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Day 8 - Digne Les Baines to Nice

Here we are on the final day, all eager to get to Nice in time to meet our sponsors and ready to enjoy a well deserved night out on the town in celebration. But before we all get carried away, we've got 93 miles to cycle and two mountain cols to take in - no mean feat after 7 hard days cycling across France.

Today, in order to make the day as special as possible, we've decided to ride as one huge peleton, every member of the team riding together as one awesome unit! Having spent the past few days riding in two or three natural groups, seeing us pull out of Digne together was a fantastic sight and something that would work to our great advantage later in the day.

The first few hours of riding were very steady, climbing gradually out of Digne to our first col of the day. Despite the altitude and work we had to put in to get there the team was looking pretty fresh, with everyone taking their turn to help each other along. All of the hard work was worth it though with our first section of downhill to enjoy, something we all took advantage of.

However, as with the majority of the trip, we learnt quickly that for every downhill there was, inevitably, some more uphill. Indeed, this led us swiftly to our next section of uphill to the second col of the day. This section of uphill proved a little tougher for some, but once again we worked splendidly as a team with everyone getting to the summit with little fuss. It was here that we knew the hard work was over. Craig had assured us that the rest of the day’s journey would be predominantly downhill, the first section of which would prove to be the most exciting of the trip.

From the summit, everyone got their heads down and took on the steep descent, sharp turns and death defying corners with great enthusiasm. One or two of the group really pushed hard on the section, with Pete, Adam and Matt hitting over 40 miles an hour, something that would have been significantly higher had it not been for the strong headwind. Indeed, this is something that probably helped many of us ride a little safer on downhill sections such as this!

As the exhilarating descent came to a close, the entire group safely pulled into a small village where our unfaltering support team had prepared one of their legendary slap up lunches. It was only there, having taken off our helmets that one or two of us realised how lucky we had been all trip and we breathed a sigh of relief knowing that we had negotiated the last dangerous downhill safely. From there on, we committed to riding the last half into Nice as safely as possible.

The next section of the journey was much less eventful, taking in a largely gradual descent along the river towards Nice. Mark struggled for a time with punctures, but the team pulled together in ensuring his bike could take him the final few miles to our final destination. The only thing hampering our progress now was the relentless headwind that, despite going downhill, reduced us to a steady 15 miles an hour, but this trip was never meant to be easy, was it?

As we reached the outskirts of Nice, we realised that irrespective of how tired we were, we had to make sure we rode as safely and carefully as possible, as the roads quickly became much busier. As the old adage goes “safety in numbers” was most definitely the way forward and as the peleton surged along Nice’s equivalent of the Mancunian Way, car drivers had little choice but to let the Bruntwood team through. It was a magnificent sight and one which I’m sure the locals admired the sight of.

Eventually we hit the outskirts of the town and managed to pull safely onto a cycle track that took us past the airport and onto the very seafront we had been longing to see for the past 8 days. With the crystal blue of the sea matching that of the sky, the last 3 miles ride in were a truly enjoyable and emotional experience for everyone involved and one that I’ll not forget for a long time.

As the final few hundred metres rolled by, on a sea front that seemed to last an eternity, we suddenly heard the cheers and applause coming from a distant group of work colleagues and sponsors and it was then that we realised we’d finally made it.

Once we’d pulled in and met our greeting party, a few of us could not resist the allure of the perfect blue sea and it wasn’t long before many of us were basking in the glory of the Mediterranean Sea.

Whilst the hard work of the cycling was over and everyone had arrived safely, we all now had to negotiate the, potentially, most dangerous section of the trip – the legendary last night out!!!

With us all showered, changed and in our fineries, all of the cyclists, support team, sponsors and work colleagues, headed out into Nice for a night out that encapsulated the essence of the trip. We had worked hard as a team, experienced great highs and some lows and most importantly raised a huge amount of money for our nominated charity, The New Manchester Children’s Hospital. It was an awesome experience for all involved and one which will live in Bruntwood history for a long time to come.

Only one question remains – how on earth can we top that one?!