Pedal to Paris - 2014

As my grandmother always said... NEVER say NEVER as NEVER is a very long time. Many of you would know that I was rather vocal about my dislike of road cycling etc, but I've always had a tendency to suffer under peer pressure or maybe FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) will be a more fair comment.

At our Christmas Party back in December 2013, David  told me that I WILL be riding Pedal to Paris this year and that I will also be involved in the organisation of it, including the design and creation of 600 shirts in five different designs. I didn't have much choice other than to oblige and agree.

Our company, Manpower, has been involved with the Royal British Legion (RBL) for a number of years and have sponsored all 300 riders shirts again this year. Our team was 56 people strong and the biggest since Mark Cahill & James Levey rode their first Pedal to Paris.  



Team Manpower

RBL provide practical, emotional and financial support to all members of the British Armed Forces past and present, and their families. 

This year’s ride was the 19th ride organised by RBL from London to Paris and was particularly special as it is the commemoration of 100 years since the outbreak of WW1, and the ride included visits to War Memorials along the way, whilst the route passed through battlefields and WW1 and WW2 cemeteries, culminating in a spectacular finish at the Arc de Triomphe.

As a team we pledged to to raise £48 000 but exceeded that and are currently over £70 000 already! Over £25 000 was raised through generous corporate sponsorships including Pera Training, IQ Navigator, Sky, Steljes, Trailfinders, Lex Autolease, Broadbean & Career Transition Partnership. If you would like to contribute to this great cause you can do so via http://www.justgiving.com/companyteams/TeamManpower2014. 



Getting ready - Kit provided by Le Marq

Co-ordinating 5 different shirts with 3 different purposes was a challenge at times but great experience. At some point it did feel that riding 445km would be easier than arranging 600 shirts. Everything arrived on time and looked fantastic!

My training plan didn't really turn out as I planned as I got a cold in July. Thankfully I did a MTB-race in the Dolomites in June & I was hoping that the training I did for that would pull me through. I did one training ride with my friend Steph & bonked one kilometre to go from home & we only rode 87km, confidence levels were low and I really didn't know what to expect. David however had been to many spin classes coming in & out of the office gleefully asking me what I have been up to. On which I replied with either no training, or that I did an off-road triathlon 2 weeks before the event.

In all honesty I didn't have many expectations as it was road cycling which is not my first love, so I can truthfully say that I have been pleasantly surprised by everything. Firstly I would've never considered doing four days of road cycling and secondly I never knew that I would be able to do this. I have only once ridden 120km before, let alone 4 consecutive days of that distance. 



Day 3 - Fun fun fun!

Highlights:

1. Day 1 - jumping onto Gus' wheel early on and staying on it till the lunch stop
2. Day 3 - most fun I've ever had on a road bike, working together & pacing as a team with David, Adrian, Will, Gus, Gary, Antony & Hugo who also looked after me as if they were my brothers/fathers on & off the bike
3. Also teaching Hugo how to do drafting
4. On & Off the bike team work & banter
5. Turning right onto the Arc d' Triomph and sprinting to the end of four days of amazing road riding
6. Meeting other people from across the ManpowerGroup made me feel proud to be part of the company


Lows:
- Stopping & Starting all the time on Day 2

Team Manpower road cycling legend
 & ride captain,
James Levey with whom
I got to work with on the shirts

Favourite quote/moment:
- You stole my wifi (pronounced weee-feee) - Gus Watt

Things I learnt about road cycling: 

You can also read this as, "Things I learnt about James Levey :-)"

1. Everyone should off course have 4 pair of gloves, a pair for each day
2. Wet wipes are better than any bike wash
3. To give your chamois a hand wash is not hygienic enough
4. You need to wash your water bottles out with warm water every evening

* Whether we all took that on board is a different matter :-)

I got to do three of the things I love most in life; organise, riding 'a' bike & meeting people. I can only thank David for not giving me an option to do the ride or not. I feel a huge sense of achievement and am even looking forward to do more road riding with my new acquainted friends.

Thank you to RBL for organising this great event, the closed roads, mechanics & physios contributed to a very memorable experience.

Strava:
Day 1 - London Greenwich to Dover
http://www.strava.com/activities/189760788
Day 2 - Calais to Abbeville
http://www.strava.com/activities/190238060
Day 3 - Abbeville - Beauvois
http://www.strava.com/activities/190717359
Day 4 - Beauvois - Paris
http://www.strava.com/activities/191276460

http://www.strava.com/clubs/manpowerpedals

David & Gus cycling through one of the WW1 battlefields

We all made it!

Thanks for pushing my road cycling boundaries!

Final remembrance ceremony at the Arc d' Triomphe




Catherine & Claire - hopefully we will be soon hitting some Strava leaderboards together in the Surrey Hills ;-)

More photos can be found on this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.851747484843213.1073741873.587996214551676&type=1&l=d6cdc27887

Tango Cycling Kit Spotting

On 21 August my Tango Cycling Kit arrived, this was one of the best pre-birthday gifts I could have received. I kept refreshing the UPS page to see when delivery would be due and as I was looking at the page, Claire phoned from reception to let me know that my precious parcel arrived. It was with great excitement that I opened the box. I was so relieved to see that I didn't leave a 'c' out of cycling and that all was ok!

Louis & Saartjie trying to claim it all!

I took my precious goods home in my wheelie suitcase.I was prepared to show the contents of my suitcase to anybody that looked vaguely interested. My chest wanted to explode with pride and excitement. :-)

Saartjie & I baked my Ouma Lina's milktart as a trail as I wanted to bake one for work later in the week. So it was ready to serve as a treat for those who picked up their kit on Wednesday evening along with a complimentary chocolate yazoo.

Liezl arrived a little bit later and the two of us acted as if we were Tango Cycling's Next Top Models, I think we are especially with this perfectly in sync Usain Bolt pose!

Tango Cycling Next Top Models
Chunky Fries on the left & Skinny Fries on the right!

Tango Cooking in It! :)



Big G - Today I'm keeping up with Bontie

Dawie - The Beast






Multi-purpose Kit
TC, Big Ring Paula & Steph

"TC, it's your birthday and we'll ride cause  you want too!!!"
Thank you so much for riding with me on my b-day in the rain - #legends
Louis, Albert, Lara, Jono, Christiaan, Pokkeltjie, Zelda & Simon
 

3rd Ladies Ride and we bump into so many faces also wearing their kit at Head for the Hills
Lizzie, Adele, Nikie, Louis, Scottish Iain, Liezl, Simon, Lara, Saartjie, Natalie & Jeanpant
 

Louis roped into fitting Liezl's brakes

Adele & Niki

Saartjie styling in her kit!

Willem one of the last ones to receive his kit! Making me us 'tea' in it #malemodel

 

The level of service I received from Vitesse was impressive. They were always happy to make any changes that I required and nothing was a chore for them, the bonus was that my order was delivered 10 days before it's due date without any fuss. I am very happy with the quality of the kit especially with the bib shorts.

I have a limited number of men's and ladies tops left, they are available at £45 each and I also have 2 incredibly comfortable and well padded men's bib shorts left for £55 each. Contact me on tangocycling@outlook.com if you would like to wear your own Tango Cycling kit!

Gerhard van Niekerk: "This is definitely the best pair of cycling tights I own right now!"

David Duffy: "I really like the zip pocket at the back of the top."