Stage 20, Paris - Paris, 65km, 20th July 2007

So that's it, we've finished. We didn't try to complete the exact route of the final stage, the route-finding would become incredibly difficult with one way systems etc, so we approximated a loop round southern Paris suburbs and then began our triumphant procession down the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysees.

The Pros don't really treat most of the final stage as a race either, rather they ride slowly and pass champagne around the bunch and toast the winner. So we stopped at bar near the tower and bought a bottle of champagne for a proper celebration.

Bizarrely, as soon as we stopped underneath the Eiffel Tower we became the centre of attention and random tourists wanted to take photos of us in our yellow jerseys etc.

Emma was waiting at the Arc de Triomphe, so we circled the Place de Concorde and started on our one lap of the finishing straight. The traffic was a little heavy, but we finally, after 3500 km's of riding in all weather conditions, arrived at the finish.

We attracted another small crowd taking photos as we popped the champagne, hung a Tour de France flag off some barriers and took some publicity shots of ourselves for our sponsors.

It felt awesome to have finished....London to Paris the long way round. Handshakes and congratulations all round as we thought about what we had achieved.

The two young Gendarmes who then turned around up around 15 minutes later weren't quite in the same celebratory mood, they tersely advised us that bikes weren't allowed in the middle of the Arc de Triomphe and then enquired as to whether I was drinking alcohol ! Protestations that we we had just ridden the 'Grand Boucle' and deserved some slack got nowhere... essentially we got 'moved on' in a rather ignominous style.

So here endeth letour2007.com. Well almost....we are now going to sample lots of Parisien beer and not wonder about the route profile tomorrow, for a change.

Before we go, another huge thank-you to the many, many people who have supported us along the way, through donations, offers of services, words of encouragement, blog comments and guestbook entries. It has been fantastic knowing that we have the support that we have had, it has made a huge difference and I doubt that I will personally experience it again. Credits will be posted when we return, and our most valued fan announced.

So it is all over.....a crazy adventure that most people quite wisely doubted could be achieved. Everything has gone as smoothly as we could have wished and we are all now fit(ter), slim(mer) and tanned and not looking forward to getting on a bike for a while.

It has been fantastic....soon it will all seem like a dream and we'll be back in the real world. But it was good while it lasted.

Au revoir (for now) from everyone at letour2007.com

Cheers

Stage 19, Cognac - Angouleme, 50km TT, 19th July 2007

We are on the journey to Paris !

We knocked out the Cognac - Angouleme Timne Trial this morning after Emma dropped us off. The route was pretty standard, a couple of small rises, but otherwise it will be one of the quickest time trials in the Tour ever we think.

We cycled past a couple of chaps (one wearing full Phonak gear) on the way, it took some explaining that we weren't just doing the the one stage, we had done them all. We were also all in our team jerseys...the full Red Train....and we got a couple of comments from passing vehicles and some cheering from one chap by the side of the road. However the bloke Matt almost hit in a village wasn't cheering quite so loudly...

A quick change and shower at one of those super cheap French hotels and we are about to jump in the van for the drive to near Paris for the last stage tomorrow.

Bikes are making all sorts of weird clicking and crunching noises, but there is so little left I think we'll leave serious bike maintenance for England/the US. The aromas wafting from the

coffee shops on the Champs Elysees are getting stronger......it all

sounds very romantic.....obviously in the real world we have the

Perepherique to deal with and I don't think we'll be doing eight laps of the Champs Elysees....might have to cut it down a bit for our safety.

Stage 18, Cahors - Angoulême, 210 km, 18th July 2007

Stage 18......almost there. This was a long one at 210 km's and motivation is starting to become an issue....luckily it won't matter for much longer.

We scheduled three stops today, and at every one the desire to just go to eat, drink and then go to sleep became increasingly persuassive. Then the giggles set in and getting back on the bike became very tough. This is the problem with thinking we have finished when we haven't.....there are no more mountains to focus on, no more thrilling descents to look forward to....just get the miles in and get this finished.



