Day 14, Stage 11
Vatan – Saint-Fargeau, 192km
Hump day! We have passed the half-way mark in both distance and in stages. And, what a difference a good night’s sleep makes. We all felt a bit more alert and energised today (support crew included).
We were working into a pretty strong headwind this morning and my legs are starting to feel a bit heavy.
Marika’s other leg is starting to get sore now just as her original sore leg is starting to get better.
Dale is showing no signs of his crash yesterday and powered along at the front of the group for the entire day.
Beautiful scenery today and a lot of the towns on the Tour de France route are starting to really dress up their towns in preparation for the big event.
It took us approximately 12 seconds to ride through an entire town today. It was all downhill at about 30 to 40kph and from the time we passed the “welcome” sign to the time we passed the “farewell” sign couldn’t have been more than 12 seconds.
We had a great dinner at a small restaurant by a canal tonight and we just ate so much. The owners brought out some free crepes for Dale and if we understood each other correctly I think they are also making a donation to the Crohn’s Crusaders.
We all toasted Tammy van Wisse who gave me some valuable advice about the project. She said not to be too ambitious with the schedule and make sure that we had time to catch back up if we fell behind at any stage. Tomorrow is an additional rest day that I scheduled after speaking with Tammy. Support crew and riders are all extremely happy about this and it is up there with the best advice I have received about the ride.
Stage 11: On The Road
Crohn’s Fact
Periods of remission may last for weeks, months or even years in some people; however, the usual pattern of Crohn’s disease is one of repeated ‘flare-ups’ of symptoms over the course of a person’s lifetime. It is not possible to predict when a relapse may occur even in people who have lived with Crohn’s disease for a long time.
Crohn’s Profile
Name: Nabile
Age: 45
Lives: Paris, France
My Story: When I started feeling sick I experienced very frightening symptoms including strong abdominal pain, diarrhoea and bleeding. My GP was kind of lost and his silence meant that it was pretty serious. I was lucky compared to some other patients, because he had doubts and sent me to a specialist straight away.
Waiting for the diagnosis - and it didn’t take that long in my case - was the worst moment in my life. My whole body was emptying…. I got so scared that I even made out my will.
Once I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease no treatments were effective… neither steroids, nor immunomodulators nor antiTNFs, except their side effects… After a three-year ordeal, it was panic at home, doubts at the office, I hadn’t told my employer anything, an operation was thought to be the last resort… It lasted 8 hours and ended up for me in a new body to live with, a colostomy bag, a changed life, and I had to learn how to do things again. The good thing was that the symptoms were much alleviated, I could control my disease better, all of which enabled me to accept that plight.
Anxiety is one of the hardest things to cope with, not being understood by those who are closest to you, even your own son. It is a disease which is very difficult to explain. You do not want your friends to feel pity, and you do not want to hurt your family, so you hide everything.
How can you indeed explain that you do not make plans for the future? How can you explain that ok you accept an evening out but with a radar to detect toilets in all places? How can you explain that you do not want to travel on the train after an ‘accident’ because the door of the toilets was locked??
My message:
This disease is still taboo, still difficult to understand… The only understanding we can have is between people who share the same disease, hence the importance of communicating together…
We have to find a way out of this, for our children for those young people who get ill (14 new cases occur every day in France), we have to get a cure, and even if my case is a bit uncommon find new alternative treatments.
This means that we have to support Medical Research…!
Today’s images can be viewed here
Sponsor Profile
Sponsor Name: Swift Signs
Sponsor Level: Project Partner
Sponsor Website: http://www.swiftsigns.com.au/cms/contact.asp
Swift signs have provided the Crohn’s Crusaders with two large signs to be used on the rear window of the two support cars highlighting the project to passing traffic and maximising donation opportunities (and ensuring we got plenty of “toots” and waves throughout France).
From its conception 45 years ago, this established business continues to invest in new technologies designed to deliver state-of-the-art signage solutions in a competitive marketplace.
We believe that concepts are borne through consultation and solutions are sought through experience.
David Whiteway
Swift Sign Industries Pty Ltd
Damian’s Diet for today:
Before Ride:
3 chocolate croissants
1 x Swisse Multivitamin
1 x Zinc Tablet
1 x Magnesium Tablet
1 x ultra muscle-eze
Water
During Ride:
35km – 1 banana
38km – 1 Winners bar,
39km – 6 lollies, 1 PB Energy Gel
65km – 2 honey sandwiches, 2 biscuits, 1 mars bar
95km – 1 banana
102km – 1 Winners bar
Lunch at 115km – 2 ham and lettuce and cheese sandwiches, chocolate croissant, 1 mars bar, few chips
144km – 1 banana, 1 PB Energy Gel
152 – 6 lollies
155km – 6 lollies, 2 choc croissants, 1 honey sandwich
After ride:
Lots of lollies, 1 can coke, 1 can red bull (to keep me awake for 80km drive to hotel)
2 and a half pizzas, 1 pepsi, 6 glass water, 5 crepes
About 4 to 5 litres of water during the ride.
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