Stage 10 Rest day - New Driver

Stage 10 Rest day - Strasborg,

Distance 0 miles

Thank goodness it's a rest day today. Here's a very happy me in a selfy this am:

The thing about rest days is that they are not too eventful, lets be honest, it's going to be a bit tricky to fully engage  the "Clive remembrance tour" blog audience. I'll try my best.  

Firstly, another £1000 has been donated in the last few days, from friends and family of all those that have ridden so far as well as complete strangers that we bump into along the way. There have now been 180 separate donations. Each rise in the total gives me a huge morale boost, thank you so much ...yet again. 

Now, some facts and figures of the tour so far.:-

1. Distance covered: 654 miles

2. Countries: 5 (excludes Chatham)

3. Rain days: 8 out of 10

4. Rest days: 2 out of 10

5. Cycling on rain days: 7 out of 8

6. Height climbed: 7,157 metres.-  This is the equivalent of cycling up Kilimanjaro, then sauntering up Ben Nevis. 

7. Gruffalo sightings have risen to 7, but there are still no confirmed reports. 

8. Weather forecast for tomorrow: RAIN

9. Tomorrows distance: 87 miles

10: Tomorrows destination: Mulhouse, here is the (expected) route : 

http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=607768 - cycling along The Rhine River on the French/German border. I've elected for the German side as the roads are better. 

There is talk of the weather clearing by the weekend, it had better, because the Alps are getting closer and they will be hard enough on their own.  My biggest climb of the tour comes this Sunday when i will climb to 2100 metres, with a 1200 ascent in only 25km.  It will be horrific. Lets not think about it for now. 

I went to the spa after breakfast and spent two hours there, closely followed  by a sleep. I re-awoke at 1.30pm and wandered into Strasbourg city centre. Strasbourg is beautiful, the buildings incredibly historic, whilst the cathedral has to be considered jaw dropping. 

I wandered around, had a bratwurst, and loaded up on as much pasta as I could. Then set off, in the tour support car, to pick up Domenico Avellini from Strasborg international airport. As you know, navigation is one of my strong points, checking the signs, it looked right to me. 

Domenico went straight into support driver mode when we got back to the hotel, helping me change tyres on my bike, fitting the kit back on from Clive's bike after yesterday's switch over, and having a good look at tomorrow's route with me over dinner. Here he is enjoying a beer with me tonight. Would you trust him? 

He's a top guy, and has already had me in stitches. He'll be driving the support car for the next two days down into Sursee (Switzerland). More about Domenico in the coming days.

Despite having Domenico, I have no co rider with me for the first time since the tour started 10 days ago, I will be "solo" now all the way until Milan in 9 days from now. 

Thank you again....Roger Webb, Angie Cruise, Simon Spong, Graham Stokes, Alex cook, Stuart Cook, Paul Rushton, Domenico Avellini, Stephen lee, Darren Heatley, Grant Woodthorpe and Mike Staveley for riding alongside and effectively catapulting me as far as Strasbourg. 

Until tomorrow, let it be a little less wet than yesterday. Please? 

Brett x