We rode from London to Paris in 24 hours (Part 1)

After what seems like an age, the Essex to London to Paris ride is finally here, but it isn’t without its drama from the outset!

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right so we are less than 1 mile into this ride and we’ve already had to stop for a mechanical and unfortunately it’s me that it’s happened too .59 mil been going 3 minutes 11 seconds we’re good right let’s go hopefully we do more than half a mile this time good morning and what a glorious morning it is the perfect morning to be riding to Paris we’ve been waiting for this for so long and it’s finally arrived I am buzzing for [Music] this yes this is what the last four weeks doing n FTP boost run Swift has been leading up to and we’ve all been desperately waiting for this ride hang on a sec my pedal doesn’t feel right one sec how far have we come can I show you .59 miles we’ve been going 3 minutes 11 seconds so yeah my CLE has broken I was sat outside the house before we set off thinking why is this not clipping in properly eventually got it in and then it obviously completely sat so um yeah we’re now waiting for our support driver jez to arrive which has my bag in it which has the spare cleats all good fun great start to the adventure a little explaining on how to put shoes on what a it’s good we’re good right let’s go I need to give a quick shout out to our support driver jez who went home cuz we don’t need until this afternoon and then quickly had to come back out again cheers buddy appreciate that right let’s get back on the road right so as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by my cleat yeah the last 4 weeks have been a bit of a struggle doing the FTP booster on zwift but I’m hoping that it should make me nice and strong and make this we not quite a dodal but a little bit easier than expected I’ll let you know in about 95 mil time when we get to the fairy let’s have a sit rep [Music] then how lovely was that that was Chris’s mom and dad who live along the Route who came out to give us a wave bless [Music] them only Power only as a battalion onwards to Victory something’s going to happen here I might what’s the word explode right we’ve made it to eping Forest which is one of my most favorite places to ride got some absolutely beautiful roads here and it is just stunning scenery all around unfortunately on this occasion we got a bit of a headwind just haven’t checked to Ian it’s going to get worse as the day goes on as we get closer to the South Coast yeah I reckon we’ll be cycling backwards you know I love a headwind there we got a big downhill section coming up so we get nice and tucked super Arrow get some speed up down there well we’re just flying down that hill and something hit the side of my leg turns out my bottle cage has come off I’m not doing very well today am I oh well let’s uh see how well this holds up over the next 70 odd miles [Music] [Music] despite the wind though I don’t think we could have asked for better weather today this is absolutely glorious you know I love giving a weather report so it’s about 22° at the moment maybe a little bit too hot if anything no no sorry what am I say it’s beautiful I’ve just realized we’ve just come past one of the Junctions we crossed over for the north London dirt rid I’m getting PTSD from that ride still I’ve still not managed to fix my gravel bike one day or maybe I’ll just buy a new [Music] one oh Z’s behind us how did you get there we’ve been chasing to try and catch you up Zan the great as we stopped in the pub car park back there a little while ago for me to sort my bottle CJ out Zoe was right up ahead and didn’t see a stop so carried on Jimmy and I then raced off to try and catch him up and somehow he’s ended up behind us so I feel like Jimmy and I have expended a whole lot of useless energy there right we’ll slow the pace down a bit [Music] now okay we’ve just arrived in Hackney which is the infamous start point of the Dage Dynamo yes the pub on the park is the wonderful start to the Dage Dynamo so yes we will be back here next month for the start of the 112 M Dage Dynamo route can’t wait [Music] this is why I hate cycling in central London not only the traffic lights but this traffic is absolutely mental and no one cares about cyclists people only care about their own Journey they don’t even look out for other cars let alone cyclists thankfully we’re nearly at from fala Square now though and just as we arrive into T Square for the last last few miles I feel like something’s a little bit loose on my back wheel which is a bit concerning it feels like the through axle is not tightened up properly but I know it is cuz I did it myself yesterday and I can see that it’s not hanging out so I’m going to have to investigate that when we arrive cuz that is a little bit concerning made it to travela square but uh yeah typical London traffic the fellas are stuck behind some