by Sylv » Tue May 12, 2009 11:33 am
other bits
paul driving all night on coffee and mi-cho-ko, waking up during the drive to see some cloud-thick fog with 10m visibility, which didn't seem to phaze paul, spending 5min at 180+bpm on the first ride trying (and failing) to keep up with paul, the perma-smell of TCP, paul's rowing mate richard riding in a rowing suit, normal shoes on clipless pedals (he forgot his shoes), in a huge gear, and still managing a couple 40+mile rides with us, paul's other mate charlie wearing his superman boxer shorts under his lycra, the old fat men playing tennis bare-chest and so effortlessly it was annoying, the women playing tennis, paul wandering in decathlon bare-footed, stu trying to speak french to whoever spoke to him, me bonking badly on a couple of the rides and having to watch paul and stu disappear in the distance, putting down 400w downhill so strong was the wind, descending the vinaigrette climb trying to drop what looked like an ex-pro well into his 60s on an old banger, only managing it when overtaking cars into a hairpin, paul getting annoyed at roadworks, stu and paul having an all-you-can-eat mussels contest, snickers-flavoured ice-cream, paul's '80s compilation cds, having to ride 4km with two mighty hills to get breakfast, introducing stu to a proper breakfast instead of his usual coco pops and shreddies, starting rides at 11am, nutella on bananas, ovomaltine in yogurt, falling asleep on the beach after a ride, stu's red arms which he insisted were brown, paul's epic rowing stories, paul and stu's diverging views on training and recovering, getting a sore neck from the 20min ventoux descent, drafting behind cars and lorries on the coast, riding through Ste Maxime where I spent many a childhood's holiday, snow on the ventoux, paul's pronounciation of french village names, almost dying trying to keep up with paul on a run, putting 2min on paul on a 5km downhill, all those fights up the climbs, riding with my powermeter, paul admitting he's never cooked anything,