Dave and his Bike

At the end of May I met up with Steve Lambert. Steve has, perhaps foolishly, agreed to ride with me for the Malay peninsular leg of the trip. 

We have ridden together a few times, but not many, not for much distance, and never back to back days. Certainly never with panniers, and definitely not in cold wind and rain – the sort of conditions you would not really expect to encounter at the end of May in central France. But we had booked a hotel in the Loire (Ancenis to be precise), so we were going to do it.

For me it was a big test. Would my fragile back be up to several continuous days in the saddle, therefore would the trip still be on? It was also a bit of an experiment for both of us. If we weren’t talking after four days, then a five week stint might be a bit awkward! Steve had also never been touring before. In at the deep end.

The ride consisted of a planned four days, which turned into three, partly due to the weather, but also because of my fitness, or lack of it. 

It rained. A lot. We got lost once following a ‘voie verte’ (green cycling route) which was badly signposted and put us off course by about 10km, so not too bad; I spent an extra night at Steve & Ange’s house in the Charente as I was knackered after cycling 250km in two days for the first time in years; we bought pizza from a dispensing machine; we met a lovely couple of cyclists from the UK who were en-route to the south coast; Jane picked me up in Perigueux at the end of the third day (fatigue again – plus a bit of apathy!). But overall the experience was great. I was fully reassured that my back would hold out, and Steve must have enjoyed it as he has since booked his flight to Bangkok. 500km in week was the longest I had done for a very long time, and a good kick start to my training. All I need to do now is keep the mileage up. Easy when you say it quickly!