trucks in uh behind a red light so yeah I’ll be sat here waiting for them for a bit but took you so long okay so now we’ve got here it took a little bit longer than expected thanks to my uh CLE and bottle situation but we are now here what is the time I was bang on 3:00 we were going to leave at 2:00 but yeah we got a bit delayed so we were going to stop here for lunch but I think now given this traffic and how much of a nightmare it’s going to be we’ll uh head down to South London first then maybe grab a bite to eat bloody health thank God we’re out trafala square I absolutely hate it around here right we’re on our way we’re on whiteall London to Paris is started sorry that sounded too negative we’re on our way London to Paris is started let’s [Music] go despite my hatred for Central London it is nice to see all those commonwealth flags out with it being D-Day Remembrance Day yesterday so that’s nice and still the nightmare traffic continues get me out of Central [Music] London so we’ve come to another stop just past a set of lights and this is another reason that I hate London especially if you’re in a big group because if one of you makes it through the lights invariably someone’s going to get caught at the back never mind right so now we’re all back together having done a full investigation of the back wheel while we were stopped in traela square I can find nothing wrong with my rear wheel so uh I’ve have no idea where this clunking sound is coming from it is a bit disconcerting though just have to keep fingers crossed that it’s uh nothing that [Music] serious right another quick stop now to grab a bite to eat because we didn’t eat in trapala square for very good reason we just wanted to get the hell out of there right sandwich let’s go so I’ve just come out of uh oh getting a sandwich which I nearly just dropped and discovered that cliffy’s cleat is now broken as well so good job I brought that spare one with me cuz it’s going to come in useful now right it was an emergency cleat fixing situation think at it on camera cuz we need to leave we’re struggling for time now let’s go yeah that was a bit of a par dear style fight to eat and change of a cleat and I’m now concerned that we are fighting for time because we need to get down to the ferry for 9:30 and we’ve still got a good 55 mil to do in about 5 hours which doesn’t sound like a lot but we still haven’t got out of London and I know from when Jimmy and I did this 2 years ago getting out of South London it’s 10 mph because it is constant St stop so we’ve decided to foro stopping at the pub that we were going to have a bite to eat in and crawly down and now we’re going to meet up with jez our support driver very briefly and uh probably just get another sandwich or something quick bite to eat and then back on the road because I fear if we don’t yeah we might not be making it to Paris I just bur it up that hill and absolutely nagged myself but anyway now we’re coming up to clap and common I think so at least we get a nice little ride through the park for a bit this is a bit more like it away from the hustle and bustle of all the traffic that was just manic parts of that coming into Central London getting into trapala square that was not fun in the slightest and now I can’t wait to get out into the Wilds of northern France cuz that’s even nicer suddenly we’ve hit some gravel it’s got off road uh we need to go down over there but and now there’s a slight diversion off the route it just gets better well that was interesting suddenly went a bit cyclocross there yet another stop cuz some of the ls got caught out of red light I feel like this is becoming a very depressive ride this is not how it was supposed to be right I feel like I’ve been getting too depressed on this ride so I’m going to throw over to our CMO our chief motivation officer Jimmy how are you feeling we are going to have it today we’ve had a little pit stop gar stop it was was quite the lunch we intended but that doesn’t matter a dark Heist roll rap is better than you think all right it might not be a 2hour pit stop in trago square taken in the sights but it’s all we needed and now we’re going to go and get fish and chipped instead of sitting in the pub even better come on let’s have it oh there was a quick word from our CMO always upbeat old [Music] Jimmy something is definitely clicking oh I know what it is that’s what’s clicking proba after that motivational speech from Jimmy I am feeling boyed somewhat and also I come with slightly good news about the whole back wheel situation I’ve just realized it’s not my back wheel at all having just bunny hopped over a speed hump I’ve realized that it’s actually my bottle cage which I knew about earlier so that’s uh that’s a little something at least I know my back wheel is not going to fall off halfway through this trip got to take the good news where you can on a ride like this oh I can feel my mood lifting markedly