of ambulances going out to get riders that had fallen asleep on their bikes or were suffering from hypothermia. Janet told me later that she helped a guy who had fallen asleep and crashed on his face. There was a lot of blood and he was out; speculation was that he died from the crash. So I was glad I slept that morning and felt strong at the end. I think the ride is more about going fast so you can get some sleep rather then just going fast to make the cut offs.
(to be continued)
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