I had no problems at all in any of the 200-600 rides in the 4 years preceding my 2007 attempt. No problems at all for the first 1000km either, then both my ankles did a Joseph Merrick within 20k of each other, every pedal stroke was like having a wood saw across my Achilles. There is a way of making this a bit less agonising which doesn't work with knees.
I finished because there was no way I was going back 4 years later (I'd already decided I would only do it once). As someone said at the time, "pain is temporary, quitting is permanent" if that helps anyone
missing a family holiday if i didn't get back to Paris in 90hrs was also a factor...
Anyway this isn't intended to put a downer on the ride it's in the lap of the gods how any one's ride pans out. Just saying that even in what was considered a bad weather year and with major problems I still finished. So anyone else could too.
It's a life changing ride, loved every minute apart from the last 200k