as we get into more and more green areas I don’t think necessarily it’s London actually that I hate it’s just major traffic built up areas it’s just not fun it’s really not that comfortable I’m not someone that blasts through red lights generally but in London at least or any big city I can well understand why people do I’m not saying it’s safe but I do understand why they do it because otherwise you just don’t get anywhere [Music] right we’re back on the south London Suburban roads the mometer is waning [Music] again okay we finally left the hustle and bustle of London behind us and all of a sudden we find ourselves on farn Downs Hill I remember this one being an absolute monst of a hill last time trouble is I’ve just burnt up a hill to get here so now I’m blowing out my backside this is the first of five registered climbs apparently according to my garming climb Pro let’s get it [Music] the great thing about faring Downs is you are rewarded with a very nice view when you get to the top it is a bugger to get up here though while I catch my breath I’ll let you have another chat with our chief motivation officer who is uh he’s got his leg perched on a Verge and we all know what that means where should we start this sums up our ride so far the city houses busy people residents slowly you emerge to Green to Nature to swaying leaves to Beauty this is your reward though and that is the beauty of cycling there was a burn there and then you get this and if you’ve never watched one of my videos before Jimmy loves stopping next to a lovely green area cocking his leg up on a Verge and having a Jimm’s moment and I think this is one of those times right I’ve been waiting for this I’ve just realized as Jimmy’s just pointed out we’ve done 50 miles we are exactly halfway down or literally just over halfway down to New Haven now so uh yeah here’s to the next 50 wooo okay we’ve made it past farn downs and we’re now on an absolutely crazy descent Ian just told us with a wa yeah watch out bloody Hill when he said it was steep in a uh sudden left hand Bend he wasn’t lying we are now well away from South London in the hills of s but unfortunately as many downhills as there are there’s just as many up all part of the adventure [Music] yeah I’m glad I’m not sat down there in a car much better to be on a bike all see how much my mood is lifted now I’m out of London doesn’t take much just a little bit of greenery so yes we’re well out of South London now and I didn’t get a chance to chat to my friend Ian who you would have seen on the suffk ride a few weeks ago but Ian was saying as we came through Mitchum we were literally like 2 miles from your door 2 miles and so I traveled 50 m to get to the start and we just cycled 2 miles past my house I must be mad so yeah he rode all the way up to stanstead from South London this morning with a how heavy was that bag it must have been 10 kilos a good 10 kilo backpack on his back with all of his gear to throw in the van despite the fact we becoming two miles past the front door what a trooper so I was doing 130 beats per minute heart rate just on the flats the bag was that heavy it’s a good workout mate yeah just like this hill at the moment I’m in the wrong gear oh right second to five climes and I’m in the wrong air again cuz I’m filming here we [Music] go it was that one it was that one yeah that was a burner Jimmy and I remember that one from last time we thought that Hill that we just came up was a hill we did a couple of Miles back and when we got to the top of that one we were like oh that was easy we don’t remember it being that easy it’s because it wasn’t it was the hill we’ve just come up how was that for you I do remember that the legs have start to remember that but we moved on we we moved on S how are you boys good oh yeah you look good I mean I’ve got a rotten cold and I could have sick no doubt of this right well only uh only three three more climbs to go three more registered climbs I know from history there are a lot more than three climbs on this last room right so before we set off from the top top of the registered climb my bottle cage has come loose again and we just gave Chris’s tires a little pump up with my little psych plus electric mini pump because when I eventually got the pressure gauge on them they were sat at 35 PSI which was giving him a massive amount of rolling resistance so yeah we’ve pumped him up to 80 now so hopefully he should be rolling a lot better and he shouldn’t be getting as knackered on the climbs right we’re back on on the Move we will make it to the ferry on time I’m [Music] determined okay so we’re about 6 M out now from our first stop meeting our support driver jez we’ve then got 3 hours to do the last 25 30 mies down to the coast so I hope that should be pretty comfortably doable that said we’ve still got these three registered climbs to do so anything can happen let’s be honest but fingers crossed we should