Final Day - L'Etape Vallée de le Rhone

The skies cleared as we headed south to our rendezvous at Ampuis with the Chapoutier cycling team whose ranks had been swelled by two very famous former French professional cyclists - Bernard Vallet and Charley Mottet. Over a very relaxed picnic in Chapoutier's La Morderee vineyard in Cote Rotie we were assured by Bernard that a slow and steady pace would be set for the final 70km run down to Tain, our final destination. Naturally Bernard and Charley's definition of slow and steady was a little different to ours...... we covered the first 20km in what seemed like 10mins, the now large peloton burning down the Rhone to Sablons where we suddenly stopped for a quick coffee, beer etc before accelerating back up to cruising speed, heading over a couple of minor Cols and sweeping down into Tain and a fantastic reception from Michel Chapoutier that culminated in an amazing dinner on Hermitage Hill overlooking the Rhone - a perfect end to the Tour.

And so today we begin the long haul back up to Calais, the cyclists will soon all be snoring loudly and yet the support team will still be at work - navigating, driving, dispensing drinks and empathy, so very many thanks to Gokul, Katie (the coach team pictured here checking the route with Bernard & Charley), Lucy and the amazing Graham, who having stepped in at the 11th hour has been an incredible support. Well done guys and huge thanks to everyone who has helped make this 125th Anniversary Benevolent Charity Ride both a success for the Charity (final fund-raising total tbc shortly but we are confident of beating our target of £12,500) and also hugely enjoyable for the riders.

L'Etape de Beaujolais... (sickness sweeps through the peloton)
Well it certainly swept through me both literally and figuratively as the sick and departing Reed passed on his gastric lurg....... however, a couple of Mr Jonathan Hobby's special white pills and a morning in the coach had me well enough to join the "low road" group after lunch, thank you to Alan, Chris, Jon, Chris for bringing me into Ch Pizay in Morgan; where we rejoined the "high road" group.

The morning had begun, however, with Gilles de Courcel giving us a tour of Domaine Chanson in Beaune - thank you Gilles for your fantastic hospitality and amazing dinner and wines from the previous evening.

We then had a nice dinner in the hills of Beaujolais (beautiful region by the way) where a break-away plan was hatched for a rebel group to leave early and ride down the 100km to the rendezvous point with the Chapoutier French Cycling Team - rumoured to include ex French cycling pros Bernard Vallet and Charlie Mottet......... we're on our way to meet them now and so watch this space for today's developments!

Finally a picture of the dessert chosen for me to aid my recovery by my concerns cycling chums........

L'Etape de Bourgogne (175km - Bar-sur-Aube to Ecutigny)
We awoke well rested in our Pirate Theme Park hotel and set off early (minus Andrew Reed who had checked into the sick bay on the coach) on the long ride south out of Champagne and up into Burgundy...... the first 2-3 hrs were close to cycling heaven, the wind had dropped, the sun even came out, morale and discipline in the peloton were at all-time high levels...... it was almost too good to be true, surely it couldn't last..... IT DIDN'T.
As soon as we started to climb into the hills the sky darkened and soon bolts of lightning were crackling around us, the rain began, it got heavier and heavier and then marble sized balls of ice started to pelt us......(it's hail Jim but not as we know it)....... Alan had asked me under what conditions we'd stop.... I said only for hail...... but it turned out that we didn't stop for that either! Eventually we were hauled frozen and soaked into the back of the van but then Patrick had a "Captain Oates moment" and set off alone....we then realised that Jon had (naturally) never stopped at all and was also somewhere up ahead - they were both lost and all attempts to contact them failed (their mobiles had flooded).
The rest of the peloton pressed on to lunch and a chance to change some clothes......... still no word from Patrick & Jon......... who were later found drinking local Pear Brandy in a local cafe having headed to Dijon, collected sobered up and put back on their bikes........ eventually some 10 hours after we departed we arrived at Gilles de Courcel's Chateau de Ecutigny.......extremely pleased to have made what was the longest ever day in the 8 years of the Mentzendorff Charity Ride.

Le Grand Depart.......et Le Etape de Champagne

Following the months of planning and preparation it was with a great sense of relief, anticipation and excitement that the 10 riders plus guest rider for the day - Hervé Augustin (President of Ayala Champagne) finally pulled on the team jersey, climbed aboard our bikes and rolled out of the courtyard at Champagne Bollinger, Ay for the commencement of the opening day's stage to Bar-sur-Aube (125km)......... sadly a large part of that excitement evaporated when 500m later we reached the bottom of the hill and turned into a bloc-headwind from the south that stayed with us for (well 125km)..... but we were not to be daunted by such challenges and we knew what not to do... it was vital we stayed together as a team and did not splinter (as I well recall from my team talk shortly before the off.... something I was to be reminded of later)... but I was soon to find myself with a terrible ethical dilemma! Did I remain in the safe shelter of Jonathan Hobby's back wheel heading rapidly over the horizon towards Burgundy in the face of a gale or did I fall back to marshall the peloton??........ sorry guys, what can I say?

But it was to be any consolation, I and two other nameless fellow "drafters" were soon caught in another equally parlous dilemma......... did we admit to Jonathan that we'd prefer a slower tow (impossible), hang on and risk total burnout later in the day (high risk)..... or drop back into the dreaded "no man's land" between the lead group and the main peloton awaiting inevitable capture and a less than friendly reception (unthinkable)....... we all hung on.

All were reunited at lunchtime, the skies cleared a little, we gritted our teeth and headed into the final 50km of the day....... eventually arriving at our overnight stop in what seems to be a "Pirate of the Caribbean" theme park....... or perhaps I've had a couple too many gels today - pictures on tomorrow's blog of a talking parrot and a robot pirate crawling across the ceiling (honest).

But for now we must salute Hervé who rode all the way down here with us today to the outer reaches of Champagne and to Madame Augustin, who not only came to collect him but also brought us several most welcome bottles of Ayala.... looks like a tough day tomorrow guys...........

Ominous events in Reims.........

I should have known it was a mistake to mention rain.... as we have all become reaquainted with it this evening in Reims as the peloton gathered after dinner to watch an astonshing celebration of the Cathedral's 800th anniversary (a mere 100x longer than our bike ride has been going...). Lightning added to the illuminations and thunder echoed around the Cathedral as we gazed to the heavens and contemplated what lies in-store for us tomorrow........... Alan, naturally, was the only man in the City with an umbrella!

Support Van Panic and Pre-Ride Training Excuses..............

Dear Followers

Welcome to the 2011 Mentzendorff "125 Challenge" - the 10 riders are now in the midst of final preparations for departure (hourly tyre pressure checks and meditation) from the U.K on Sunday, having this afternoon overcome the shock last-minute loss of our stalwart support van driver Bill Page due to illness (get well soon Bill), fortunately Phillip Amps has a friend (welcome Graham, who we look forward to getting to know much better next week) who has kindly agreed to step in to help us. But of course the most important thing before the ride is to get in first with the excuses as to why you are under-trained....... and I think I'm in poll position here (pics attached above) from my N.Z training camp in early May - yes I hired a bike in NZ to get tuned up by riding up and out of my beachside village into the hills every morning, I managed this once before it started to rain (a lot) then the bridges out of the village got washed away and the hills collapsed onto the roads.........took the army 3 days to rescue us.... which is why I'm justifiably unfit, it being clearly too late to correct things on my return due to the generally accepted importance of "tapering". I rest my case.

Next post should be from Reims....... immediately prior to Le Grand Depart on Monday morning from Bollinger...........