But...we did go through some fantastic scenery today. It may be swamped with Brits (and Belgians), but the Dordogne region is always impressive and we cycled right bang through it today. La Roque-Gageac, St, Cyprien etc....we enviously looked at the canoeists as they paddled down the river...I would like to swap my bike for something else soon. The perched medieval villages looked like they could be very interesting to look round, but we had no time, we were on a schedule to avoid another 12 hour day.


The climbs have stopped and the weather was cooler today, so there were no major challenges, but it's just the kms refuse to go past as quick as we would like, it requires alot of focus to keep pedalling.

Kyle decided to go for a last ditch King of the Mountains attempt and rode up some Cat 4 climbs very quickly indeed, earlier both I and Matt had been chased by rabid dogs and we barely cycled away fast enough to avoid their gnashing teeth.

The latter half of the ride involved less exciting scenery and a bit of a main road that had very large trucks thundering by (the main Perigeux to Angaloume road), so we decided to freestyle some navigation on a quieter parallel road to limit the chances of getting mashed.

This route seemed to involve some sneaky little climbs and it was after one too many of these that Matt amusingly toppled off his bike in the middle of the road.....picture here. He quickly remounted. I then lost concentration somewhat and rode into a ditch, luckily it wasn't too deep and I also remounted. It's not over 'till it's over.

So, the last major stage completed, the TT tomorrow. End of term feeling is strong, we have already begun reflecting on the epic rides of the last few weeks.

Stage 17, Pau - Castelsarrasin, 188 km, 17th July 2007

This morning started late for a couple of reasons : the complacency that has somewhat set in that now that we think we are on the way home (as the Pyrenees are recede across the horizon), and also the fact we had an hours drive to Pau for the start.

The route was actually very pretty through beautiful and rolling rural areas….problem is that the rolling aspect meant hills and we had to drag ourselves over a number of Cat 4 and 3 climbs that the legs complained about….especially after yesterdays epic.

The sun was back out with intent too, and as the day wore on the heat rose until about 3pm we must have hit a peak of about 35 degrees. Fluid replacement once again became a primary concern and the parked camper-van and Emma became a lovely sight as we rounded corners at the agreed meeting spots. Food was consumed and lots of Coke drunk.

We should have been sponsored by Coca Cola on this trip, a verging-on-ice cold can after 50 miles of hot cycling is nectar indeed. All that cold liquid, sugar and caffeine seems to do the trick (and Accelerade can get a bit hard to take after the 50 millionth litre).

There were lots of sunflower fields on the route today and the pictures here give some impression of what those golden hillsides look like, always impressive.

All completed the stage, a fairly pleasant ride in pretty hot conditions. So we have one more ‘proper’ stage of the tour left tomorrow, then the time trial. The smell of the fine cuisine from the bistros on the Champs Elysees becomes stronger by the day. The end is in sight.

Stage 16, Orthez - Col d'Aubisque, 218 km, 16th July 2007

Not much time to write tonight as the stage took us 10 hours of cycling (almost 13 elapsed). It was long, 222 km's, and involved lots of climbing, estimated at over 5000 metres.

Amy, Mark and Kyle completed all, Matt completed the Col de Larrau and the Col de Marie Blanque.....the two hardest.

The HC (and somewhat underestimated) Col de Larrau was first up this morning and was a real pig. Definitely harder that than yesterday's Port du Bales was our conclusion....very steep and rose to 1500 metres from under 200m as it too us over to Spain.

The loop through Spain was interesting and less severe, but another Col at 1750 metres put more stress on the legs (pic on left). We also replaced two tyres today, Matt's rear tyre looked like it had been attacked by Freddie Krueger. We think the melting tarmac that sticks the wheels to the road accelerates tyre wear (lots more melting tarmac today, despite it being much cooler).

The next climb back in France was the Marie Blanque and was described in Cyclosport as being "the most violently sustained steep section of the entire tour". I think we would agree.


