Why You Should Keep a Tour Log

One of the biggest benefits we had from JR's iPad on our Paris to Venice trip - second only to its help in navigating our way across 1440 km of Europe - was in JR's daily log.

Although many of L'Express' diary entries were phoned through to Tracey, at home in England, some of them were also emailed, and the iPad was a very useful way of collating and storing the daily records.

On a trip as memorable as Paris to Venice, it's hard to imagine you will ever forget the details of each day's pain and pleasure, but as I proved the last time we met, those memories can soon become confused and conflated.

I had a vivid memory of two massive climbs in Austria, following a long day that ended in a bicycle-friendly guest house. I remembered this day particularly because I struggled so much on the first climb that I found myself risking life and limb trying to get a drink from a trickle of water that ran down a slippery, moss-covered rockface.

I remember coming to my senses, dragging muyself onwards and upwards, and then buying two bottles of extortionately priced water just a few hundred metres from the summit. Then I remember the second climb seeming just as hard and us ending the day with a descent to another guest house in a high alpine village.

But apparently my memory is playing tricks. According to JR's memory (and he kept the log, after all), those were on two different days. The day we did two big climbs started with the one into a hanging valley - or was that the second climb of the day?

I do remember my first 'col', because it didn't seem that big, and it was in the Vosges on a quite beautiful and moving morning, near a perfectly-kept first war cemetary. I remember an horrendous thunderstorm that hit us as soon as we crossed the Rhine into Germany, and I remember a thousand other things on the trip, but the exact order in which they happended is becoming less clear - and there are a thousand other things I will have forgotten.

But I'm pleased to say I did keep a journal as well, and I will write it up into a proper account of the trip. Inevitably, I'll dip into JR's as it appears on L'Express blog for details of distances, altitudes and some town names, but my journal will be my memories, my thoughts and my experiences (mainly at the back of the group) from those memorable, but apparently also quite forgettable, two weeks.

And I'll try to do it soon - before I forget what I meant when I wrote it the first time!

Roy

A few Memories While I Gather my Thoughts!

We started training for the trip in earnest sometime in the spring after one of the coldest and iciest winters in years.

That meant none of us had done much cycling for several months. I, for one, felt pretty rusty and lacking strength. The others reported similar feelings, although all these things are relative!

I also set out with the intention of equipping myself with a good touring bike for the trip and ideally for most of my training. It's very difficult to switch bikes just before a big ride and it increases the risk of injury when the pressure is on.

So I was reluctant to get stuck into training on my old mountain bike, but I needed some basic fitness, so I decided I just had to get on with it.

Within a month or so of starting fairly regular rides around my Suffolk home, we arranged a trip to the Yorkshire Dales. This was a big step up. It meant carrying some luggage for the first time and taking on hills bigger than anything I'd seen since our coast to coast last September.

That was a wake up, but I survived. Some of those Yorkshire hills are steeper than anything we would meet in the Alps (or so I was told), but much, much shorter.

Getting the miles in was my biggest problem. John and JR managed to do more, but we all felt we needed more time on the bikes. Our wives didn't necessarily agree...

Most of my rides were 20-30 miles. I added one 60-miler and did the Bury Wheel, a 100 mile circuit around Bury St Edmunds in early Summer, but apart from the training weekends I wasn't managing consecutive days on the bike, let alone big distances.

Anyway, with another two trips to the Dales, one to the Cotswolds and only rolling Suffolk hills to test my legs in the meantime, I joined John and JR in Paris on 4th September.

The plan (mine anyway) was to build our fitness further during the first few 'easy' days as we followed the Seine southeast then eastwards from Notre Dame.

In fact, after the first stop-start day out of Paris to a 'closed' camp site, we then faced two days of strong, persistent headwinds, and then the hills started, JR's gears broke, we ran short of food and the weather took a definite turn for the worse...

And we were beginning to fall behind our very testing schedule.

But more on all that next time!

Roy

WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT, ALPIE...

Seven years ago, four friends decided they wanted a cycling adventure. One year later, in 2004, the four did Le Jog - the famous Lands End to John O'Groats ride.
The ride came in at a fraction under 1000 miles.

Three years later, three members of that group plus one new member wanted to try something a little more challenging, so they rode the length of the Pyrenees, from Atlantic to Mediterranean in two weeks in September 2007. This time the ride was 'only' around 600 miles but with a few more 'hills' in the way. This was the famous 'Le Knees' expedition.

In fact, their total climbing amounted to around three Everests! At the last minute, I was given the opportunity to be their back up driver for the first week, and I jumped at the chance. I was training for The Great North Run at the time, hence my orange MS Society running vest in some of the pictures.

This time, I'm one of the four cycling, and this time we're combining distance (almost 1000 miles) with climbing (the Alps, for example) as we cycle from Paris to Venice in two weeks for L'Express. We'll also take in the Vosges, the Black Forest and the Dolomites.

And this time there will be no support vehicle, we'll be camping most nights and we'll be carrying all our own kit.

Well, they do say, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!'

We're all doing it for great causes, as well as for the sheer fun of it. My sponsor links are on this page. You can find the others on the L'Express website.

This is a great adventure for us, but we're mindful of how lucky we are to be able to do it. Not everyone is so fortunate in life and the recipients of your generous donations are among the most deserving people we could find. Please give generously.

Thank you! Here's that L'Express website again.

Roy

PS. I'm going to get my excuses in early - starting with the fact that I'm ten years older than the oldest person was on that first ride. With experience does not come wisdom!

View Detailed 9 Day Weather Forecasts for Paris, webcams, weather maps & more at Weather-Forecast.com

Oh, Just a Small One, Then

I finally managed a short ride on Monday, in the afternoon sunshine. I wasn't going to be fooled by a strong tailwind, but heading south towards Stanstead I did enjoy the relatively easy going!

I got to Stanstead in a reasonable time, having hardly exerted myself apart from on Hartest hill.

I deliberately took it gently - no point trying to get 'fit' at this late stage - determined to avoid straining anything before the 'off' on Friday.

Coming back against the wind was slightly different, and it was hard not to dig in a couple of times, but I was sensible enough to use the gears more than I usually do on training rides, and arrived home apparently intact.

I have no idea how long the 25 miles took me, apart from the fact it was probably slower than ever before!

Just a few days to go, though...

I'll be updating this blog by email when I can, and possibly from Internet cafes en route. Otherwise I'll be Tweeting by text when I have a phone signal, at @Paris2Venice.

Follow me if you can, spread the word, and don't forget to donate via my Just Giving widgets on this page!

Roy

Still Resting!

It wasn't the plan to take this week off, but cooking mishaps (see below) and horrible weather have conspired to keep me off the bike since last weekend.

Muddy rain splashing on burnt skin is not a good idea.

My back is just about better and I haven't hurt anything else, so I might get out later today if it dries up or, more likely, tomorrow. But I won't be doing any big mileages at this late stage - standard advice is that you can't do much in the last week or so before a big ride that will make much difference, apart from trying to stay loose and not do any damage!

I'm banking rather a lot on the first few days out of Paris being relatively easy, so we'll all have our legs by the time we reach the first real hills.

We'll see!

Roy