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1182 days ago
Day 4 -- St. Emilion to Limeuil Guess what? My prayer worked! It poured down rain last night, and I don’t mean just a light rain. It poured! Complete with huge winds and a smatter of thunder and lightning. The wind blew so hard, the huge marquee tent, which stands over 15 feet high came crashing down with pour Lockey sleeping under it. Lockey is a starving student from Australia, tall and very lean with an open friendly smile and wicked sense of humor. He is doing this tour with his best friend Cam, also a rock star cyclist, who showed up last night with his favorite road bike sans a seat. Turns out his bike seat got left in a hotel room somewhere between Australia and France. After breakfast we got our route map for the day’s ride. I learned two things today: first, if the route map is longer than 2 pages, I’m in trouble, and second, ignore the total mileage noted at the top of the first page and concentrate on the topographic map instead. ...
1194 days ago
I tried to dissect the first day’s ride -- 59 miles from Bordeaux to St. Emilion. Now acutely aware that my climbing skills on the hills were not sufficient to tackle the Alps sans divine intervention, I prayed. It went something like this: Dear Lord, I really believe doing this tour is Your will for me, and I’m doing it for a good cause, but I have to tell you, I am suffering in this heat. If it doesn’t cool off soon, I’m going to sit in the sag wagon for the remainder of the trip and take pictures out the window like a 78 year old Floridian tourist. I don’t care if every fat-livered duck in this region dies of hypothermia, it must cool off. Who really likes Foie Gras anyway? I’m not built for this kind of heat. Please, some cooler weather. I’d welcome something around 70-ish, cool sunshine and even a Seattle-like summer shower. Merci. Thank you. [Amusingly, I wondered why He'd need ...
1195 days ago
Day 3 -- Bordeaux to St. Emilion Our first riding day. This begins the start of our 685 mile journey from Bordeaux to l’Alpe d’Huez. Our tour route, for the most part, is auspiciously void of high traffic areas and meanders along country roads following the country’s rivers until we start climbing the Alps. This means we need to be conscientious about getting food and water where it is available. Still no Isabelle. Each call to the airport gives us the same message, always delivered by a live person, but the same message in broken English, “There is no new information. No other airport has reported the bike found.” ARGH! We called Air France about 20 times in the past three days, because it is the only airline allowed to track claims, we call North West because it was our carrier, and nobody has any information. It’s highly frustrating; once we’re on the road, it will be more difficult to have the bike delivered to us as we only stay in each city overnight and ...
1199 days ago
Day 2 -- Bordeaux Today was to be a rest day to see the sights of Bordeaux and take in the Fete de Vin, which is one of the largest wine festivals of the country. Lowell spent most of the day calling the airport frequently to try and track down Isabelle (his bike and our only lost piece of luggage.) In the afternoon I paired up with Tara, whom I’d just met. A tall, spunky marketing genius from Australia by way of St. Louis, Tara suggested we go to Caurfort, a large mall about 10 miles outside of the city to pick up a tent and other supplies which were in the missing bike bag. I agreed, very happy to explore with a spirited adventurer who spoke enough French to get us by. We parked ourselves at the tourism office during the midday break (everything closes from 12:30 – 2:00 then reopens for business) and waited for the office to reopen so we could get advice on the best way to reach our destination. By 2:00, a long line had formed behind us, and the ...
