Thanks for the warm welcome. There aren't many women into cycling where I live (- I'm the only girl in our club!) so it'll be nice to have other girls to talk to. The blokes in my club are all very nice but it'll be good to compare notes with other women riders.


Susan126 - a lot of the events our club takes part in are Time Trials 10 or 25 miles and sometimes 50 so I'm trying to improve my fitness and strength so I can have a go at some of them and put in reasonable time. There's also a road race league but I'm not quite up to that standard yet - maybe next year. For now I'm just trying to increase my miles and staminar. Your ride in May sounds pretty challenging - 130miles a day ! Phew - you must be pretty strong.

I've been to the Tour de France every year since 1998. I live on the South Coast of England so getting to France is very easy - only 1.5 hours on the ferry. I've been to the finish in Paris twice, a team time trial, a prologue and various other stages but I've yet to see them in the Alps or the Pyranees. It's a wonderful atmosphere -especialy in the small towns /villages when the whole village comes out to watch.

Last year we were going to watch a stage of the Womens Tour de France which is run a few weeks after the men's one but didn't quite make it. The year before I managed to see some of it on French TV at a French campsite and it was so inspiring - it just made me want to go out and ride.