With no respite we then tackled the mythical Col d'Aubisque as a summit finish. As we rose through the thickening clouds the landscape took on an ethereal state and eventually after the longest day so far on the tour, we finished with riders emerging from the mists..Stephen Roche style.

This is a major milestone we have reached, as we have climbed our last major climb and descended our last serious descent. The Pyrenees hae thrown their worst at us and we have come through. With less challenging stages to come, barring major problems (injuries, crashes etc) we should be able to complete the 2007 tour de France...it feels like now have a genuine and realistic chance of making Paris with some team members having ridden every single kilometre. We still have major rides to come and in normal circumstances would be serious challenges, but is hard to escape the feeling that the worst is now over.

Kyle took the opportunity to get the paint and roller out on the Aubisque and big up his college or something...not entirely sure what it means but I gather there a bunch of people back in the US who will appreciate the image below. Let's hope it stays intact before the Tour rolls in.

So...must sign off, everybody asleep recovering from another 10/10 difficulty day. A new elevation gain record today, 5755 metres. Believe me, that is a huge amount.

Tomorrow we ride from Pau to Castelsarrasin, a relatively easy 188kms. It is strange to think that in four days time we will be in Paris.......if all goes well.

2nd Rest Day, Olorons, 15th July 2007

Think this picture sums today up. Might get up to watch the Tour's first summit finish at Tignes in a bit.

Stage 15, Foix - Loudenvielle - Le Louron, 196 km, Sat 14th July

Ok...this is getting pretty serious now. It is hot....damn hot, the temperature as I write this in Oloron St Marie (near Pau) is approaching 40 degrees.

Firstly I am pleased to report that the full-tour contenders completed the stage, Kyle also completed (still with injuries) and Matt completed the Hor Categorie Port du Bales - considered the hardest climb in this years Tour. Guest rider Micheal Barry also completed what is easily the hardest days cycling he's ever done.

I can also report that it took us a rather astonishing 12 hours (10 hours riding), leaving Foix at 7.30am and finishing just over the Col de Peyresourde at 7.30 pm. And did I say it was hot ? Wow......the Col de Portet d'Aspet was like a furnace which came as a little bit of a shock to Michael who had just flown over from Ireland for the stage. From rainy Ireland to a 35 degree Pyrenean climb isn't good for the health. But he made it.

Cyclosport gave this stage 10/10 for difficulty and it basically meant that it involved climb after climb. The extra dimension was that the climbs gradually got harder, the Col de Port, followed by the Port D'Aspet, followed by the Col de Mente, followed by the new and fearsom HC Port de Bales followed by the Cold de Peyresourde.

The glaring midday sun meant that fluid intake quadrupled, but Emma did a stirling job of meeting us in remote locations with the van so we could re-fuel. I think Amy actually sat in the water trough on the Portet d'Aspet.....the cooling effect considerable.

We bumped into a bunch of chaps who had been on the Tour of Ireland with Amy and I. Back then we discussed the fact they were doing the Etape and we were doing the Tour...and lo and behold we meet again in the Pyrenees. Hope you read this, best of luck to you all.

Talking of the etape (organised race/ride across the blue riband stage of the tour de France each year), there will be some suffering on Monday, that's for sure. I have trained all year for letour2007 and am not unfit and still found it hard. I think that route will become a serious challenge for many riders out there...let's hope it cools down. Seriously, I hope all you guys make it...."COURAGE !"

The grind up Peyresourde signalled the end of another 200km's of cycling and over 4500 metres of 'up'. We piled in the van and headed for the Autoroute to take us to Oloron, near Pau, for a well deserved official rest day (same as Pros will have). I am not sure that we could take another successive mountain day...we need to recover physically and mentally. Stage 16 still looms over this challenge like an Ogre...ready to bite us hard if we aren't careful. Difficulty rating getting up to 'Brutal'.

Great comments ........keep them coming. Particularly strong on the last post, lightening strike Ipods and Jaeger bombs !