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In 2009 I rode the Tour de France.  I took the mountain bike that I had sitting in the shed, attached a pannier rack, put a whole lot of stuff on pannier rack, and rode out of my driveway in Germany and onto the street.  From there I rode south across France until I reached Monaco, where the race was about to start.  I rode every day, usually following the race route exactly but occasionally taking detours due to either practicalities (there were a few closed roads) or navigational issues.  I even rode most of the transitions between race stages.

I did actually catch the train a few times, when I was clearly running late.  I rode through baking hot days, clear moonlit nights, and massive thunderstorms.  I camped a lot, but stayed in a few hotels as well.  I met hundreds of people, ate thousands of Gummi Bears, and had a fantastic time.  Each day I also sat down and wrote something about the day, and then uploaded it onto this website.  I wrote a huge amount, and didn't cover a quarter of what I was living.  It was a brilliant time, and you can read all about it here!