Just a quick note - I will do a better update later / tomorrow.
A late start followed by a short 5km ride through Paris should have been uneventful, had it not been for Roland Garros (French Open tennis) and the closure of a few roads. Good job I'd planned ahead and had a feel for the office location and still managed to get there on time.
A few photos with colleagues from the Steria office outside the front, then up to the 6th floor for a coffee. Whilst there I had a quick chat with Francois Enaud the Steria Chairman and CEO and many other colleagues, who all wished me luck for the rest of the challenge.
Then it was time to go (11:30 - late start) and find a way through the streets and suburbs of Paris. The weather was hot and storms predicted (good job the French forecast is as good as UK) and the wind favourable. Unfortunately some of the roads temporarily changed status into non-cycle roads - the first I rode through and had got half way through the second when the police sirens went off. Initially I ignored it, thinking it was for something else, but a glance over my shoulder and there was the local constabulary. I don't think he spoke any English and I only have a very limited French vocabulary, but after a 5 minute lecture (!) he gestured I get back on my bike and finish the last 500m before it returned back to a normal road. After this and a favourable tail wind the miles just raced by, but it was one of the longest on the challenge. I had to press on to make Dieppe before nightfall, and I rode up to the ferry terminal at around 8:00, just as the predicted thunder storm started to rumble.
Au Revoir et Merci France
Last song on the IPOD : Christina Aguilera - Candyman
Garmin Stats :
172.9 km / 6 hrs 55 mins / 25.02 avg / 60.25 max.
