Day 2 - The MDP approach did pay offCycling Event 2010 - Alpe d’Huez |
Details
From: Villers-sur-Lesse (Belgium), Rue de Montainpré 29
To: Vienne le Château (France), Rue Saint Jacques
Distance: 155 km
Weather: Sunny sometimes clouded, but dry. Temperature between 8°C (in the morning) and 18° C (in the afternoon). Slight wind from different directions
After a good dinner and a small glass of wine or Leffe … or two or both … or two of both … everybody decided to go to bed early. At 10.30 PM all lights were out.
But even after 9 hours of sleep some were still able to show up late for breakfast. All excuses were fine. Philip D. told us he had taken breakfast in his room! We refrained from asking him what he had for breakfast. But when he finally did show up he was so energetic that we assume it must have been strong stuff. Frank V. on the other hand pretended there was an error in his agenda; he thought breakfast was served half an hour later. Despite all this, everybody was on his bike at 8.30 and ready to go.
At least for a short while, because after a few miles Marc B. felt it was time for a break. Probably because he knew his colleagues would not agree, he suddenly shouted he had not one but two flat tires at once. Strange coincident? Anyhow Marc was maybe the first to have a flat tire but apparently he had set a trend. Soon others followed his example. Champagne will flow this evening!
Ever wondered how Moses must have felt when he led his people through the Red Sea? After today you can ask any of our bikers and they will tell you. While it was raining almost all day in front of us, behind us and right and left of us, we didn’t feel a drop. Even better, most of the time, the sun was our companion.
We arrived at 12.30 at “le petit Arthur”, the only pub in Nouvion-sur-Meuse. Two years ago we stopped at exactly the same place and guess what? They still remembered us! Probably you are wondering now whether that was good or bad news. Let me answer this question by saying that we were allowed to stay.
In the afternoon Dirk finally managed to get some routine in his “troops”. The idea was that everybody would take the lead for 500 meters and then rotate off. It was not an easy job until his colleagues jumped in with the Deloitte Multi Disciplinary Approach. The consultants organized a brainstorming session to come up with a swot-analysis and discussed the change management approach necessary to implement this new system. This was not an easy task for them since they could not use powerpoint slides nor flip charts on their bikes. The accountants created a mathematical model around it, clearly demonstrating the profits, which was then further optimized by the tax consultants, giving us all an expat status, after all we are working abroad. With the final approval of the chairman the model was launched with success.
With about 15 kilometers more than yesterday we arrived at our brand new hotel, Le Tulipier, in Vienne le Château at 16.45 PM. A few minutes later it started to rain…
