SUZE, CYCLING

Interview with Pamela Blalock, part 1

2012-02-24T14:55:00.002-05:00

Pamela Blalock is an amazing cyclist. Her blog, The Blayleys: John and Pamela's Cycling Adventures and web site, The Blayleys, came to my attention recently while looking for information about New England randonnées. Now, I really mean those words in my masthead that say "Bicycles are wheels. You can do all kinds of things with them." So imagine how delighted I was to find Pamela's site, because she does in fact do all kinds of things with a bicycle ... rides tandem and solo, commutes, rides year-round, tours, races hillclimbs and is a randonneur. I was thrilled that she agreed to this interview, which is focused on randonneuring, defined by RUSA as "long distance unsupported endurance cycling." This is part 1 of our email interview.

What drew you to cycling and how did that lead to randonneuring?
I have always ridden a bike. But my first exposure to club riding was also my first exposure to randonneuring. I met Gilbert Anderson through the North Carolina Bike Club. He had done PBP (Paris-Brest-Paris, described below) in 1979 and 1983, and he just told the most entertaining stories. He shared stories about French people in the little villages inviting riders into their homes in the wee hours, and climbing over fences on some ride where the route sheet sent them down a dead end trail, and of going into a convenience store to buy panty hose to keep warm. His stories were funny and romantic and just made me want to do these rides. I did a 100km ride and was hooked. I'm not sure how I jumped straight from 100km to 300km, but I did, and while it was hard, I was so excited when I finished. And I never looked back!

Probably because it is held in France, before discovering your site I knew a little bit about PBP, but nothing about BMB. Will you describe these rides?
PBP stands for Paris-Brest-Paris. It is a 1200km (750 mile) ride from Paris out to Brest on the coast and back. Riders have up to 90 hours to complete the event. The clock does not stop. So the 90 hours includes riding time, eating, sleeping and all other stops. PBP is held once every 4 years and was first held in 1891. Originally it was a professional race that, because it was so difficult, was held only every 10 years. In the 50's it became an amateur event and went to every 5 years, and then every 4. The last running, in 2011, had about 6000 participants from all over the world.

In 1988, inspired after doing PBP, a couple of guys from Boston conceived the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200km ride, with the same format. Until then, there were no other 1200kms aside from PBP.

How is the culture of PBP and BMB different?
BMB had at most about 150-160 riders. PBP has 6000 riders. You are almost never alone at PBP. There are cheering spectators lining parts of the route in France. Crowding at controls can cause delays at PBP. At BMB, if you end up riding alone, you might not see anyone else for a long time. PBP has massive support from the locals, at all hours, day and night, and everywhere. Lots of press, lots of folks at controls. Everyone knew what was going on. At BMB, no one along the route has a clue what BMB is. You are likely to get blank stares at convenience stores as you come in during the wee hours to buy something. When they find out you are on a long ride, the first question is what charity are you riding for, and folks seem offended if you aren't doing a charity ride.

What is the demographic of the participants like in the two races? I assume that both draw international participation.
Folks come from all over the world to do PBP. In the years it was run, BMB got a few Canadians, Irish (how I met John), English and French. Most of the American 1200km rides have mostly American riders, with a few from somewhere farther afield. PBP is truly international and gets even more so with every running.

I've often thought that cycling gets so little coverage in this country, and women's cycling is really not on the public's radar at all. Although the first women riders in PBP were in 1931, you are the first woman randonneur whom I've read about. Has women's participation in endurance cycling changed since you've been involved?
I took part in the first BMB, along with 18 other riders, 4 of whom were women. One of those women got lost and did some bonus miles before getting a lift back on route and finishing (unofficially). So all 4 women "finished," but one was listed as unofficial. The first year likely had the highest percentage of women participants.

There are a few women in the area who do these types of events. One is Melinda Lyon, who has finished as the first woman at PBP several times. She has also done BMB many times, as well. Another local gal, Emily O'Brien, has done BMB, PBP, and Endless Mountains on a fixed gear bike. She has also completed Furnace Creek, a RAAM (Race Across America) qualifier on fixed gear. Women make up a small percentage of randonneurs relative to men, but there are still quite a few women throughout the US doing these types of rides.

As for my track record, I attempted PBP in 1987 and did not finish. But I did finish BMB the next year. I went back and had a successful PBP in 1991. I did BMB on tandem in 1992 with my partner Steve, and in 1994 with John, who later became my husband. John and I also did PBP on tandem in 1999.

Do you try to keep to any particular strategy or tactics?

I like to make effective use of the allowed time. I typically try to get 5 hours of sleep a night, and take time to eat meals at each control. But otherwise I am riding. To paraphrase and clean up the language of one of my friends, time not spent riding, eating or sleeping is wasted time. Eating is a big concern and a challenge. It's important to eat on and off the bike, and to find the right balance, eat enough to get through, but not so much that you puke when you ride up hills!

Good preparation is vital, both for the body and bike. I have often described brevets at 95% mental and 95% physical. I think you must have both.

It's important to have a reliable bike and to be able to fix any issues. I have become a pretty good bike mechanic as a result of either learning to fix something on the side of the road, or better yet, learning about and preventing issues beforehand. Since riders must complete a series of 4 rides of increasing length (200km, 300, 400 and 600) before attempting a 1200km, they and their bikes should be well-prepared by the time the 1200km comes around.

Is falling asleep at the handlebars a danger ?
I always try to ride with other people, especially at night. Conversation is one of the best ways to avoid the "noddies," nodding off to sleep. Plus it's just more fun and makes the miles pass by quicker. For me, pre-dawn is the toughest time. Once the sun comes up, I am awake again. So I try to arrange sleep stops for that time. One of the great things about riding the tandem is always having company.

To be continued: This is the first part of our interview. Check back next Friday for Part 2.

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 8

2012-02-16T07:21:00.000-05:00

Just What Did I Say?

The Pyrenees

Ahhh, the what-have-I gotten myself into post. The fess-up post. It seems to have happened so simply.

Most readers know that I am wild about cycling in southern France.

Most also probably know that it is really pretty good riding here where I live, too.

Berkshires Roads

Many readers know that finishing my last cycle tour and returning to daily life was challenging, thought provoking and somewhat puzzling to me. Never having outgrown that two-year old stage of asking why, I got to wondering about the nature of cycling experience and how it is different from genre to genre. Why is touring so much more compelling to me? Why is it so rewarding, so much fun, why do I want to ride, what defines the nature of experience. You get it, those big metaphysical, philosophical questions.

Some regular readers might remember that my answers to those questions partially had to do with the nature of sport, and of goals.

An element of sport, and goals

A very few might remember that I decided that it would be good to have specific goals here in the US, ones that don't require buying plane tickets to France or taking time off work, time that I do not have.

Probably no one remembers that I decided to ride a 100K randonnée on St. Patricks' Day, because I said very little about it. I have been trying to convince friends and colleagues to ride with me. All but one of the people I ride with didn't need to say a word ... they just gave me a powerful look that said, "what, have you lost your mind ... well I haven't lost mine, absolutely not!"

So of course the people who tentatively agreed to participate with me are considerably younger, stronger riders. This is only important to me because I am certainly very unlikely to keep up with anyone.

Suburban DC roads

I am planning on visiting my sister and her family in hopefully sunny, somewhat southern, metropolitan Washington DC, two weeks before that ride, so I thought: take my bike along for a good, long, prep ride before the 100K RUSA ride. That should help the training.(You can find other RUSA-sponsored rides here: RUSA.)

Roads there are extremely suburban with lots of fast traffic everywhere. After all these rural years, when in the U.S. I am a country mouse rider.

I went to There and Back Again looking for some long rides not too far south of my sister's house. Steve writes a good and informative blog, particularly if you have any interest in the Washington, DC area.

Before I knew what happened, I had signed up for the VASA ride in DC. It seemed like a good warm-up ride at the time. Literally warmer, no climbing and shorter I thought, 52 miles. What's more, it promised warm blueberry soup in the Swedish Embassy. That's pretty glamorous these days for a country mouse rider.

Reality has been sinking in. The RUSA - sanctioned randonnée on St. Patricks Day is 62 miles, and must be finished in 6 hrs and 20 minutes. The VASA ride is now described as 59 miles, and to get the blueberry soup in the Embassy, you have to finish within 5-1/2 hours. And that is in a city. Traffic. Stop lights. Stop signs. Sounds slow to me. Visions of the Embassy and blueberry soup are disappearing. And the goal is changing. This isn't prep for the 100K ride 2 weeks later. Essentially it is the 100K ride, but with two weeks less training.

Is it my imagination or is this is a recognizable phenomena in the recreational cyclist's world. The one thing leads to another category. Any hints from out there? Stories of yours?

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 7

2012-02-08T08:26:00.000-05:00

Cold Weather Cycling

Temperature is amongst the most relative of things, and fickle. Recent temperatures in the 40s make 25 feel cold. Yet usual temperatures in the low teens make 25 feel warm. Also, this is what we call an "open winter," i.e. no snow cover to speak of, a rare event. The roads are clear of ice, just remnants from the sand and salt trucks.

Last weekend I continued my experiment to see how cold it is when it becomes JUST TOO COLD TO RIDE OUTSIDE. I haven't found out yet.

Sunday I learned that 25F is ok, if the sun is out. To my layers and layers described last week for 30F riding, I added crosscountry ski gloves (leather, down filled) and crosscountry ski pants over my cycle pants. The pants were too warm. The gloves were great.

