POST ONE: Coincidence

About 5 months ago, in a warm pub, on a cold December night...fuelled by some potent bitter, and a lack of imagination, I found myself agreeing to cycle from London to Brussels.

It was a good plan, I was really missing the experience of long distance riding, that I enjoyed so much during my ride across Britain only a few weeks earlier. I was putting on a bit of weight and I needed a new challenge.

That said, there was no real "reason" for the ride, we weren't planning on raising any charity cash, weren't ticking off items from a bucket list or living out some long dreamt wish to visit Brussels. In reality the choice of destination was rather practical and dull.

Chris, the least cycle shaped chap you're ever likely to meet  (but who still manages to clock up more cycle miles each and every day than most club cyclists)...had a meeting in Paris. As I was already planning on joining a Paris ride in September, I didn't fancy it twice in one year, so we spread a Eurostar map across the bar checked out the routes and plucked Brussels out of the air.

And with that, the date and destination were chosen for us...sorted... which was handy as it allowed us much more time that night to enjoy beer and curry.

Now, 5 months later, people remark on how well thought out and how well timed our plans were...to perfectly coincide with the end of the Paris Roubaix ride AND the centenary of  the World War 1 all kicking off in the very same part of northern France and Belgium that we plan to ride.

How clever we were.

Our "team" started small and grew a bit from three to five and finally six (which helped round up the room numbers really). None of us are what you would call club riders, although we all ride regularly and are capable of riding a good distance. We're of mixed ability and fitness (only one of us is truly fit ...nope...not me!) and all us are of a similar age, except Chris the younger who is, well...younger;

And so, on Friday we set off to ride to Dover, then, following a long ferry ride, will ride a little further to settle in Dunkirk.

On Saturday and Sunday we shall travel along the tip of  Northern France, into Belgium and across the top of Roubaix, over Flanders and into Brussels where the Eurostar waits to carry us back home to Blighty.

A 3 day, gentley paced, relatively flat adventure across 3 countries.

For the record, the super six are.

Me
Big Chris
Chris the younger
Gary
Jim
Martin

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