Team,
Suggestions please, for a fourth person to come on The Recce.
The Recce will be Gordon and me. Alex has volunteered to come along because he wants to do the route but cannot make the dates of The Real Thing. I know you are all keen to do the thing en masse, obvs, because it is much more fun that way, but we wondered if you knew a suitable person who might like to join the recce and share rooms with Alex: he has a recommendation from Dellzeqq so is obvs a fine fellow, v sensible. The Recce dates are: cross Pompey-Caen the night of Friday May 9, and stay in the same towns as The Real Thing so we ride the same roads at the same time of the week as The Real Thing. Gordon and I are entrusting our bikes (wrapped in the thinnest of thin plastic see-through sheeting) to the tender mercies of EasyJet on Sunday May 18 (which we may come to regret) because there is no better way of getting back that we can see.
The Recce is a very different thing from the fun-filled, frolic we'll enjoy in June - if a road is unsuitable for a group of 20 cyclists we'll have to ride back and find a better route, there is no support van so you carry all own luggage (which makes for hotel rooms festooned with drying shirts each evening) and if you are poorly there is no van to flop in, and routes have to be explored to find loos, coffee stops, lunches, shopping, picnics, etc. So we anticipate riding to more villages than the minimum that will be ridden on the actual event. I'm aware that this is turning into the sort of (apocryphal) ad that Shackleton placed for his South Pole attempt ("Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.") and it won't be that bad, but nor will it be a picnic. And you have to pay for yourself which is likely to work out at about £600. But is should be fun. Anyone reading this thread has probably already signed up for The Real Thing - but they may know someone who can't make these dates but could make the recce.
Thoughts?