It was sunny and the ice on the rivers sparkled.The sun helps a lot.

At these temperatures I'm good for about 30 miles. After that it starts to feel ... tiring, but not cold exactly. Next I try on a 20F day.

And the lack of snow cover makes it pretty good, when the ice isn't slushy, for this more traditional winter sport.

But the real reason for this post is to pass along to you these two sites. Thanks to Ellen in Portland for sending me to the first one. Click onto the links, I hope you enjoy them; they are yet another take on the many ways to ride a bike.

Winnipeg Cycle Chick

It is definitely cold where she rides!

And try this site:

North Sixty

And colder where she rides!

Interview with Veronica and Colin Scargill

2012-02-03T23:25:00.000-05:00

Veronica and Colin Scargill are cyclists I met on Col de Marie Blanque, in France in September 2011, when they were crossing the Pyrenees on a tandem and I was doing the same thing solo. The two of them made an indelible image in my head .... I was totally impressed at their traveling through those beautiful mountains on a loaded tandem and very much enjoyed visiting with them, partly because their enthusiasm and enjoyment of the world around them was totally infectious. We met again by chance two days later on Col du Soulor. I had ridden up the route from the north, they came over Col d'Aubisque. I am tickled to be able to interview them for this series.

Have you always ridden tandem?
We bought a tandem in 1971 soon after we were married. Colin has always been a stronger cyclist than Veronica so it made sense to combine our efforts.

My instinct is that tandem riding seems much harder, though I don't know anything about it. Would you tell us a bit about the physics of it.
Tandems are generally faster downhill, because of the combined weight, but slower uphill depending upon the fitness of the riders. The two riders are known as steersman and stoker. There are no specific problems in cornering, but it does need a fair degree of adjustment to ride effectively together, so that the pedals turn with the same effort. We have the pedals sightly adjusted so that the stoker's pedals reach the top before those of the steersman. We do know couples who have never mastered the art of riding a tandem. Indeed some would say that the best stoker is someone who has never ridden a solo. We use hub brakes because with the extra weight of two people on two wheels, rim brakes can become very hot and we have burst tyres as a consequence.

I am guessing that tandems might be much more popular in England than in the US, because I have met other English cycle tourists on tandems in France and virtually never see them in the US ... are they used often there?
There is an international tandem club, with members in U.S. but even in this country we attract comment as an unusual sight. In the U.K. efforts are being made to increase cycle use, and that will increase cycle touring. It could be that on the back of Olympic success and Tour de France success for British cyclists there is more interest. However in the U.K. the motorist is very dominant. It is hard to ease people out of their cars. A fair number of motorists feel cyclists have no place on the roads for which they think they pay with road tax. This is a myth since highways and roads are maintained through general taxation. The anti-cyclist motorist cannot see that by riding a bike there is less congestion on the roads, and a great savings in health bills. Moreover a bike is generally non polluting.

That attitude is common in the US also. Many motorists don't seem to understand or care that cyclists also pay for the roads through our tax dollars, and we have an equal right to use them! On a personal note I seem to remember that you ride without helmets....maybe not.... but was that a choice, or just what you do?
No, we choose not to wear helmets, since there is no purpose served, and the case has not been proved. Indeed we often think that it would make more sense for motorists to wear helmets since most head injuries occur to people in motor vehicles.

Have you toured in England, if so where?
We have toured in U.K. notably in Derbyshire and Norfolk. And when the children were young we took them on cycle tours using a combination of child seats, "kiddi-cranks" and tandem or solos as needed.

Where else have you toured?
We went to Ireland one summer which we all enjoyed. Before the children we did tours in France, and in what was then Yugoslavia, and from Feb. 1974 – August 1975 we toured right around the world starting in New York.

I had no idea! So, I googled you, and learned that your trip, finished on August 27, 1975, logging18,020 miles around the world, set an international record for touring on a tandem. That is an amazing trip, I'd love to learn more about it someday. Very very cool! Has your touring style changed since then?
In the early days we would camp carrying the tents and other gear with us or use Youth Hostels. These days we use Youth Hostels when available, but B&B sometimes as well, which gives a different perspective and needs a degree of adaptability since they can be so variable.

I ride as a solo woman, you ride a tandem, but in some ways, the same questions pop up frequently ... the advantages of riding solo or with others, travelling as a solo woman ... or for that matter, solo man.
As to riding as a single woman, there are some famous precedents, Dervla Murphy being the one who comes to mind first, but there are several others. I suspect that the biggest problem is not so much the gender as the ability to maintain the bike, at least that would be Veronica's problem. She cannot even mend a puncture effectively.

We met Heinz Stucke in 1975, touring alone all over the World. He had been on the road about 19 years when we met him, and we heard of him a few years ago still riding. He said that there were advantages and disadvantages to riding alone. For a man he could be seen with some suspicion whereas Colin accompanied by a woman was less threatening. But for a female cyclist this probably would not apply.

I knew vaguely of Heinz Stucke before you mentioned him, and just found this quote from his web site "...[my first] trip was extended a bit longer than I expected, and a year and a half after my departure I decided to return to my hometown to work, marry, have children ... in short, all those things that one assumes one has to do. But after a year, I realized that was not what I wanted and not what I expected from life. On the 4th of November 1962, I took my bike and started a wonderful journey that has not yet reached its end." That was written after 48 years of pedalling and 20 passports!

I remember your saying to me something like you popped over to ride ... or some such... that made me sort of insanely envious! Would you compare touring in England and France? What draws you to France?
Riding in France is much preferable to that in the U.K because the French have a very different attitude to cyclists, and take pride in their cycling heritage. In defense of the U.K. motorist, it is true that French drivers have more room and that French roads are generally well maintained, even the most remote areas. Another personal reason to choose to tour in France is the language. Veronica speaks French moderately well having first been to France more than 50 years ago and frequently since then.

After our interview, I learned that besides climbing Col de Marie Blanque (1035m) and Col du Soulor (1474m) last September you also rode up Col d'Aubisque (1709m) Col du Tourmalet (2115m) Col d'Aspin (1489m) and Col de Peyresourde (1568m) These are all famous Tour de France climbs and absolutely inspirational! I can't wait to go back and hope that we might meet again in the mountains of France. Your cycling story has been inspirational to me and spurs me on to try ever more ambitious climbing! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this.

Berkshire Cycling: Cold Weather Training

2012-01-29T16:25:00.001-05:00

This winter's plans include staying in cycling shape, something that in past years has always included cross training with lots of cross-country skiing. Not so this year. There is not enough snow. Second goal: to learn how cold it can be and still allow for comfortable cycling. That's outdoors cycling. On the stationary setup in my sometimes frigid pantry doesn't count.

My driveway ... not good for cycling

Today I combined the two goals and went back onto the road, this time from home. The thermometer said 31F, or 0C, 13 degrees colder than yesterday and still windy, but sunny again. I was layered up and I love some of these clothes, they actually keep me warm, a hard thing to do. I get cold fast, even indoors, but not in this get-up. Terry cold weather cycling pants....warm warm warm hooray. Just that one layer worked, though my knees got a bit nippy downhill. I admit it, 5 layers on top. I also love Ibex. Two layers of their spectacularly warm, beautiful wool. And Gore: a long-sleeved Gore base layer, the single most effective shirt I've ever owned for keeping me warm. Gore cap and headband under my helmet. Headband also because I can pull it over my forehead and avoid icecream headaches. Cycling booties over my cycle shoes, and long-fingered gloves.

The sandtruck is at work, reminding me to watch for ice

Why is it the wind always seems to pick up, get blowing pretty well, on my way home. So all the way back was into the wind. My fingers got pretty cold, at least I think that's why I couldn't much bend them when I stopped. Next time, cross-country skiing gloves. And my feet were chilly, the cold mostly coming in through the metal clips and the toes. Maybe someday I'll buy winter cycle boots.

So 30 degrees and windy is ok. Next I'll try 25 if I get a chance

So far as the training goes, I was supposed to ride for 2 hours (making up for my somewhat short day yesterday) on a rolling course staying primarily in heart zones 1 and 2. So I road the 10 miles down to Rt 20 and back. It is rolling, no climbs over 4% (not even over 3%) about 1,000 feet total climb. Dutifully I wore the heart monitor and tried to keep the rate down. Nice and easy was fine with me anyway, I wanted to keep an eye out for ice on the road, or build-ups of sand. The careful reader may remember that the last time I wore the monitor outside uphill, I stopped when it said 182, this time it got nowhere near that.

The kingfishers is still here, saw her working this stream

No way, absolutely no way, can I go up any hill at all and keep my heart rate low. I can keep my breathing quiet and still, I can talk, sing, look for ice, work on French vocabulary ... but my heartrate goes up. Even if I make no noise at all, my heartrate goes up. Zone 1 and 2 ... hah! I cannot ride the bike any slower to keep it down. I tried that.

This was an endurance workout, and I suppose it was nonetheless good for that. But to met the goal of low heartrate, I would have to stay on a flat course, something I never, well almost never, do outside. Or stay indoors. Or change my numbers.

Another reason to watch for ice

For a ride profile, it is here at Map My Ride. The training plan I'm following is from a Gale Bernhardt book, I thought that she might make a nice change this year from Joe Friel.

Northampton - Sunderland Loop

2012-01-29T09:52:00.001-05:00

24 miles Easy Paved Roads
Parking: Damon Road and Rail Trail Bridge
Northampton, Hadley, Sunderland

There is no way I can make indoor winter training into an interesting post. Other people are good at it, but it is beyond me. My riding, and dare I admit it, weight work, has been indoors for the last, almost, a month. Specifically since January 2nd, my latest-ever outdoor ride in the Berkshires.

