A relatively early night to prepare for the 2-mile climb in the first hour, described even by Paul “Sherman” Danisz as “challenging”.

All were still recovering from the damage to their wallets in the Kangaroo Court the night before. Convinctions included: 

• Gary for going to the pub en-route
• Ian for being hated as the pain-giver
• Karl for crimes against fashion with his white trainers
• Will for not bringing his friend with him this week
• Ryan for over indulgence and just being Ryan
• Steve for two punctures that Chris repaired
• Several for falling off their bikes for no good reason.

Even so, at 8am the cyclists start off from Bastogne with fear in their bloodshot eyes, except Rick who claims to feel positively “Olympic” – sarcasm or steroids?

Meanwhile, the support crew are slightly delayed while Ian eats his 14th helping of breakfast after a heavy morning massaging some seriously tight calves.

At 11 miles in all the cyclists were still together to tackle the challenging hill – which, it turns out, wasn’t that bad. At least, it wasn’t as bad as the gentle rolling hills (also Paul D’s description) that followed. Including the climb that lasted for seven miles. Ryan felt the need to clear his throat, which was unfortunate for Andy, Gary and Dave behind him, who took a bit of a spraying all over their sunnies.

Karl was concentrating at the back of the pack, so hard that he didn’t notice everyone in front of him had stopped and he careered into Ryan’s back. Rumour has it this may simply have been a scouse distraction for a bit of wallet-nicking action.

After the stomach churning day of energy bars yesterday the short riders decided to stop for a proper lunch – which was another chance for Gary to try out his famed tuna mime. It even worked this time. By now the riders were in Luxembourg and can lay claim to solving the only serious crime ever committed in this pristine country - exclaiming “he went that way” when asked by a policeman if they had seen a particular shifty looking young man.

Cracking on through Luxembourg the long riders stopped at about 70 miles, just outside Remish for an unluxurious but functional refuel out of the back of the bike van, by the side of the road and the Mosel river. They were looking forward to the steady ride on through Germany, before they were told about the 4 mile steep climb out of the Mosel valley....

Short riders - sorry, conservative / smart riders - finished about here, opting for a few beers over the 4 mile climb. Smart choice, with a very impressive 76 miles in the bank.

They were followed by the long riders several hours later who made it all the 121 miles to the next overnight stop - in Saarbrucken, Germany - due in no small part to the the exceptional fatherly support of Chris "Jibba Jabba" Last and the Olympic performance from Richard "Badger" Marshall.

An over-all climb, across the day, of over two vertical miles seems to call into question Paul D's descriptions of "flat as a pancake / gentle rolling hills". Expect some hefty fines this evening....