Stage 14 – Versailles – Paris  52km I woke up to the sound of rain – unbelievable!! After endless days of incredible heat trust France to turn on the rain on the last day.  However, the dreary weather could not dampen the joy I was feeling about riding into Paris.  I had been thinking about today for 2 weeks and […]

Stage 13 – Pays de Flers Individual Time Trial        36km Today’s time trial was the most technical and hilly course I have ever ridden.  Bob drove us around the course in the morning and we all took note of the off camber corners, steep climbs and twisty narrow descents.  Fortunately there were no cobble stone sections, but there were a […]

Stage 12 – Trelaze – Gorron 129km The commissaries took us down the wrong ride during our neutral section and so we had to do a U turn.  For some reason my radio wasn’t working today, so during the commotion of all the team cars doing U turns, Meredith had a quick look at my radio and tried to get […]

Stage 11 – Saint Martin – Trelaze     146km I know I have mentioned that I have felt tired but today I felt really really tired.  I hoped many of the other riders felt as fried as I did today.  I went back to bed after breakfast and tried to get as much rest as possible. Today’s stage was nearly 150km […]

Stage 10 – Niort – Bressure   84km I woke up with stomach cramps and decided on only a small breakfast.  I headed back to bed for another 2 hours to rest as we only had a 20 minute drive to our race start today and didn’t need to leave until 12.30pm.  Some little beast had bitten me all night and […]

Tour de France – REST DAY Most of the riders stayed outside Niort in what appeared to be one star facilities.  The bedrooms were so tiny that many riders dragged their mattresses outside and slept on the grass.  It was certainly much cooler this way as it was nearly 40C in the rooms and of course no rooms had any […]

Stage 9 – Chateauneuf – St George de Didonne        82km Yippee – today was the last stage before our rest day.  I knew I could make it to Paris now. We started our stage near the Cognac region where there were endless fields of sunflowers, grapevines, majestic castles and rolling hills.  It was really beautiful and I have put this […]

Stage 8 – Aubusson – St Leonard de Noblat 87km I am counting down the days until the Rest Day.  I only have to get through today and tomorrow and we have a day off.  It will be so blissful to not be racing and travelling. Today it was really hot – 47 degrees.  Our neutral section of the race, […]

Stage 7 – Royat – Commentry                       107km And guess what – yes, another day of 43 degrees but with a very strong wind to add to things.  I cannot believe this weather.  I am fortunate to be accustomed to hot weather but racing at 2pm such extreme heat is starting to make us all feel tired. The stage commenced with […]

Stage 6 – Vif – Davezieux      129km Today was 43 degrees and really hot.  I actually felt good today when I woke up.  Maybe it was my coming of age!  We did a neutral 10km loop on some really narrow lanes that were barely wide enough for 5 bikes.  It was a tight squeeze and I was happy to get […]