Today, my training plan called for 2-1/2 hours of easy riding, preferably on a flat to rolling course outdoors, though it could be adapted to a trainer.The first photo is yesterday, out my window. The second is what I found out there, when I went out to investigate. This icy mess is not what we are accustomed to as winter here. Winter here means 2 or 3 feet of snow, and skis, snowshoes, or for some people ice fishing, trucks driven onto snowy lakes and maybe little huts built.

The next pictures shows you what I decided. Those tracks are Papillon (for you nonregular readers, that's my sweet bike) and me, well, our tracks, emerging from barn storage. What's wierd about the next photo? Papillon does not have a kickstand and she stands proud and upright in the icy snow.

We live at about 1600 feet altitude, not much but enough to make a climate change from nearby valleys. I drove over to the Connecticut River Valley for my workout, and rode from Northampton up to Sunderland, crossed the river, and back to the car. I am aiming on joining a St. Patrick's Day 100km populaire, a part of the randonnee system. This will be the first group ride I've participated in. That route uses a section of this ride, and I hope to follow a bit more of their course today.

Today's is a very flat ride that I enjoy a few times a year, usually when it is cold or icy in the Berkshires. Every time I am there, I regret the ongoing loss of farmland, and today I saw adjacent signs both advertising different 60+ acres for sale. Both specified buildings and more than 80% tillable. Judging from the barns, right now it is tobacco land, not a laudable crop. But if the land is lost to suburbs, it is lost to the possibility of any crop. I don't have photos.

My ride passed by a preserved house, and that is fine, a good thing. Someday I'll stop and go in. It is a pretty, expansive building that doesn't show well in the photo. There is history here, old by US standards, where that means towns that date from the early to mid 19th century. Not very old really and it is difficult for us to keep even that. I continue to wonder that our culture requires preservation trusts to keep using our old houses.

It's odd to me that buildings don't just ... last, stay maintained, go on through time, since they exist and house and serve people. In our culture it takes such an effort not to tear things down and destroy them, why is that? It is also true, I think, that we humans tend with time to accept whatever is going on around us as "normal," and sometimes, scary thought, as "right." But it could be equally "normal" and "right" to maintain our housing and farms, support our old schools and not throw away or destroy everything in favor of the new.

I rode past these two empty houses, and wondered what would become of them, if they would need a huge community-wide effort to continue using them, or if they would be lost to history and replaced by...?

With or without my musings, this is a good ride when you are looking for something very flat. Though it wasn't long enough for the training plan, but close enough I suppose. The wind picked up, holding all the flags flapping straight out, and the sky clouded up. I had intended to continue on south, but scrapped it. This time of the year it can be warm and lovely in the sun, but not in a cold wind.

Cross Connecticut River on pedestrian bridge. First left, unmarked, then left on Rt. 47 Left again on Rt. 116 and across the Connecticut River in Sunderland. First left onto River Rd.Follow to Main St. /Elm St./left onto 5/10. Left, then left at Rt. 9 back to parking lot. Click here for this route on Map My Ride, with cue sheet and map.

France Resources: Book List

2012-01-27T09:03:00.000-05:00

This post comes with a content warning: IF you do not like to read or are not interested in France you might as well stop now, and instead browse the table of contents on the left. This post is all about books and France.

When planningtrips, my first goal is drop-dead gorgeous, challenging cycling. But withinthat I always include visits to cultural venues, historic sites, and places tomeet and talk with other people. I use internet resources, and include a list here, for some of that. But I also read the good,old- fashioned printed page. Besides specific planning, it enhances my tours toknow something about the social and cultural history of the area I'm visiting.So for any other book readers out there, here's a list of some books from myshelves, by subject, about France.

To keep it to some kind of reasonable length, I've excluded all guidebooks, cookbooks, French language books, classical fiction and books in French. If anyone is interested in a conversation about those, drop me an email orcomment, I'd love to talk books. There are many more titles on my list of booksto find. If you have other suggestions,I'll greatly appreciate learning them ... just email me or put them in thecomments section.

It's a fairlylong list, and as I made it, I had to realize that it is true: besides cycling,(this time of the year, training indoors) most of the rest of my sparse freetime is spent learning the language orlearning the culture.

Beware, this isjust a list of personal favorites, no more. Since mine is a cycle touring blog, I've put a little bike next to the books that I'veused specifically to help pick destinations or have inspired me with places tovisit. What I consider the most (what’s the right description, engaging andinformative?) of the more general books on this list has a fleur de lis next toit. Titles marked with a tower, what else, are my personal favorites of thoseabout Paris. And my favorites can be quirky, whimsical and changeable.

Biography & Autobiography

Liscio, Lorraine. Paris and Her Remarkable Women. TheLittle Bookroom. 2009. A little book, as the publisher's name promises, and agood one. Sixteen very brief biographies of Parisian women, historicallyarranged, starting with Ste. Geneviève in the 5th century and finishing withSimone de Beauvoir in the 20th. Other chapters include Héloise, Marie deRabutin-Chantal (the Marquise de Sévigné,) and Camille Claudel. The book isillustrated with photographs, prints, and paintings and each chapter includes alist of sites to visit. A fabulous gift for someone travelling to Paris.

Meade, Marion. Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography.Hawthorne Books Inc. Written from a feminist point of view, this is afascinating, spell-binding, can't-put-it-down account of the legendaryEleanor's life and the history of the Aquitaine, France and England during herlifetime. Someday I'll get to to places mentioned. In the meantime, it helpedshapemy understanding of my brief time in Aquitaine.

Wharton,Edith A Backward Glance: An AutobiographyTouchstone. 1988. Written in 1933 and included here because it is EdithWharton and there are 40 or so pages on the time she spent in Paris.

Culture

Bové, José andDufour, François. The World Is Not for Sale. Translated by Luneau, Gilles. Verso.2001. Bové is a well-known and controversial environmental activist and farmerwho lives in the Aveyron. Every time his name has come up in conversation inFrance (truth be told, usually brought up by me) each person in earshot has hadan opinion about him. Also, the book gives insights into the historic importance of pays and local food in France. In my world, anyone who dismantles aMcDonald's deserves to have their opinions read. The sad problem, of course, isthat the world is in fact for sale.

Carroll,Reaymonde. Cultural Misunderstandings.Translated by Carol Volk. University of Chicago Press, 1988. Originally inFrench. Author Raymonde Carroll was born in Tunisia, educated in France and theU.S., giving her a rich perspective on cultural differences.

Hannan, Bill andLornan. Art for Travellers: France.Interlink Books. 2004. This book should not be titled France, but Paris and itsimmediate surroundings. That said, it is a dry, but useful reference. I haveused and appreciated it, but don't recommend it for general art historyreading.

Lebovitz, David.The Sweet Life in Paris. BroadwayBooks. 2009. Essays, recipes, commentary by this funny American expat baker.Worth reading if you are interested in food and Paris, as is his current,informative blog.

Nadeau, Jean-Benoit and Barlow,Julie. Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't BeWrong: Why We Love France but Hate the French. Sourcebooks. 2003. This is amuch better book than its overly cute title. It is, I guess, comparative culturalanthropology, examining differences in our understandings of the world. Forexample, chosen at random: "Anglo-Americains consider language a tool, butthe French regard it as an accomplishment, even a work of art." Thatsentence is surely a generalization, probably overstated, and absolutely everysingle person I spoke with (in French) talked to me supporting, neverbelittling, my poor language skills. Nonetheless, there is something to belearned there: not just about the French approach, but about the American. While its opinions are open to discussion anddebate, this is an insightful and helpful book that beyond teaching somethingabout French culture, offers a different angle from which to regard Americanculture.

Root, Waverly. The Food of France. Vintage Books. 1992. First published 1958. Afabulous history of French food. Organized around fat: butter, lard and oil, itranges through the regions, pays andhistories of French food. Full ofanecdotes and stories, descriptions of geography and locales, it is not to bemissed if you like French food, or for that matter, if you intend to eat whiletravelling in France.

Steinberger,Michael. Au Revoir to All That: Food,Wine and the End of France. Bloomsbury USA. 2009. A foodie's book forcontemporary France, clearly written from an Anglo perspective by someone wholoves French haute cuisine. Opinionated, provacative, witty, readable,engaging, and informative. Whether he is right, wrong or otherwise might notreally matter. If you are interested in food, culture, and the economics andpolitics of them in France, don't miss it.

Watson, Richard. The Philosopher's Demise: Learning to SpeakFrench. David Godine Nonpareil. 2003. Watson is a fine writer, an AmericanCartesian scholar invited to present an academic paper in Paris, where membersof L'Academie Française would be present. Already fluent in written French, thisis his account of three frustratingly challenging months at L'Alliance Françaisein Paris, striving to become fluent in the spoken language. He is quite opinionatedand the book takes no prisoners, French or Americain. That is no doubt part ofits appeal to me; I found it hilariousand it didn't deter me on my mission to learn the language, with my so very farweaker skills. Other readers, whom I have lent it to, have not found it soamusingly insightful, but darker and more discouraging. Nonetheless it remainshigh on my list.

Zeldin,Theodore. The French. KodanshaAmerica, Inc. 1982. If you want to travel in France, by bicycle; gain anunderstanding of French culture and history, and the countryside, its pays and landscape; and in order to dothat with more fun as a richer experience, you work really hard to learn thelanguage ... how can you not want toread a book whose first chapter is titled "Why it is so hard to meet anAverage French Person"? This is a funny and insightful book.

