Cycling in France 2

Finishing previous post and I hope getting to the point.

So I rode my bicycle to the bicycle shop.

The city - and this is the 3rd largest city in France I hear - is very bicycle friendly.  Bicycle lanes on the  roads here and there and in some places on sidewalks.  It was even comfortable to meander from road to sidewalk, in and out of traffic.

On my way to the shop, I saw a man who was riding a flat-bar bike on a major road.  He was coming my way.  I slowed to allow him to catch me.  Then, I asked if he could tell me where a certain street was.  He proceeded to lead me there.

He rode with almost no regard for automobile traffic flow lanes.  He ran red lights.  He rode at one time against traffic.  I don't do any of that in America.  Except for running stop signs, slowly, I follow all  traffic rules.  He probably was not the best example of cycling in France, but I could tell, he rode his bicycle a lot.

All to get to the point, real cycling in France is about its pleasure and its usefulness for transportation.  Clothing  is what you wear that day anyway.

Let's see if I can get a photo of me riding to  the  Etape Village on Sunday, and a photo or two of a woman who picked up her bicycle from the shop after a repair.  She did not  pick it up though but rode it away.  In a dress.  As I rode to Etape village, there were cyclists around me wearing bright ad-laden, tight fitting clothing.  It looked so out of place in the pastoral surroundings.  I began to think - hey, when in France, cycle as the French do.  And, these  thoughts continued and were fulfilled somewhat a couple of days later in Lyon.


In the cycling shop, I saw a bicycle with "Country" on it.  As in, a country bicycle.  Grant P. of Rivendell recently wrote about calling his bicycles country bikes.  They are very comfortable and user-friendly and useful.  Practical.  Did he get this idea and other of his bicycle and bicycling preferences from France, I wondered.  No, most likely not. 

So, can I enjoy cycling in France without popping Gu, Hammer Gel, electrolyte tablets, without wearing tights?  Sure.  In fact, cycling in France is not about that and speed.





Link here to more photos
Cycling in the Gap

Cycling in France

About cycling in France.

I was not successful to complete the Etape.  Probably if had been, I'd be bragging about it on this web site and pointing out how well I did for how little I trained or how I could have done much better if this or that.  I'd like to think that without a crash I would have completed the ride.  But I don't know.  Okay.

The day after the ride, my brother and I travelled to the city Lyon.  And, unhappy that my bicycle had a broken spoke, I wanted to get it fixed - one reason was that I might spend some time riding it in the day or so free in Lyon.

So, on Tuesday, day after the Etape, we arrived mid-afternoon in Lyon.  The hotel secretary/concierge assisted me to find a cycle shop, called them - they stay open to 7 pm, a usual closing time apparently for French shops - and helped me decide that the best way to get my bicycle to the shop was to ride it there - rather than take a taxi or carry it onto the bus or tram or subway.  This meant I'd have to unbox it, put it together.  I dislike doing that and would rather a professional do it.  (I have been broken of that tendency by the way - from now on I'll do my best to take apart and pack and unpack my own bicycle.)

So, the concierge directed me to a small pavilion across the street, in front of an old theatre (1850s, actually not so old by comparison with other structures in this city - our hotel was built in the "18th century") where to put my bike together because there was not much room in the office or hall or my room.  We kept our bicycles in the hotel office because there really was not the space in our room.

Okay, so I took my bicycle box to the outdoor pavilion and began to put my bicycle together.  There I saw two or three children riding bicycles around the square.  One rode around several times.  And, as I was a bit  self-conscious about putting my bicycle together  - with big cardboard box and tools and all - I would look up and note the folks going by as if my enjoying the surroundings and the people was as important as getting my machinery put together.  I could not help but notice the delight the child had in riding her bicycle around the pavilion - no doubt playing and practicing simple skills of turning and slowing and balancing around the  water pools, on the lines between the marble blocks, meanwhile observing passers-by and the odd bicycle mechanic from America.  Basically enjoying cycling for the motion, the testing of riding and balance, the sun, the cool breeze, the speed - as much the slowness as the speed, the freedom to manage the use of the vehicle, and the anticipation of one day being able to ride around the City - to school, to the shops - as the grown-ups do.  A child with a bicycle in France.  This is contrast to my own bicycling, sort of.  Here I have paid a lot of money to ride on a stage of the  Tour de France, in an effort somewhat to imitate and compare myself on a route of the  Tour de France, in which professionals, who train 6-8 hours per day, riding bicycles of 15 pounds or so, wearing high-tech clothing designed specifically for long, race-type riding, that has on it advertisements of car companies, sports drinks, food, bicycle manufacturers, ride at 25 miles per hour, showing the world how well they have trained.   Nothing wrong with that, and that can be done in all honesty and integrity, and I love to watch it all.

Now I get on my bicycle and ride to the bicycle shop.

Okay, it's late, gotta go.  To finish this later.  But where I'm heading with this is, what is it to ride a bicycle in France.  I hope I can get a photo or two posted as well that will help show.

cycling in France - photos, enjoying bicycling, Rivendell
accident-prone or adept at falling
affection on things above
Celestins, hotel architecture
night-time in Lyon
stormwater
cost of bottled tea
Lyon's maisons
bicycle shop in Lyon
Mondays on Alpe d'Huez
the Canadian couple cyclists
the Irish Catherine and Willie
what I lost - was this planned
patisserie in Gap and directions to Internet cafe
the crowd on the airplane, before and after Haagen Daas
in retirement perhaps

Link here to more photos

An enjoyable trip to France, without a successful Etape though

Yes, I went to France. Of six days there, five went as planned. The Etape day did not go as planned. At about kilometer 55 or mile 33, I went down to the asphalt in a two-person fall. Sounds familiar. Indeed it was. Damage to my bicycle included a broken spoke in the rear wheel, a slightly bent front brake, and a twisted front brake lever.

By the time my bike was repaired - the Mavic mechanic cut the spoke out, trued the wheel and straightened the front brake well enough - I had been passed by the event's sweeper car, and got tagged for the bus when I pedaled up the road a couple of hundred meters to their blockade.

They were a beautiful 33 miles for sure.

I just looked on the Etape's web page and read that about 7500 riders started, and about 5400 finished. The first over the line finished in right at six hours, the last official finisher in about 11 hours. Congratulations to 21 year old Blaise SONNERY who finished in six hours, zero minutes and 33 seconds.

I think I have learned much on the trip - about the Etape - and some about myself, the Word of God, God and my relationship with Him.

I won't now write about the trip and the events of the Etape itself. Below is a list of incidents or topics I could and may still write about, not in any particular order.


cycling in France - photos, enjoying bicycling, Rivendell
accident-prone or adept at falling
affection on things above
Celestins, hotel architecture
night-time in Lyon
stormwater
cost of bottled tea
Lyon's maisons
bicycle shop in Lyon
Mondays on Alpe d'Huez
the Canadian couple cyclists
the Irish Catherine and Willie
what I lost - was this planned
patisserie in Gap and directions to Internet cafe
the crowd on the airplane, before and after Haagen Daas
in retirement perhaps



More photos