Day 1 - Continued

Photo 8: Marc cycling passed the Amicus van

Photo 9: Dave enjoying his last ride of the day

Photo 10: Paul at the finish line on day 1!

The target for day 1 is 165 miles with a total ascent of 2992 miles. The second round of rides continued much as the first. I set out for the first 30 minute stint, the mist had settled in again and visibility was poor. My glasses soon got steamed up so by half way through I couldn't see much either side of the road.

Dave went out next as the mist finally cleared. The route carried on through more vineyards and passed large cemeteries that were a poignant reminder of the World Wars and the impact they had on France. Marc went next and took us up to the 50 mile mark for the day.

We kept rotating riders through the rest of the day and the miles were quickly eaten up, passing the half way mark, then 100 miles and soon down to the last 40 miles. At that point we switched tactics and divided the remaining miles for the day up and each did a final 9 mile push. The weather had been perfect all day, roads good, scenary fantastic and knowing you were on the last ride of the day you were able to give it an extra big push. There hadn't been any really steep climbs on the first day but we knew those were ahead of us in the Alps so this was a nice way to warm the legs up. For the most part there had just been undulating hills, which meant some long slow climbs and some long downhills.

Paul finished the last ride of the day taking us into Appoigny by 15:35!