Essays & Literature

Carhart, Thad. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discoveringa Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier. Random House. 2000. Carhart bringsthe reader into the world of pianos, their repair and history, a musicalfriendship and the life of one Paris community that is, like most, inaccessible to outsiders. Written withenthusiasm and style, it is a captivating story, especially if you areinterested either in Paris or pianos.

Espinasse,Kristin. Words in a French Life: Lessonsin Love and Language from the South of France. Touchstone. 2006. A word, orphrase, per chapter. Light, fun reading.

Fisher, M.F.K. Two Towns in France. Vintage. 1983. MFK Fisher is one of myall-time favorite writers: personal, detailed, a great observer of the worldaround her, with keen insights into the subjects that interest her. Here, food(as always,) southern France, specifically Arles and Aix-en-Provence, where shelived intermittently in the 1920s and1930s, are the focus of her attention. She makes this reader wish to have livedthere in those years. It is memoir, travel writing, history ... however categorized, it is very good writing.

Gopnik,Adam. Paris to the Moon. RandomHouse. 2000. Based on personal experience, this book might be included inmemoirs, but I think it fits better here. Gopnik's observations about life inParis while raising Luke, his first child, is written as tightly as you wouldexpect from a New Yorker writer.

Hemingway,Ernest. A Moveable Feast. Scribner. Restored edition 2009. Hemingway'saccount of his life in Paris during the period between the two World Wars, withhis first wife Hadley. Not to be missed, if you’re interested in the period, andthis is a lovely edition.

Kerper, Barrie, ed.Paris: The Collected Traveler: AnInspired Companion Guide. VintageDepartures. 2011. A collection of short essays by 25 or so authors, somefamous, some not, with bibliographies for further reading, short biographies,interviews and addresses in Paris. Loads of fun for armchair reading, verypractical if you are planning a visit.

Liebling, A.J. Between Meals.: An Appetite for Paris.North Point Press. 1986. Liebling, Paris, Food. What could be better?

Rowlands,Penelope, ed. Paris Was Ours.Alonquin Books. 2011. Thirty-two writers contributed essays to this collectionof memoirs about life in the City of Light. This book is nicely produced andwill be enjoyable reading for everyone who loves the city and enjoys memoir.

White, Edmund. The Flaneur: A Stroll though the Paradoxesof Paris. Bloomsbury. 2001. A flaneur is a stroller. Paris is a walkingcity, for the lucky, a strolling city. Edmund White is a keen observer of this city that he loves, his writingis beautiful and his essays a joy to read.

Fiction

Black, Cara. Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis. SohoPress, Inc 2007. One in Black's detective Aimée Leduc mystery series, all setin Paris. I won't list all the titleshere, they are easy to find, easy to read.

McLain, Paula. The Paris Wife. Harper Collins. 2011. Ifyou read A Moveable Feast, or maybeif you didn't, you might enjoy this historical novel written from Hadley's(Hemingway's wife) point of view, set in the same time period.

Tremain, Rose. Trespass. W.W Norton & Co. 2010. Athriller set in the Cévennes, its subject wrestles with questions of longtimeresidents and newcomers, urban money and education on the one hand, ruraltraditions and land ownership on the other. Classic themes, immortalized byPagnol, and later popularized in the movies based on his books Jean de Florette and Manon des Source.

History

Caro, Ina. The Road From the Past: Traveling through History in France.Harcout Brace. 1994. I loved reading this book, which covers well-known sitesin Provence, the Languedoc, Loire Valley, and Île de France, couldn't put itdown, and have used it to help choose places to visit during bike tours. Loadedwith historical and cultural detail, Caro's writing style is intimate andinformative, pulling the reader immediately into the place.

Caro. Ina. Paris to the Past: Travelling Through FrenchHistory by Train. W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 2011. This has been on myshelf for over a month now, unstarted because I don't want to finish it and amstill enjoying the anticipation of reading it. (See my comments on her previousbook, above.) More to come later.

Cole, Robert. A Traveller's History of France.Interlink Press, 205. Part of a series, I find it dry writing, but with a verylot of history packed into a little volume, it is useful to focus on a specificera or place.

Cook, Theodore Andrea. Old Provence. Interlink Books. 2001.First published by C. Scribner's Sons, 1905. Wish I had owned this before myProvence tour. So far I've only read sections, intending to read it all before I return there. Its400 or so pages cover the history of the region from prehistory, to the 16thcentury, from the perspective of a traveler at the turn of the 20thcentury.

Evans, Joan. Life in Medieval France. Phaidon. 1960.First published by Phaidon in 1925. Chapters include topics including"Feudal Society," "Monastic Life," and"Education," the color plates and illustrations are sumptuous, andthe text includes many quotes in their original language, with footnotedtranslations. Not exactly academic, but it requires a closer reading, moreattention, than many other of the books included here perhaps because the timeperiod is distant, and she covers a lot of territory.

Fowler, Kennrth.The Age of Plantagenet and Vallois. G.P. Putnam Sons. 1967. History with loads of illustrations. I admit it, I boughtit for the illustrations, mainly taken from the world of art history. One ofthe things I appreciate about good used book stores is that you sometimes comeacross large collections from someone's library who has moved, down-sized, ordied. This, and other of these titles, came from one of those finds.

Garrett, Martin. Provence: A Cultural History. OxfordUniversity Press. 2006. Easy, fun, informative reading. Chapters include famousindividuals from cultural history, like Petrarch, Van Gogh, Giono, Daudet,Zola, Pagnol Cézanne, and places including Manosque, Beaucaire, St. Gilles andover into the Languedoc at Nîmes, and of course Arles, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence.Great fun to use to help plan cycle itineraries.

Horne, Alistair. Seven Ages of Paris. Vintage Books2004. Eminent British historian Alistair Horne draws a fascinating portrait ofParis since the Roman era. To do that, he uses the great historical leaders whohelped to shape it, the wars, sufferings and triumphs of the city and thepeople who have lived there. In the preface Horne describes the book as aseries of essays about seven periods of Parisian history, eras that he chose todevelop a portrait of the city as a living entity of its own ... not to providean all-inclusive history of it. A fabulous book to read before a visit there.

James, Edward. The Franks. Basil Blackwell, Ltd. 1988.A readable and detailed history of the Franks, the "barbarians" ...i.e., people who were not Romans, whogave their name to the country we now know. The maps, and photographs of artifactsand archaeological digs, add a visual element to this detailed, rich history,which focuses strongly on the Merovingian dynasty; Clovis was perhaps the mostfamous king. Worth reading if you are interested in French history in the 5thand 6th centuries.

MCcullough, David. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. Simonand Schuster. 2011. I have just begun this and it promises to be a wonderful, beautifully written book. The early history of Americans in Paris (after Jefferson and other founding fathers) is a new world to me. Morelater.

Robb, Graham. The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography. W.W. Norton &Co. 2007. Written by a British cyclist and teacher of French literature andhistory, Robb has written a delightful, engaging, brilliant and surprisingaccount of how the country we know as France came to be France, showing it tobe composed of many many disparate cultures and histories. Not a story of greatmen, but of cultural and geographical history, it is a delightful book to read,full of details I knew nothing about, always memorable and frequently entertaining... plus much of his research was done while travelling 14,000 miles on thelittle roads of France by bike. (But do not expect the bike to play a role inthe book.) Such a good book!

Memoirs

Bard, Elizabeth.Lunch in Paris. Back Bay Books, 2010.Fun, fast read, with recipes. She doesn't. ... quite too much .... romanticizelife in Paris.

Baxter, John. The Most Beautiful Walk in the World.Harper Perennial. 2011. Life in Paris in 2010, from an Australian expat writer.Baxter leads cultural walking tours in English, which provides him with anenjoyable angle from which to work in cultural and literary history.

Child, Julia. My Life in France. Anchor Books. 2006.Julia Childs, memoir, food. Does anything else need to be said?

Corbett, Bryce. A Town Like Paris. Broadway Books.2007. Life in Paris in 2000, from British expat journalist.

Goodman, Richard. French Dirt. Harper Perennial. 1992 A good-natured, warm memoirabout a place and garden in the Cévennes in southern France, an area notwritten about as often as many. Romanticized or not, who cares, really?Delightful reading.

Johnson, Dianne. Into a Paris Quartier: Reine Margot's Chapeland Other Haunts of St. Germain. National Geographic. 2005. Memoir full ofhistory of her neighborhood, a super book to read especially if you will get tospend some time exploring St. Germaine.

Karmel, Alex. A Corner in the Marais: Memoir of a ParisNeighborhood. David R. Godine. 1998. As much a quirky, engaging andpersonal history of the Marais as a memoir, the book is fascinating reading andputs this very popular district into historical context. Illustrated withphotographs and prints, the book includes specific descriptions of somefavorite stroling streets. Very good reading.

Loomis, Susan. On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a FrenchTown. Broadway Books. 2001. The first memoir/cookbook I was familiar with,written by accomplished cookbook author Susan Loomis. I've used a few of therecipes, and they work for me, though truth be told I virtually never follow arecipe literally. Also a thoroughly enjoyable story.

Travel

Bentley, James. Languedoc. Salem House. 1987. Beautifulphotography, many photos. Informative, personalized, well-written history. Thestuff dreaming starts with.

