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