make it all right this feels like it’s been a real Adventure ride today though and even more so than when Jimmy and I did this 2 years ago and I had the drama of my chain snapping and missing the track event hosted by dhb today it just seems like this has been a real SLO like getting down into Central London was a pain obviously first of all my cleat snapping which didn’t help then my bottle cage going and then Cliff’s cleat going everything seems to have just been a bit of a SLO today but once we get on that Ferry get to the other side in France on the beautiful Avenue vert there’s no more time constraints we can go as fast or slow as we want and we can just enjoy the ride I cannot wait to get to France planes flying low overhead can only mean one thing we’re getting close to Gatwick which means we’re getting close to Crawley which means we’re getting close to food I need chips and sausage plenty of salt vinegar I’m hoping I bought some mushy peas and a couple of Wes as well for my American viewers a Wally is a pickle why do we call it a Wally there’s a question a Wally Gerkin yeah a pickle 3 and 1/2 miles let’s do [Music] it well that was the Duke’s head Pub that we were supposed to be stopping in but no time now so heading straight past that to the prize fighter fish and chip shop down the road sty carbs that’s what we need right now [Music] chippy tea our Quint essentially British right let’s go let’s get some food right lovely chicken sandwich and a few chips and also a packet salt vugar crisps just to save off those cramps because yeah lacking in salt at this late stage 65 mi in we’ve got 30 left to go 29 30 miles left to go I think we’re all struggling a little bit now but we are determined to get there we’ve now got I think we’ve got 2 and a half 3 hours to get to the ferry so I think we should do it comfortably but we’re not going to rest on our lels we are going to push on hopefully try and get there by just gone 9:00 I am looking forward to a sit down on the ferry and a nice non-alcoholic beer right well that was a lovely food stop we’re back underway but I got to be honest I now feeling a little bit cold because I then we stopped for a bit too long a few of the fellas have now layered up and now the sun has disappeared behind the clouds the temperature has definitely dropped Garmin says it’s 16° at the moment but it certainly doesn’t feel it it is feeling very chilly it’s feeling about 10 or 11° so yeah let’s see how the next 30 m go hopefully we can can do it in 2 hours get to the ferry port get on that Ferry and get our heads [Music] down right we are 73 m in 22 left to go and today is not the day for cleats because my right cleat is now gone I do have more spares on the van but unfortunately not on me and as I gave the other spare cleat that I didn’t put on this morning to Cliff yeah I’m just going to have to suck it up and live with it it does still clip in but the front part has snapped off the same as the one did this morning I have absolutely no idea what is going on with these cleats today in fairness I haven’t changed them for a while but it just seems very strange that two have gone in one day I’m going to put it down to all the start stop getting out of London having to put your foot down so much at all the lights it’s a pain at any rate but as I say I can clip in so let’s hope I can make it to the ferry there’ll be some more maintenance getting done on the ferry right fourth climb and once we finish this one very quick succession afterwards we get the fifth one but at least the five climbs are then done yeah as I said earlier it won’t exactly be downhill but hopefully we won’t have any monster Hills to go up anymore I’m looking ahead this one looks like a a nice spicy [Music] one we have got one more climb to do let’s get it done all right that was the worst of all I got up to 15% at points never seen my law so again that was the last one Jimmy Jimmy keeps clapping and setting off the emergency alarm on his Garmin watch his wife’s had about 10 emergency phone calls today she’s at all wit’s end but anyway as I was saying that was a 15% heal and that was the last one I’m not going to say there aren’t any more Hills because you did say I told Jimmy last year oh it’s all downhill to New Haven now and I remember there being two more little cheeky climbs so we got those to look forward to but that is the last registered that’s the last biggie let’s enjoy the rest of this ride down to H Haven [Music] now right well we are just under 10 mi from the ferry port now and just under 10 minutes until sunset so I can’t see us making it there before Sundown but that doesn’t matter we’re close now and I think all of us are ready to get on this Ferry and just ready for a chillax and when I do get on the ferry I’ve got something a little bit important to talk to you about more on that shortly well the garmin’s gone into dark mode which means it’s officially Sunset