Maybe it will get better. I put on nearly every article of winter clothing. I underestimate the amount of time it takes and we are already running late. Shoveling food and coffee down our throats, we clop out of the AirBnB like a couple of horses. We make the start outside a charming Chateau, I assume so anyway as it was still pitch black outside. We register, pay our 4 euro, pocket our fresh Brevet card, and we are off into the night. The sun won’t be up for another 90 minutes, but the freezing rain and wind have already greeted us. It will stay with us for much of our ride.

We have a slight cross tailwind for the first couple hours, which is welcome as we keep the cadence high in order to stay warm. The roads are empty and we knock out 55km before much of the countryside is awake. Then it happens, the roundabouts. I apply just a little too much on my outside leg to cut the turn a bit tighter, and the bike disappears under me on the wet, glossy road. I hydroplane across the roundabout and skid to a stop as my bike grinds the tarmac.

OK… can add this to my excuse quiver?

I seem to be fine physically. A hard fall but the wet road allowed me to slide more than grate across the street. I gather myself and Simon stops to check on me.

“Are you OK?” Simon asked. He enjoyed a front row seat to my graceful dismount.

“Is my jacket torn?” I reply. Because you know, priorities…

Happy nothing was in tatters, I crawl back on the bike and decide to at least get to the first checkpoint at kilometer 82.

My shoulder, neck, and knee were a bit sore, but functional. I still had 250km left, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Continue, quit, start a Fleetwood Mac cover band? I just didn’t know. Just… coffee, I needed a coffee and warm anything.

We dragged ourselves to the first checkpoint, and crawl into a bakery. The clientele gazing on us, not with eyes of admiration, but pity. We shiver violently as the wet seeps into our core. The rain and wind only worsening as we chew on a slice of pizza at 9am.

I start looking at trains, I think I’m finished. Ugh, the train will take two and a half hours to get back to the start, as there is no direct way. That’s a lot of shivering, waiting to get into dry clothes. I check the weather, it MIGHT get better after the next checkpoint. “I think we could see the sun if we keep going.” I tell Simon with a shaky tone of confidence. He tells me his legs are still OK, he’s just as cold as I am. We know if we pedal a little harder, we can stop shivering, but it also means riding for at least another 3 hours in this weather.