Day 1 - The final leg

Photo 7: Marc speeding round a corner on his penultimate leg of day 1.

Photo 8: Dave getting ready to go on another ride.

Photo 9: Ben listening to his iPod as he cycles along.

The last round of the day turned out not to be the last round. Dave started again as always then Marc. The countryside oscillated between rolling hills and some flat stretches so we were making good progress. Then it was my turn! The first 10 miles went by very quickly then the chain started popping off. After putting it back on three times it then jammed tight. I looked at the chain and it had a bent link and wouldn't go back on again so I rang the support van and they came back to pick me up and set Ben off to do the next leg.

Ben's leg took us to within 20 miles of the finish which meant Dave and Marc needed to have another 10 mile stretch each just to take us home.

Dinner that night was supposed to be at 07:30 in Epernay and time was getting on. We bumped into one of the marshalls who was picking the signs up and he said there was just one team behind us. We chatted to the marshall some more and he said that some of the teams had started leap-frogging after lunch. Leap frogging is where the team set the next rider off as the previous one is finishing. It means you still cycle the whole route but for 5 minutes or so your team have two cyclists on the road. This partly explained why the teams had all been bunched up in the morning then gradually spread out more in the afternoon.

Marc had the last ride of the day into Epernay and he flew down the hill and had a great ride. The hotel bar was packed as we arrived and it was starting to get dark. The end of a long day.

Over dinner that evening we chatted to some of the other teams. The team using the Butchers Bike had successfully made it all the way which was impressive. The speeches at dinner then gave us an insight into some of the talent in other teams. One of the teams had a 17 year old girl who was an Olympic hopeful and averaged 340 miles a week in training. Another team had just won the Race Across America (RAAM) competition in which they'd cycled 3000 miles in just 6 days!. It put our 500 mile challenge in 3 days into a different perspective.

At the end of the speeches they asked if anyone had a spare chain to help our team out and several people stood up and then came over afterwards to help. We had an impressive 4 course meal with champagne and then just before turning in the Cheeky Boys team gave us a hand sorting my chain out so we were all set for the morning. Once again we were impressed with the team spirit and the extent to which the riders on the challenge are all prepared to help each other.