Pedal to Paris for RBL completed.

PEDAL TO PARIS 2015 - bear with me as I cannot keep this short.

First thing - thank you to everyone for their support, sponsorship, and general good wishes for what became a passion to me. I probably bored people to death with all of the Strava updates but the training was just part of the drive I had.

I also have to thank my wife and sister in law for getting to Paris to meet me. Their late father was my only real connection to the armed forces - my own family, not surprisingly, were predominantly coal miners so did their service in the mines to power the war machines. You probably don't appreciate how powerful the (sadly shortened) memories of Norman Peace were during those 4 days.

And whilst the group of 250 riders collectively were fantastic and supportive of each other, I have to mention a group of people who adopted me as an honorary team member for those 4 days. Special people (interpret as you wish!) rarely cross your path but I was treated like royalty be members of team Cameron, who originate from the Teeside area - they became ride partners, drinking partners, and I think we inspired each other. Formed of 2 ladies on a tandem, 2 gents on another tandem and a member of the merchant navy, and then me. One of the gents on the tandem is blind. But 4 days talking to him and riding with him was awesome and bloody good fun, in equal measure. Cliché I know, but a blind man can inspire you to see what matters. Tina Harrison, Mary Gallagher, Paul Doherty, Mike Caveney and Andrew Wrigley, all I can say is thank you although it doesn't do justice to my thoughts of you all. The sores, bruises and swellings will disappear, the memories of the good fun, occasional groans etc will remain. Mike - your "speech" at the reception dinner sums you up. Understated generosity. What you have done, and continue to do, is humbling. And all for others to benefit from. Although I don't think I'll be able to drink SIS in quite the same way again.

French organisation and support of the ride is just brilliant - over 30 motorcycle outriders all the way from Calais - never stopped at a junction, traffic light, roundabout. A continual rolling road-closure programme just for us. Imagine that in the UK? 3 support vehicles with parts and bikes, plus all of the crew with drinks, fuel and so on.

Day 1 - Greenwich to Dover. 8am set off from Greenwich Park, plenty of roadside support. Bloody Strava did me out of about 20 miles, but a great ride, topped of by the climb of Dover Hill/Capel Hill, which reached nearly 30% in parts. Not quite what was needed after 70 miles, but think of the poppy, and the legs keep turning. Lovely stop off at RBL HQ en route too. A degree of irony also with the number of "Pick you own Victoria Plums" signs on the route too. As if we needed any reminder about ripe plums.....

Day 2 - Calais to Abbeville. Cold and early start, brief remembrance service to begin with at the Calais memorial, with a long climb early on, finished off with a broken gear shifter meaning 16th gear for the last 5 miles to the lunch stop. Within an hour, the brilliant support crew had a pair of new shifters on the bike (would have had a service bike provided if not) and I returned to the road but with the faster speed group. Now, whilst this was enjoyable, the fact that lunch consisted of a baguette so large it had its own Strava Segment and was then followed immediately by a long climb hitting 33% made it a toughie on the longest ride day. The French are wonderful supporters of the RBL and the villagers on the route that afternoon came out in their droves - high fives aplenty at the kerbside from kids and parents. Very humbling day, surrounded by stunning scenery of wartime battlefields and villages.

Day 3 - Abbeville to Beauvais - Remembrance service in Abbeville before setting off, as emotional as ever. A gentler route, though flat it wasn't. Same stunning villages and battlefields en-route. If anything sums up why we do daft challenges like this ride, our stop off in Auchy La Montagne, at their local equivalent of the RBL, did so. During WW2, we learned that the village had been under Nazi occupation and that nearly all male villagers had been shot and other villagers were locked in the local church which was then torched by the Nazis. The Allied soldiers managed to save 6 men from the church and the village basically had to start again from that point, and since then the villagers have had a wonderful fondness for the British. I have a photo taken with a gent holding a military flag who I believe is the last remaining of the 6 survivors. Back to the ride, we got drenched going into Beauvais and had a reception indoors at their town hall instead of remaining at the local war memorial.

Day 4 - Beauvais - Arc de Triomphe. Shorter steady ride of approx. 60 miles, but hard to describe the feeling en route. Adrenalin rising once we entered the Paris suburbs - through St Germain, past Longchamp racecourse and then riding as one group up the cobbles of a closed "just for us" Champs Elysees to the Arc. No Tour de France size crowds but I hope people understand how the emotions of pride, respect, achievement can affect a middle aged man. Especially with visions of the poppy, of the late Father-in-Law, the ex-servicemen stood there, the tomb of the unknown soldier, tired and sore team-mates alongside you.

We aren't heroes - the ones we did it for are that. But I have to say I'm pretty damn proud of my own journey from completely unfit 4.5 years ago to achieving this. And it won't stop here.

Day 4 evening - I'm afraid I was very, very drunk.

Thank you for reading.