Durrell, Lawrence. Caesar's Vast Ghost: Aspects of Provence.Little, Brown Co. 1990. You might know Durrell from The Alexandria Quartet or possibly from his poetry.Before he died in 1990, Durrell lived inProvence for thirty years and loved it dearly, which shines through in thisvolume that includes prose, history, some poetry and fine photographs. Again,is it memoir, travel writing, biography? It doesn't matter, it is a superb bookto start the imaginings of a bike tour.

Jones, Louisa. Provence Harvest. Recipes by JacquesChibois. Stewart, Tabori & Chang. 2005. Too many photos, too much text tobe a cookbook. Too much food, too many recipes not to be. Also beautiful.

Hitt, Jack. Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down thePilgrim's Route into Spain. Aurum Press Ltd. 1994. If you cycle tour insouthern France, sooner or later the Pilgrim's Route to Santiago de Compostelawill come to your attention. People have walked it for centuries, and nowadaysthey are cycling it also. This is an account of one traveller's trip, thepeople he meets, places they stay and adventures along the route. Compellinglyrecounted.

Moore, Tim. French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France.St. Martin's Griffen. 2001. Itotally looked forward to this book, had every reason to like it: cycling,France, the Tour de France. Unhappily, I didn't find it witty, which I suspectwas the goal. I found the author self indulgent and whiney. But if you lovecycling, France, and the Tour de France, you should read it, make up your ownmind, and let me know.

Russell, John. Paris. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1983. Abeautiful, intelligent ode to Paris, written by art historian and critic JohnRussell. This is elegant, wonderfulwriting that can be read from cover to cover, or browsed a chapter at a time,through different neighborhoods. If a book can be good for strolling through,the same way an old neighborhood can, this one is. Like all Harry Abrams coffee-table books, beautiful.

Smollett, ThomasGeorge. Travels Through France and Italy.Oxford University Press. 1919. OK, you have to love travelogues andhistory, how can something not be dated that was written 250 years ago? But ifyou do there is a different world to be discovered in Smollett's letters,written from Paris, Lyons, Montpelier, etc. in 1763 and 1764.

Steinbach,Alice. Without Reservations: The Travelsof an Independent Woman. Random House. 2002. Pulitzer-prize winningjournalist, Alice Steinbach has written two fabulous travel books, which I getto include here because both have sections set in France. This is fun reading,whether you are specifically interested in France or not.

Steinbach,Alice. Educating Alice: Adventures of aCurious Woman. Random House. 2005. Steinbach's essays, one subject perchapter, on learning to cook in Paris, garden in Provence, dance in Kyoto, arthistory in Florence... you get it. Another super travel book.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Travels with a Donkey. Atlas PocketClassics. 2008. First published in 1879. Stevenson's account of his crossing ofthe Cévennes with Modestine, a donkey. There is now a trail marking his route;my 2010 cycle tour of the Cévennes often took me nearthat route and local residents frequently asked if I was following it. Iwasn't, but the question made me curious. I was happy to find this fine littleedition. The book gives a great sense of the Cévennes in his period, as seen by an American traveller.

Turner, Herbert.Picturesque Old France. Little, Brownand Co. 1929. Fabulous history and travelogue from the early 20th century, thatteaches us so much not only about the places visited, but about the era inwhich they were written. If you remember how many years have intervened, thebook remains full of ideas for destinations and waystops on tours.

Vallois, Therza. Averon, A Bridge to French Arcadia. Iliad Books. 2007.Vallois, whoI believe is a long-time British expat living in Paris, introduces us tomembers of various contemporary Aveyron communities, while weaving in thehistory and geography of the region. Many specifics, and very evocative of theAveyron. I haven't found much in English about this region, which offered somefabulous cycling the little bit I travelled through it, and promises much morefor a future trip. I read this after my Cévennes trip, will reread it beforereturning, perhaps to the Lot River Valley and Conques area.

Wharton, Edith. A Motor-Flight Through France. NorthernIllinois University Press. 1991. Originally published Scribner 1908. Entrancedwith the freedom of the motorcar, and the freedom of France, this book isWharton's account of her auto tours.

Zheutlin, Peter,Around the World on Two Wheels.Citadel. 2007. The story of Bostonian Annie Londonderry (actually AnnieKapchowski) who in 1894, left her husband and two young daughters to ridearound the world on a bike, and did it. Or did she travel around the world, mostly via steamer and train, with abike? In any case, she did ride the ... or was it most of the ... way from Paris to Marseilles, and for thatI've included the book. Although no oneactually knows the truth of her trip, it is a good story, and offers someinsight into the women's status and the popular culture of the era.

Gerry Patterson Interview, part 2

2012-01-20T15:59:00.001-05:00

This is the second part of my interview with Gerry Patterson, who rides, races and writes Mr. Patterson Goes to Languedoc and Cycling Languedoc from his home in southern France. If you missed the first part, you might want to read it first, here.

L'Etape du Tour

What motivated you to take upracing?

Good question. I’m not sure how Iheard about this, but in November of 2010 I came across information on theEtape du Tour, a yearly sportive race in the Alps or Pyrenees that duplicatesan actual mountain stage of the Tour de France. This was the beginning of itall and it has just snowballed from there.

Let me offer up a few statisticsto give any reader who isn't familiar with the Etape du Tour some perspective: thisfirst race you signed up for (sort of like your first tour ... acrossAustralia) involved "only" 110km (68 miles) ... hmm, one thinks,that's perhaps manageable. But those 110 km included 4000 vertical meters (thatis 13,500 feet) of climbing and is limited to 10,000 riders. The crowd alonewould undo me, we don't even need to think about the climbing! And you aregoing to do two of these this year, separated I think by one week!

Has thatbeen a hard switch from touring?

Yes, it was, but just because I wassuddenly working a lot harder on the bike. I learned I had a big ring on thefront, for example! I encountered new words like ‘intervals’, ‘sprints’ and theever-popular ‘fartleks’. I still enjoyed my rides, I suppose, but I was notgoing out for enjoyment anymore. My goals had changed. Now I was clipping in tosuffer, so I would suffer less (theoretically) in the Etape, when it came inJuly. It’s a big change, but it’s still the bicycle.

I want to get some understandingof this suffering thing on a cycle. It seems central to the racing ethic, I seethe word used all over the bike blog world. Years ago a dear friend told methat I was "the only person he knew who likes to walk up incredibly steephills for days in a row, carrying heavy objects, in the rain." (I used todo a lot of backpacking.) Somehow, that seems related, though I have neverthought of it, or bike touring, as suffering.

I’m no expert on racing, so I canonly speak for myself, but I have never ‘suffered’ like I do when training for races(or even worse, races themselves) when doing touring or hiking (also an oldfavorite of mine.) There were definitely hard treks, like a few I did in theHimalaya, and surely hard climbs when touring, but you always have the luxuryof stopping and resting with these activities, no matter how hard they are.With bike racing you can’t … or you shouldn’t. Imagine your hardest hike, nowincrease your heart rate by 20 to 40 beats per minute and sustain that effortfor an hour and 45 minutes. That’s what climbing Mont Ventoux is like. Now, dothat 3 times in one day and you get a big stage like the Etape du Tour. It’sprobably similar to a triathlon like the Ironman, but I can’t say since I’venever done one. And being in better shape doesn’t help either because, as GregLemond said, ‘It never gets easier, you just go faster’.

Though I couldn't have told you who said it, that is one of my favorite quotes about cycling also and I'm absolutely no racer. Do you think suffering is an integral, even a defining part, ofthe community of racing ... a part of the camaraderie, the ethos, among peers?

Good question, and probably one thatI am not well suited to answer, since I'm really new to the whole racing scene.… Maybe it changes in different countries, too. My experience with Frenchriders, for example, is that they don't flaunt their suffering, but take it asjust another part of their sport. Again, that's just my view today - it couldvery well change tomorrow. …There’s no denying that the ability to enduresustained pain is an integral part of the sport. It is what it is, you mightsay.

Racing and touring seem likepretty different things, different skills, different mindsets. Could you talk abit comparing your experiences?

Scenery Unseen in the Race

Touring for me was always abouttravel and exploration. I still think that it’s by far the best way to see theworld. The riding is relatively slow, with little or no thought of cadence,heart rate or speed (other than making sure you are fast enough to get to yourcampsite by dinnertime.) Racing is the opposite. You aren’t really goinganywhere (literally, if you are on an indoor trainer,) or at least that’s notyour purpose. You are riding to train and you train to get stronger and you getstronger to do better in races. The lovely scenery and freedom you feel on theopen road (you can’t take that away) are bi-products. It’s an interestingtransformation and I still shake my head sometimes that I am actually doingit…and even enjoying it!

Part of what I enjoy abouttouring is the kick, adrenaline rush I guess, that comes from long, sweeping orswitchbacking descents. Is there some of that in racing, or is it soconcentrated on technique that it is wholly about the race?

If you choose the right race you’llhave awesome descents, no question. However, from my perspective at least,there’s no time to enjoy them, other than the adrenaline rush part. Training isa bit different because it’s not as concentrated perhaps (at least you don’thave someone else’s wheel a foot in front of you when you are descending at 60kph!)

Has racing ruled out touring?

Not at all. I’ve got a trip that I’mplanning for this summer (after my racing is done, mind you), possibly in theUK or Scandinavia.

The little bit I've been there,it looks to me like most French cyclists ride with clubs. Is that true in yourexperience? Do you ride with French cyclists?

I’m not really sure either. Thereare a lot of club riders, but probably many more that ride with friends oralone. That said, in the races I’ve been in the vast majority of competitorsride in clubs. Probably 80% or more. I ride with French cyclists from time totime, but not as much as I should.

