Paris Dakar gets rolling

Stage 1 of 60, Day 1 of 71: 143 km, 717m, 6:20, 208 shifts, ave speed 22.5, max speed 53.4

Andrew and I woke up at 6am sharp and packed up. Breakfast was as you’d expect for a luxury hotel: massive, varied and great. After that I put everything onto my bike (Garmin, tools, name tag, energy bars, water) and dropped off my bags at the truck.

We gathered out back and finally at 8:20, set off. There were two tracks for today: first 12 km to the Eiffel Tower for the ceremonial start of the tour, then an additional 131 km to the first campsite in Courtenay. We rode through Paris, lots of parks and a few dirt paths, and suddenly we saw the Eiffel Tower, very large, dead ahead.

We stopped at a perfect spot where it was lit by the sun and took some photos. It was really exciting and fun, and to top it off, Beau walked up! We only got to see each other for a few minutes but he got to meet more of my riding buddies, guys I’ve been through so many crazy things with in South America. Sadly, we didn’t have time for a photo. It was emotional for me, so great to see him there at that point in time.

Too soon, we headed out – it was a long stage and everyone was excited to start. It seemed like it took forever to get out of Paris – we rode by the Seine, along bike paths, busy streets, but finally after maybe 20-30 km, we were kind of out of the city. Soon we were jetting through the countryside. In retrospect, we went too fast, at least for me. We had to walk our bikes through a tiny street jammed with a Sunday market and seemingly every local from miles around. Bagpipes in the church, so many amazing sights. What a scene.

10 km later we came upon the lunch van and it was like no time had passed since last fall in Greece. Ype served up the same great food! We sat in the shade and ate lots. After lunch, we still had 64 km to go. It got quite hot and the headwinds kicked up. Suddenly it wasn’t so fun. I got dropped by the fast group – my leg power dropped to a fraction of normal. Around 115 km, I caught them at one of the few cafes open (Sunday afternoon is not the happening time in France it seems). I was so used up. We drank perrier and lemon and I ate all the food in my bag (2 bars plus fly biscuits). Then my legs started cramping up uncontrollably just sitting there. A couple friendly riders donated electrolyte powder/tablets, but my legs were bad. After a white I texted Ype to see if he could pick me up as there was no way I could ride 28 km more with headwinds and uphill. He said yes which was great.

I hung out another half hour though, chatting with other riders who arrived, and suddenly didn’t feel so bad. I guess the electrolytes and water kicked in. In the end I told Ype I would cycle and set off with Harry and Liz to try and make it. We did pretty well, and were within 5 km of camp, when the cramps returned. I thought I would have to walk, looked back and there was Harry, walking. So we ascended the next hill by walking and coasted down together. This continued until we made it. What a relief! I had lots of hot soup, electrolytes and other snacks, drank a couple bottles of water, then felt a bit better after a cold shower. There is only one temperature, luckily it was perfect for the conditions.

I found my tent and pad which had spent the last year in the Bike Dreams storage facility in Holland. I set everything up, ate more, and got ready for dinner. We’re a really large group, it seems around 40 people, with the tables lined up end to end, it was long. Dinner was great, relaxing with wine and lots of talk. I found out many others had had cramping trouble and were not able to ride the final hills. Later, I heard that even the iron man Wytze had cramps in the night when he got out of his tent. After melon for dessert, I went straight to bed and other than two brief pee breaks, slept like a log until 7am. What a day! What a life!