July 2026 Stats

31 July 2026 | Richard

July 2026 saw a couple of heatwaves hitting the UK and of course July always means the Tour de France. I’ve been watching the coverage on TV for as long as I can remember now but never really got involved in any way … until this year. This year, it started in Barcelona with two and a bit stages and finished in Paris on the Champs-Elysées. I asked Alison if she wanted to go to Barcelona to see it and she jumped at the chance. I booked the InterContinental Barcelona as it was on the route for both the first and second stages:

And then Alison said, “Well if we’re going to see the start, wouldn’t it be lovely to see the finish?” So that’s how I ended up booking the Paris Marriott Champs-Elysées Hotel with a suite overlooking the Champs-Elysées itself, so we could watch the riders doing their laps and the finish line.

The Yellow, Green, Polka Dot, and White Jerseys on the Champs-Elysées

Business Class flights with British Airways and limousines from Blacklane all made it a little pricey… I’m hoping August will allow my wallet some respite from the absolute battering it got!

Other than that my normal exercise regime continued with a combination of rides on ROUVY as well as getting some of my usual John Hallas’ Weekly Challenges on FulGaz done. On ROUVY, I was doing their challenges and an occasional Sunday morning group ride.

I still need to actually go ahead and arrange a partial knee replacement, which we’ll do later this year maybe, if I can resolve when I won’t be travelling.

I also decided to try again with some Apple Fitness+ workouts, concentrating on upper body and core, as my legs get plenty of workouts already!

So, here are July’s stats:

July 2026 Statistics

Activities: 78 Distance: 626.79 km Time: 25:47:32 Calories: 18,827

Turning to my weight, at the end of June I weighed 92.7kg and at the end of July I weighed 93.4kg, so a gain of 0.7kg change over last month.

Body fat percentage was up from 27.5% to 28.0%, which is not really surprising.

Rueil-Malmaison 4.5k

25 May 2016 | Richard

After walking 12.2km today according to my Apple Watch, I went out for a run before dinner. Nice route finishing alongside the Seine.

Protected: I Liked It, So I Put A Ring On It…

9 March 201419 November 2014 | Richard

Paris in the Spring

17 October 2012 | Richard

Time for another update, I think.

September ended with the French Client I’d gone to do seminars for deciding to make a request for me to join them for the next three months … based 100% in Paris. This I wasn’t prepared to do, so we managed to suggest a colleague every bit as capable as me to do this instead. The best laid plans…

The first week in October found me heading for a day visit to two French Clients again in Paris, to have a strategy meeting with the first (and to introduce my colleague) and to be put forward for the a key role with the second. The second suggested I would be 50/50 in Paris and London but later changed their mind so that didn’t go ahead, which is just as well as my colleague is going back on a placement with another Client with whom he has a lengthy track record. So now I’m going to split my time between the UK and Paris up until the end of the year … at least.

Back in London, I did another breakfast seminar which the company wanted to video to add to our showreel. Tricky, as I was quoting from a court case which quotes the witnesses complete with swearing…

In other news, I’ve been to the cinema quite a lot recently as well: “Taken 2“, “Sinister“, “Killing Them Softly” and “Looper“. Enjoyed all of them!

And finally, I’m really looking forward to next week…

Paris In The Spring

21 July 201221 July 2012 | Richard

…or the summer, as it turns out.

Well my travelling continues. This time to Paris by Eurostar for what turns out was some well-received training for a French Client about the contract on a project they’re bidding on. So late afternoon on Monday, I wandered off in the rain to Euston and a couple of hours later I arrived in sunny and warm Paris, heading to my hotel for the evening, the Hilton Paris La DÃ©fense which looked a bit like something from Austin Powers!

Hilton Bed — Eat your heart out, Austin Powers!

An early breakfast and a wander past La DÃ©fense itself to grab a coffee in a cafÃ© with a colleague before spending the day with the Clients, who were all really attentive and friendly which helps.

And then on to the Gare Du Nord to catch my train back. As I had plenty of time and it was warm, I decided it must be beer o’clock…