Why the word should? I spent partof last spring saying I should ride with a group ... because I thought it wouldmake me a stronger rider, and it probably would, but I never did. But what isthe should in riding with Frenchcyclists?

Simply because it replicates racinglike no other type of training, which helps with things like learning how toride close to others, riding in a paceline, closing a gap, etc. Someone elseusually controls the pace, too, so you inevitably have surges, sustained hardefforts, relaxed spinning, all started by someone other than yourself, butwhich you need to ready for and, more importantly, able to follow. If you’renot doing races, I don’t see the need for riding with a club, other than thesocial aspect and improved fitness (but this might be debatable).

A bike in France is a happy bike, n'est-ce pas?

What do you like best aboutcycling in France?

It just feels right here. Where elsecan you climb a small hill close to home and have someone encourage you bysaying ‘Allez!’ or ‘Ah…le grimpeur, bravo!’?

Absolutely, and I wondered forquite a while what was going on with my helmet when other cyclists told me “chapeau!”. You have 3 blogs, I'm mostly familiar with Mr. Patterson and CyclingLanguedoc. Why did you separate them into two distinct sites?

Mr.Patterson Goes to Languedoc is simplya blog of my days on the bike and the one I enjoy working on the most. Cycling Languedoc is an information site forpeople interested in riding in sunny southern France. It’s also the springboardI hope to use if I ever decide to move more into the business end of Cycling. Ido link back and forth, but I wanted to keep them separated in terms ofcontent, since they are really built for different purposes, and maybeaudiences as well.

And the third site?

TheBicycle: Riding to a Saner Future was anidea that hasn’t found its time yet, I think. It is supposed to be a place forlonger, more in-depth articles that would be (or should be) more objective andwide ranging. I’m still trying to find my feet with that one.

Want a guide for Ventoux?

Explain your guiding service tous... how do you arrange trips, where do you go, what do you provide....

In a word – no frills. OK, that wastwo words, but it’ll have to do. Right now I’d just like to offer theopportunity for anyone visiting the area (Montpellier or Nîmes) to get out fora few ho hours and ride the beautiful countryside we have here. I wasn’t sureif there’d be a market for this sort of thing, since it doesn’t fit into the‘tour’ category, but it seems that there are a few people out there who areinterested.

This year I’ll also be branching outa little and am hooking up with at least one B&B to do guided rides fromtheir place. This should be fun and will have some of the components of a tourwithout the logistics.

Also, I’ve done one proper ‘tour’, Isuppose, since it involved a big van, food and support, but it was really onlyone (long) day. I had a group of riders from the US and UK who wanted to climbMont Ventoux together and the day was a great success, I thought. I’d be reallyinterested in doing this sort of thing again because I find myself with a goodamount of knowledge on that particular mountain all of a sudden and there is amassive market, I’m sure of that. It’s really the climb of a lifetime for manycyclists. Here’s the page on my guided rides,if any of your readers are heading this way.

It is France, after all

OK,thanks! At any point I could pepper you with another handful of questions, butlet's let it go for now. Happy cycling in sunny southern France, and do breaktraining enough for a bit of wine (or I guess that's beer,) unpasteurized cheese and good bread forthose of us in unforgiving winter lands!

Interview with Gerry Patterson

2012-01-16T13:36:00.049-05:00

Gerry Patterson lives and cycles in the Languedoc in southern France. I came across his blog Mr. Patterson Goes to Languedoc when reading about the Camargue, which I had previously visited. We've corresponded from time to time since and he has included several short descriptions of my visits in his other site, Cycling Languedoc. Be sure to check Cycling Languedoc if you are thinking of a trip, and don't miss Mr. Patterson, if you like to race bikes, or to watch bike racing … or to read about riding in France.

His experiences ring a chord with many cyclists, as he has spent a lot of time on day rides, touring, and now racing. I'll again post this in several sections, it is too long for one post. By the way, this is the second in a new series of interviews with cyclists.

Landscape, Languedoc

Bicycles can be used in so many cool ways .... What led you to two wheels, no motor?

Like most people out there, I’ve always ridden a bicycle. As a kid, the instant sense of adventure I got when I threw my leg over the top tube for the first time was infectious (although I think I was dreaming of having a motor at that time!). Riding for me was always about freedom of movement and the great unknown, but it really took hold when I got an idea to ride across Australia while working there in 1996. That trip, across the desert alone, got me good and truly hooked on travelling on two wheels.

I've learned from your blog that you've lived and travelled in many different countries after growing up in, I think, the Maritimes in Canada, but don't know how long you've been gone. Did you cycle in Canada? And where else have you lived since then?

I rode around when I was young in Québec, but we only had one road in our town, so on-road adventure was a bit limited. I left for good in 1994 and have lived in Australia, Japan, Singapore and now France.

Did cycling lead to your travelling? Or, maybe did travelling lead to cycling?

Definitely the latter. While travelling in S.E. Asia in the early 90s I ran across a few oddballs riding their bikes through the region. It hit me right away as being a much more interesting way to see a place than from behind the window of a bus or train.

How many countries have you cycled in, where?

According to my blog I’ve ridden in 15 countries, most of them in Europe, with Australia, Japan and Canada rounding out the list.

Gerry touring in Japan

So surely you have ridden in countries where you don't speak the language? What can you tell us about that, how did it affect your experience, how did you communicate?

Never a big problem. Cycling and travelling independently have the same challenges when it comes to language, although on a bike you might need to ask for directions more often. Cycling, especially alone, is an excellent way to meet people and learn a language, since people are inevitably attracted to weirdos from afar, particularly if they are riding a bike.

Absolutely, I've found that too ... it is as if the bike draws people into conversation who might not otherwise interact ... similar to the function of cute dogs or babies here. Could you talk a little about how cycling and the cycling culture, are different in those various places?

Really all over the place. In Japan, where I lived for many years, cycling as a sport or exercise (and definitely as a form of travel) has not really taken off. They have a strong bicycle culture, but it is mainly one that involves cheap mamacharis (shopping bikes) that you use to get yourself back and forth to the train station or, obviously, to do some shopping.

In Italy, where my wife and I cycled two years ago, there is a deep appreciation for the bicycle and, although you don’t see many cycling paths or dedicated roads, drivers are courteous and used to seeing bikes on the roads. France is the same. One of my favorite memories from that trip is stopping at a café for our morning cappuccino and, after asking the lady behind the counter to fill up our bidons, getting ice-cold water from the fridge with lemon slices added. I tried to stop her from cutting into the lemon, but she would hear nothing of it. She knew about the simple pleasures of cycling.

Stuart Highway, Australia

What brought you to bicycle touring?

A whim, really. I needed to get out of Australia (and back into Asia for some more travelling) and the cheapest flight I could get out was from Darwin, 3300 km away from where I was living. Taking a month and riding it seemed like a good idea at the time.

That's quite a sentence .. I have friends here who think I'm weird if I decide to ride the 35 miles into town on errands instead of driving...and they ride bikes! So having crossed Australia on a whim, tell us something about that trip.

Australia, once you leave the thin coastal strip of habitation, is pretty wild and desolate. That’s what much of my trip was about. I think that I was in the desert proper after 3 or 4 days and it really didn’t let up till Darwin, with some notable exceptions like Alice Springs. The road was terribly flat and awfully straight, but it was also meditative in a strong way. The flatness and straightness naturally lead to a steady cadence and minute-after-minute looking off into the middle distance.

When you have so much time on your hands and no iPod to help fill it up, you tend to get creative. I took it upon myself to ask the Aussies along the way the words to Waltzing Matilda, and sang it relentlessly on my way up the Stuart Highway. If I caught a whiff of road kill I would quickly try and categorize it before riding past it. It was, inevitably, kangaroo (not the brightest animals and easily mesmerized by car lights, it seems).

After the whim took over, did you plan the logistics, or did the road take care of things as you went along...I suppose I'm thinking mostly about water, did you cook, the logistics of it.

First I somehow found out the prevailing winds at that time of year (fall in Australia), which thankfully were favorable. Then I went to their version of the AAA and got myself a ‘Trip Tik’ — a little notebook-style map of the route that had roadhouses (glorified gas stations) and settlements pinpointed. This was before cheap mobile GPS devices of course, so the trip was paper-based.

I took three big water bottles and a bladder that held 4 liters, so I had 6 or 7 liters in total. That was plenty because there was usually a water source every 100 or 150 km or so. The longest I went was around 250 km without a single gas station even. I took a one-man tent with me and slept on the sand off the highway much of the time. When I found a campsite or hostel I went for some luxury. I cooked most of the time myself simply because there was no choice. I had a little stove and carried canned food mostly. I always stopped at roadhouses to have real food when I could.

To read more about that trip, visit Gerry's after-the-fact post at Cycling the Stuart Highwa y.

Where else have you cycle toured?

I’ve done multi-day trips, many with my wife, through France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic, as well as the other countries mentioned above.

Shoko in Provence

Ok, I suppose I have to ask, would you (or would Shoko) point any of these out as more appealing places for woman cyclists travelling solo?

That’s hard to say, since Shoko was with me all the time. I guess it would be down to ‘feel’ then. Any country that has more female riders would surely be more appealing for women, I suppose. So Holland, Germany and Switzerland would stand above the rest in that regard. I know plenty of women who’ve cycled around the world solo and they all end up having different experiences (good and bad) that lead to different opinions about each country they’ve travelled through. I think it’s hard to comment on a whole country being ‘friendly’ one way or another, since inevitably tourists are just basing their ideas on their own very limited experience.

