8 April: Day Three

Vernon to Lisieux: A great day!

A great day. A great, great day. In contrast to yesterday, the greatest day... ever. 90 miles in one day. Great.

The day started off 45 minutes late (due to Leon ripping the valve off his bike) in awful fog. Following a supper of chicken/pork substitute (turkey according to our one star lodge), none of us felt confident. However, notwithstanding the freezing cold, we rode as one peloton and got up to average speeds of 30-35km/h as we put early mileage under our belts.

It continued to plan as the group rode confidently through the hills of northern France, with Rhys and Seb drafting behind the support vehicle a couple of times when the former got lazy and the latter started to run out of fuel and once again showed his incompetence by not being able to grab his drink bottle while riding. Pat sensibly suggested that after 60 miles on a bike and with a severe lack of humour, it would not be a good idea to start learning new tricks.

Angus also drafted behind the vehicle but this was when the group had left him behind following a puncture and he ordered Neil to hit 50 km/h as he caught up.

Lunch was probably the most eventful part of the day. It started with Rhys putting an ice pack on his rectum for ten minutes and then removing it and placing it on the table to everyone's delight. Roberto then made his way around the table massaging our backs and necks in the style of a throttling serial killer. Again, Rhys was the star of the show as he threw up the quote of the day "that is enough Roberto" as he got his fist ready for an upper cut.  Here's a photo of Seb taking his battering.

In terms of fallers, Leon and Pat both went over but Brad (Neil's son who got on the bike for the second stage of the day with 2 miles of bike experience) fell over seven times. Seb, the leading faller, stayed up the whole day although he did have to save one fall against a handily placed vehicle. There were very few injuries but Giles was keen for the group to recognise (and perhaps share) the 60 miles he rode with an agonising knee injury...some speculated that it was worse than the blocked nose that he translated as bronchitis a couple of weeks ago.

The finish was once again ridiculous. The hotel has tremendous views of the town below. You get the idea...a vertiginous drop from the hotel which only mountaineers would normally attempt. We can't wait for the 100 miler tomorrow...bring it on...the ferry beckons at 7pm...here's hoping!

For more pictures see our Photo section