London To Paris - Day One ( Greenwich to Calais ) 26/09/13

The night before the off, Sam ,Sion and I had met in Greenwich where we were all staying. A mixture of apprehension, delirium and excitement filled the room in the Pizza Express as we carb loaded that evening. We had the kit ready and the bikes assembled for the following morning.

Kit Ready The Night Before.

Black Heath Common at the Start

That morning Sam and I met Sion outside the Premier Inn and from there with our backpacks and kit we rode across Greenwich Park to Black Heath Common where we were due to met the guys of More Adventure. 7 am we were there meeting the rest of the riders , in fact all 23 of them. By 8 am we were off on the ride out of London. A stop start hellish pedal through the worst London has to offer, the only saving grace was it wasn't raining. As we got further out of the capital things seemed easier except for a few sharp climbs which took some of us, me,  by surprise. With little time to recover we were climbing again. It took it's toll  despite the training I'd done this year. Through the rolling countryside of Kent and toward Dover we rode, stopping for lunch at 42 miles in. This was a brief pause to regain the energy levels.

 Soon enough we were on the outskirts of Dover, which to be fair has seen better days. By now we were nearly 70 miles in without any punctures, however Sion was to be the first, 2 miles from Dover.
 We were lucky enough to have Dover Port employees in our group who with their connections eased our passage to the ferry and front of the queue. Just when we thought we'd seen the last climb of the day, we had to ride up the steep gangway onto the ferry. Bikes stored we headed for the restaurant. It's hard not to constantly think of food on these rides.

The only puncture of the day 2 miles from Dover

Curry and rice hit the spot as we sailed across The Channel. Docking, we were last off and by now it was dark and with 4 miles to ride , we streamed around Calais with lights flickering until we reached our first hotel.

The group rode well, but it was a tough first day even though the weather had been kind.The small mercy of little wind and no rain was a sign from the cycling gods that this could be a good few days.