but we’ve only got a couple of miles left to go now into the ferry port and then it’s just a small matter of getting the bikes on the back of the van we were expecting a bit of a bigger van Something Like A Renault traffic but it ended up being a Mercedes veto which is considerably smaller than a Renault traffic so uh yeah this could be fun in games and as we come up what should hopefully be one of the final big climbs before we start dropping down into New Haven on the coast have to say I have felt pretty strong today although as I said earlier the beginning part of the day felt like a bit of a SLO but I think that was more to do with the fact that we were just trying to push it so much to make sure that we got into London and then back out again to make it to the ferry in time but the 4-we FTP booster on zift that I’ve been doing over the last month has near paid off if you watch that video from a couple of weeks ago you know that my FTP went from 228 up to 248 in Just 4 weeks which is no mean feet and I don’t want to blow my own trumpet but I was pretty happy with that to be honest and it’s definitely shown today in comparison to the suffk ride I did a month ago where yeah I absolutely bonked hard on that but today I feel like I’ve got the nutrition right and yeah I felt strong so pretty happy about that so I can definitely recommend some zift workouts they do work I think we’ve made it I’m we’re only 20 minutes after Sunset not a bad run after all right we’ve arrived back at the ban back at jez Now’s the Time to take all the bags out start dismantling all the bikes and uh try and fit these 11 bikes into the back of Mercedes veto get in there and have an inspirational chat from from Jimmy right well that was the bikes on the van I didn’t get any footage of it cuz it was a bit manic we are now in a bit of a rush to get on the ferry but that’s day one done day one done in summer that is when you got put the Graft in lovely riding with these boys with some horrible bit riding in London have you ever done it be a bit tricky stop start stop start stop start red light but now we’re here right so let’s check in get on the ferry get into the cabin and I still need to tell you something quite important right we are in the cabin it’s uh it’s not too bad actually is it it’s all right I mean it’s a bit it’s a bit student accommodation but but yeah the cabin’s cabin’s not too bad this is not going to be a review video of the uh of the fer but yes we are on the ferry got to have a shower and then I’m going to go and find somewhere very quiet to have an important chat with you so I’m going to go and do that and I will speak to you very shortly okay I am not out of bed now cuz my eyes you can probably see are absolutely bloodshot and we are all completely shattered so you may have noticed today that we were all wearing matching green jerseys and I wanted to explain the reason for it because it’s part of the reason why we’re all doing this in the first place and why we have this group of guys that go out every Sunday riding with each other and it’s become this absolutely fantastic group and I need to give a trigger warning here because what I’m about to discuss involves serious illness and death so in 2019 very sadly our good friend Cliffy unfortunately his wife Sue lost her battle with cancer and shortly after her death a group of cliffy’s friends decided that they wanted to do something to remember Sue and to try and give something back to breust cancer now which was the charity that helped her so much uh in the months leading up to her tragic passing the guys decided that they were going to do longdistance cycling and the first event that they chose to do was London to Brighton the annual 60 mile ride so there was about 30 of them they all took off they did the ride and it was absolutely fantastic and because Sue’s favorite color was green they named themselves Sue’s green army and then the group evolved and became the green army Cycling Club and turned into as I say this fantastic group of guys that goes out pretty much every weekend throughout the year and as well as being a fantastic way to remember Sue it’s actually just become a great way for a group of guys to get together chat let off some steam and just talk about the important things in life or the important things to them at least so we have chosen ourselves to raise money for breast cancer now again and also prostate cancer UK and I will leave a link below in the video description if you can donate any amount of money it will be so incredibly appreciated please know that they will go to two incredible organizations that do so much to help people living with cancer and their families but anyway with all that said off to bed now I’m going to finish the video here and I will come back with part two next week when we are on the French side so thank you very much for watching and I will see you on the other side take care [Music]