When you toured, could you describe your style ... was it usually solo, with others, supported...

A mixed bag, I guess. Lots by myself, lots with my wife, Shoko, and a few times with others. I find it hard to travel with someone other than my wife, for the most part, because everyone travels at different paces and has their own idiosyncrasies and hang-ups, etc. On the other hand, it sure is nice to sit down with a good friend after a hard day in the saddle and reminisce over a cold beer.

I’ve never toured with an organized group and I guess I never will. I just don’t see the need.

Cycle-friendly route in Languedoc, France

Could you give us some recommendations from your experience for where to tour?

It really depends on what you want out of a bicycle trip. For my money Europe can’t be beat, for so many reasons. France rates at the top of my list, probably not unsurprisingly. Germany and Switzerland are up there, too, but I love mountains and beer, so other people’s lists could look different. Holland was a dream if you like the idea of travelling EVERYWHERE on dedicated cycling roads. We thought Slovenia was great as well, and I will definitely get back there and explore their mountains again someday. Each country has their own charms and annoyances, I think, so I’d say just choose one and go.

You know that I love travelling in France, what took you to France as a place to live?

The cycling. What else?

When and why did you move to there?

We arrived in the summer of 2008 and had various reasons for coming, other than the bicycle. Shoko wanted to study art, which she is doing now, and I’ve wanted to live in France since a failed attempt 16 years ago in Paris. Sometimes you just hold onto these vague desires, not even knowing why. It’s worked out amazingly well, so maybe there’s something to it.

Did you live in Montpellier for a while, and then Nimes? Anywhere else? How did you choose these places?

It was either Montpellier or Nice when we moved here and the riding looked a lot more pleasant around Montpellier. Nice is far too vertical for fun. Nîmes was easy; that’s where Shoko got accepted to the School of Fine Arts.

How would you describe your cycling experience in France?

Merveilleuse!

PART 2

Interview with Loretta Henderson, part 2

2012-01-09T20:50:00.000-05:00

This is the second part of Loretta Henderson's email interview ... if you missed the first section, click here to read it: Loretta Henderson, part 1. (Also, Lorettta sent two new photos, and I have rearranged them a bit. Click back to the first part for a great river crossing photo.) The more I follow her trip, the more compelling her story becomes. Don't miss Skalatitude, her blog. It is full of adventure, resources, photos, stories ... and fun!

Help close at hand

What do you experience as the biggest advantages and disadvantages of solo cycling?

I get asked this quite a bit, in my most popular article Solo Female Bicycle Touring Is It Safe To Be Pack’in Estrogen, I normally get so much help I wonder why solo female travel is considered unsafe. It’s a worldwide estrogen extravaganza you see, after all the men of the world love estrogen.

Actually, I wasn't thinking so much about women cycling solo (though we could have a conversation about that, since we both do cycle solo, and I think we understand it pretty similarly) as the differences between cycling solo and cycling with other people...what you see as advantages or disadvantages of both.

Advantages and Disadvantages? I'm a solo female bicycle tourist, I rarely bicycle tour with others. Solo female bicycle touring isn’t a better or a worst experience, it is just a different experience ... which is why I have been encouraged to write and share about it.


Tibetan Nomad

Does anything stand out that you discovered, either about the world itself, or about life on a bike, or both, that you want to pass on?

Pedal out the door. Go with what you got. People have been pedaling up mountains on one speed bicycles with nothing but flip flops on their feet for a very long time.

A few practical questions: food and water, how much do you carry?

Water? I seem to never have enough, although my large water bag/shower that was given to me by a sponsor has come in very handy.

What do you do for maps, paper or otherwise?

In order to stretch out the generous donations I have gotten through my donate button I sometimes draw maps instead of buying them. In a lot of countries maps aren’t available and in Asia there is often only one road.

Sandstorm in China

How do you handle not knowing languages, and if you learn a few basic words or more, how?

In the article I wrote called InSANDnity I was belted by sandstorms in the Taklimakan desert, China. That’s a funny question because I am not sure a foreign languages are required for hand gesturing sandstorms and hiding under the road covered with sand.

Will you talk a little about bicycle ambulances?

A bicycle ambulance is a bicycle with an attached cart that is used to transport the ill and birthing mothers to nearby medical facilities. Child and women mortality rates have been drastically reduced by this simple community based solution. The profits from the Be The Adventures t-shirts on sale through Skalatitude.com will go towards the purchase of a bicycle ambulance when I arrive by bicycle in Namibia. Shopping at Amazon.com through my website will also support the bicycle ambulance project.

Has your trip changed the way you understand the world?

I like to joke that I might just lose the other half of my mid pretty soon, but I am just joking. There are so many harsh realities for women and people around the world.

The bicycle ambulance project will address high maternal and child death rates for a village in rural Africa. I have become extremely grateful for everything and everyone around me. I even say thank-you to dogs for not biting me while I cycle by.

Anything else you'd share with us?

I just started a Girly Girl Gear for Guys Too section on the website. I would love to hear from all of you about what works and what doesn’t. Send skalatitude@gmail.com your pick for favorite article of outdoor gear and why. It will appear in the next Roll’in With My Homies, Tips on Adventure Travel newsletter.

Loretta, thank you so much for taking the time to share your world with us through these emails!

Back to Part One

Interview with Loretta Henderson

2012-01-03T20:47:00.001-05:00

Loretta Henderson and her blog Skalatitude first came to my attention when I searched "solo woman cyclist" ... her page WOW, Women onWheels came up, and to my surprise and delight I found myself included there.

That was in aboutOctober, 2010, and we have corresponded occasionally since then. I am thrilledto inaugurate a series of interviews with other cyclists with this (e-mail)conversation with Loretta. Her trip is totally amazing and inspiring! This willbe a two-part interview, it is too long for one post and too good to cut. Andvisit her site, it is full of photos, stories, tips and resources. She sharesher travels as she goes along (as internet service permits) and it is burstingwith her wit and dynamite sense of fun. Loretta mentioned that she hasespecially enjoyed sharing her photos of the route in her Camera Carnival page.It is a good starting point to enjoying both her humor and photos while gettinga sense of her world trip.

By the way, she told methat The WOW (Women onWheels) wall is always looking for more contributors. It is full of linksto blogs, books and photos celebrating solo female bicycle touring.

River crossing

To give the reader some perspective, could you give us aquick rundown of the countries you've cycled through?

What started as a bicycle tour in England in 2009 has gottena little out of hand. 18 countries later I am still pedaling my way around theworld. My route has been heading west from New Zealand across the world; thelast unavoidable plane was between NZ and OZ. I have travelled by woodenraft, sail boat, ferry and bicycle from OZ through Asian countries and thenMiddle Eastern countries. Listening to the Beastie Boys on full volumewhile my headscarf flapped free, I headed from China into Pakistan, looped theHimalayas of Northern India, and returned to Pakistan, then pedaledacross Iran. With Oceania, Asia and half the Middle Eastern countriesbehind me, the best is still to come with pedaling through Africa this year.

Do you have a sense of how long your trip might last?

This makes me laugh, my tips articles about women’sadventure travel continue to be published and I am having too much fun to stopbefore I reach Capetown, South Africa. I keep saying one more year butthat was last year.

I have never heard the word skalatitude before, where did itcome from ... did you invent it?

Skalatitude is a word I read about that was used a long timeago by an indigenous shamanic group in the Pacific Northwest region. I don’tthink it is in the dictionary but you might find it in the bicycletourist glossary of terms on my website.

So many things on your blog resonate with me, including thequote from your masthead: "Skalatitude...When humans and nature areliving in harmony there is magic and beauty everywhere" That idea is aprofound one, and open to endless interpretations. Could you give us anyexamples you've experienced of humans and nature in harmony?

Solo female bicycle touring, just about anywhere. Myfavorite cycling memory is in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. The huge desert sunset on my one side and the full moon rose up on my other. Instead of stoppingto camp I kept on pedaling without bike lights under the full moon for another50km (31miles) or so....[Other favorite] memories are pedaling by glaciers thattouched the road on the Karakorum Highway of Pakistan and chewing bubble gumwith nomads in the Gobi desert, Mongolia.

Tell us how your bike got its wonderful name.

Pandemic The Magic Bicycle is the character in many articleson my website. Funny enough, Pandemic is named after the bird flu pandemicthat was sweeping the world at a moment’s notice. This is humorous because whenI named him I had exactly zero experience cycling and I could barely walk, dueto my Achilles tendons protesting my new found love of bicycle travel.

Speaking of the beginning of your trip, what drew you tobicycling? I read that you got interested while living in Alaska, but whybicycles and cycle touring?

While building a circular cabin on my own in Alaska I couldnot stop reading about bicycle touring. The Adventure Cycling Handbook bySteven Lord became very dog eared. After 5 years of reading that same book overand over again and thinking up every known excuse why I could not possible trysomething like this, including asking myself if women do this on their own, Ifinally found a photo of a man who had tied an empty milk jug full of water tothe back of a bicycle. That photo is what finally made me try it becauseI still didn’t know if I could make it anywhere by bicycle, but I did knowthat I could tie an empty milk jug to a bicycle rack, and I knew that I couldtry.

Well, you've certainly done a lot beyond trying! You havecycled some very difficult terrain, and also passed through some extremelychallenging locales. How do you decide where to go next? Geography,culture, history, politics, practical logistics, something else altogether?

