The Barbie Award

Stage 1 – Rotterdam to Brussels – 220 km

Another classic English sporting performance only managed to increase my anxiety levels to a new high. I waited for my bag with baited breath. The lovely Pauline, the tour physio who was flying in to Rotterdam from Gatwick, was going to be giving me the good or bad news about my bag situation. At midnight she arrived....as did the bag. I did not need that sort of drama and subsequently slept really badly thinking it still hadn’t turned up.

But a new day and Stage 1 was to begin. No excuses now.
Another early start and we all assembled outside for a team talk to discuss the finer points and route of the day and the ‘Awards’ scheme... Each day an award , with suitable mascot, was to given for the ‘most heroic performance’....and the ‘biggest moaner’. Heroic performance was to be a small ‘lucky’ plastic pig. Biggest moaner was to have Barbie style attachments, added to his bike, of pink plastic horn and tassles.


Seeing as I was the only one who I had moaned about my bag being lost...I duly received the Barbie Award!

We set off as one big group of twenty riders and after a quick spin through Rotterdam on the fantastic cycle lanes – we bombed out of the city and into a mixture of bridges and semi-urban areas towards Brussels. The scenery was all totally flat and all rather dull but we were kept focused by the strong wind that aided and hindered us in place, constantly stopping for punctures (2 of which were mine), and a very strange truck festival that had a seemingly endless procession of trucks all hooting us as we passed.

My left knee, that had been a recent major problem in training, began to rear its ugly head again at lunch. To say I was concerned was an understatement...but we progressed and I attempted to cycle in a way that inflicted minimal amount of force on it. This promptly started to create problems with my left achilles tendon and by the time we finished the stage in Brussels it was a toss-up between the two as to which was more painful.

Maybe it will be better in the morning?