Day 3 - Abbeville to Beauvais

We getting a little cocky - we are more than halfway to Paris in terms of distance and in terms of the hills, the hard riding is behind us. We've also been pretty lucky with the weather, with the execption of yesterday afternoon we've avoided any real downpours. The confidence that we are going to make it definitely carried through to dinner last night. I have been told in the past that if you drink only good quality wine, your hangover will not be as bad as if you were drinking Blue Nun or something similar.

This is a myth.

Rich French food, copious amounts of good wine and the after effects of a long race two days before we left London have got to me and it's only with the help of Immodium that I'm able to leave the hotel and get on the bike. The others are also suffering. I thought day three would be the hardest, stiffness has set in but there is still a whole day to go. Tomorrow, the thought of arriving in Paris will get us to the finish, but today is a different story.

Derek, however, is lucky to be with us - luckily the woman decided not to press charges.

Most people had checked out of their rooms and were faffing around outside the hotel getting ready to leave. There was a huge queue for the toilet so Derek decided to slip back into one of the empty rooms to use the facilities there - as he strolled out of the loo tucking himself back into his lycra shorts he was pretty surprised to find he was not alone - not nearly as surprised as the woman in the room though who was completely naked.

He seemed keen to leave the hotel in a hurry and told us he story on the way to the first stop - unluckily for him, the woman in question was also cycling and we bumped into her throughout the day.

After we leave it is soon raining and the roads are slick, at the bottom of a downhill I forget about my new tires and turn hard left at the roundabout. The bike slides from under me so fast I don't get my hand out, I slide across the full width of the road on my hip but apart from losing some skin I'm unhurt, we've got to take it steady in these conditions.

We quickly leave the busy roads of Abbeville and soon we are back on the quiet, undulating roads of northern France.

The team is riding well together, after getting the hang of riding through and off in a single file line, we graduate to riding through and off side-by-side in "the ball". Two riders at the front give much more shelter to the riders behind and so pull them along more, it takes more skill though to peel off together and slot in behind. Once you start falling back beyond the back pair and the wind hits you it is very hard to get back on. The group also has to keep together to stop gaps opening up.

The day passes quickly, it is pretty wet on the roads and because no one has mudguards the spray from your rear wheel quickly gets the pad in your shorts fairly damp - as you can imagine, this is not a pleasant state to be in. We decide not to have a long, drawn out lunch and eat with the rest of the group quickly before heading for Beauvais.

As we get close to town the sky to the east is getting darker and darker, it is raining hard only a few kms away. Its clear we aren't going to escape the storm, Craig has been pulling at the front for miles and miles - we are all sheltering behind him. The heavens open, thunder and lightning and torrential rain.

We get to Beauvais wet but elated, only 55 miles to Paris.....