I get so busy with pedaling, camping and writing thenewsletter that I don’t have time to read the news. So many thingsthat the TV talks about do not actually affect travelling there. I meet othertravelers, and Facebook is great for touching base with those on the road aheadof you. ... I chose Pakistan because of the Karakorum Highway. Themountains and people are so beautiful there I would go back again anyday.

Yes, I had read in your blog that you have sometimes metother touring cyclists ... has that happened often? Is it most likely to happenin specific kinds of places?

Cycle touring in SE Asia, ( Laos, Thailand, Vietnam,Cambodia) is an extremely popular cycling destination and a great place for afirst tour. It is safe and a good year round destination. Great roads,mountains and flat terrain. The food is cheap and plentiful, inside and outsidesleeping options are everywhere, it’s inexpensive and the people are warm. Imet a lot of bicycle tourists there.

Part Two

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 6

2012-01-02T18:05:00.001-05:00

Winter Goals

Ahhh...the second day in January, my second ride this year. This can't keep up, tomorrow I go back to work and their is too little daylight in New Englandto ride before or after work. Today the sun was out when I left the house, the temperature in the low 30sF. I figure the only way to learn what is too cold to cycle in is to keep trying as the temperatures drop.

Cold weather cycle pants and a windbreaker base layer make all the difference: again today I was warm. And that is no easy feat ... in my world, I feel the cold quickly. And I suppose it helped that I had both the hat and headband on that I wear under my helmet.

In any case, I headed north towards Dalton, passing the train tracks which carry new automobiles from the midwest to the east and oil or gas, I think, from eastern ports to the midwest. It is the main line for both freight and passenger trains from Boston to Chicago, and passes through the huge Hinsdale Flats ACEC (Area of Critial Environmental Concern.) The NYC line westward meets it in Albany. It is a shame, a real loss, that Amtrak cannot keep the passenger trains on schedule. We could use a good rail system here, one that can transport bikes.

A female kingfisher hunts this section of stream and swamp. I see her regularly until the water freezes up too solid for fishing. Yesterday there was a raven with its hoarse call overhead.

Intending to get myself more involved in cycling here, as opposed to touring in France, (which I cannot do all the time) I have decided to ride the St. Patrick's Day brevet, 100km ride, from Westfield to Sunderland this year. It could easily be the first ourdoor ride this spring, and could easily be quite cold. So I want to get a feel for riding distances in cold weather. Also, probably because I have come to enjoy numbers, I wanted my last ride before the temperatures plummet to be a 50km ride. Today I was just about there. This week the temperatures are supposed to plummet, with lows below 0F and will probably be the end of outdoor cycling. How funny! I feared that in October when we had the 26 inch snowfall, but it has been the latest cycling season I remember.

Riding along, I focused on some of the things I plan to add to this site this year: first to appear will be a series of interviews with other cyclists. It will be fun to share their stories and experiences on the web. Look for Loretta Henderson, who is riding around the world, east to west, in the next week or so.

Secondly, I am hoping to build a page of Berkshire resources. It seems somewhat silly that I know where to look for info and resources in France, but not here. I'm hoping that it might help visitors from other parts of the world.

The clouds above this crow threw some small, white things at me for a bit, and the wind picked up as I headed home. My fingers were definitely getting cold, and my feet, even under the booties, knew it was getting colder outside. A nice, easy, 50k to open the 2012 season.

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 5

2012-01-01T18:43:00.036-05:00

Why Tour?

A FOY on the 1st of the year. That is to say, my first ride of this year happened today, on the first day of the year. It was also the first time ever I've enjoyed an outdoor ride in the Berkshires in January. Today it was mostly sunny,about 42. Moreover, it was a great ride, more than 20 miles, with plenty of climbing, first down to the nearest major road, then back north and up to the top of my local mountain. This does not look like January in western New England. Maybe more like late April. Hope late April does not look like January.

There were a number of horses in fields or paddocks on the side of the roads. Some wear coats, some do not. I don't know why.

As I so often do, especially when cycling in familiar landscapes, I got to thinking about the differences in cycling experience. The differences between day rides and touring, the differences between riding here and in France. I love riding here, this is a fabulous place to live and ride. And I loved day riding in France. But what I really really love, what could become, well maybe it has already, quite addicting, is travelling on a bicycle. That is to say, touring. Here's why.

Whether day rides or touring, I love the physicality of it, the speed and ability to cover more distance than walking, long uphills followed by equally long descents. Just moving the pedals around and feeling the relation between the steering, the ground, myself. That bird-like feeling of whooshing around a downhill curve, the awareness of breath when working uphill.

The speed of cycling feels very right, cultured and human to me, largely I think because there is only a very small layer of separation from the terrain you are traveling through. Much less than by train or car. When cycling I can smell the world I'm passing through, whether the herbs or flowers in bloom at the side of the road or cooking odors coming from kitchen windows. There is time to stop to look at a plant, or over the side of a bridge, talk with other people, watch the sky, feel a rock, look for fish in a river.

It offers a chance to participate right at hand, personally, at the same time, in nature and culture. And that is more true, I think, in France, where the palimpsest of time and human culture has endowed the cities, towns and villages with the patina of age and usage. Certainly there are more cafes, markets, ancient buildings, art and architecture there, a far longer history, a different culture and way to live. The chapel pictured here is a great, fabulous community resource in our area. Here, it is old, built at the turn of the 20th century. That is a different experience.

Finally, I love the adventure and independence found in solo cycle touring. The humdrum and routine of daily existence is just gone.

When these aspects come together they reach a different kind of experience, in which the passage, the measurement and concept, of time is radically different than usual, and the decisions to be made and the things to be learned are so different that it becomes an entirely different way to live. That is where the deepest attraction, for me, is found. And that is why cycle touring, not racing, not mountain biking or cyclocross, not staying in one place and riding new loops, is so appealing. And it is also why it is so appealing in a different culture, one with a very old history, where I can speak enough of the language to communicate.

So with the start of the New Year, I'll put that question away. At least for a while. Happy New Year.

Bikes & Birds

2011-12-31T20:22:00.000-05:00

New Year's Eve and I'm back last night from visiting my friends Larry and Shari at their brand new place in the midst of some of the finest birding .... no, in the midst of the very finest birding areas on the mid-Atlantic US coast.

It was a fabulous visit, with equally fabulous bird sightings. The roads in these protected areas, when the biting bug life is low, could make a happy combination of cycling and birding. For a listing of what we found, visit Birds&Words. Since I have a habit of posting unrecognizable bird photos on this site, here is the treat of a recognizable one. Get a load of that tail!

What is this, you're thinking...this is a cycling blog, not a birding blog. Yup, it still is and here is a picture of Shari's very fun, perfect for her, beautiful, new, girly-girl bike! I took it for a few pedals and it will happily take her anywhere she wants, especially anywhere she can find birds. Personally, I wouldn't, probably and most likely, take it on pelagic trips. It is a fun bike, and I'm sure she'll find a name for it soon.

My last ride was December 3rd, and I admit it, with no bicycle-inspired guilt: I spent the entire rest of the month indulging in laziness and sloth. Or maybe it could more kindly be called rest and renewal. In any case, it involved no cycling, just cycle dreaming, reading and planning. Cycling itself starts up again with my training plan tomorrow, January 1st. Indoors, probably ...hmmm, it might be warm enough for an outdoor spin. That would be a hoot in January in this part of New England.

So, cycle plan made, the poll is now closed. Here are the answers. My question was: Do miles ridden on an indoor trainer count in an annual total of mileage ridden. I asked that question because it matters when setting annual goals. The response was: 60% said yes, they count. 20% no way, they don't count and 20% get over it, it's just a number. One reader rightfully pointed out that I should keep track of both, and have two data bases. I will.

Happy New Year's everyone, thanks for your comments and support! It has been a wonderful year for cycling in my world and I hope in yours if that is something you do, and wish everyone the very best of whatever you love to do in 2012.

UA-27598358-1

A poll for the start of winter

2011-12-11T17:43:00.001-05:00

As the outdoor cycling season shuts down in the Northern Hemisphere, I'm seeing more and more numbers appearing on cycling blogs, and perhaps not coincidentally becoming more aware of how friends use numbers.

My friend Larry counts the number of species of birds he sees in various locations, and keeps track of the first time each year he sees a species. At least, I think that is what FOY stands for.

My boss, when asked how he discovered the Berkshires, said "More than twenty years ago, my wife went to camp here." I know for a fact that his wife graduated from college before I did, so it was surely more than twenty years ago times 2. More than 20 years ago, I rode a bike daily in metropolitan Washington, DC, and there were fewer cars on the road there than there are now in Washington, MA, which boasts a population of about 600. More than twenty years ago ... a fine measure.

As a cyclist, I pay attention to lots of numbers: heartrate, cadence, speed, distance, number of vertical feet climbed, pounds lifted in weight training, reps. Not watts, I don't have one of those meters, or I surely would. Not calories, though apparently many of my colleagues at work do. The number of dollars a plane ticket costs. Not the exchange rate of those dollars to euros, though. I probably should care, but I doubt it will influence my behavior. As a world citizen, I'll shoulder my part in supporting the French economy. Days of vacation I can take at one time and still have my job when I return. Now there's an extremely important one.

Temperature. Winter is here and today at least, 26F is too cold for me to cycle outside, new warm clothes or not. Which brings me to the point of this post, specifically inspired by Gerry Patterson's recent post about numbers.

I have a question, an online poll for you, my reader. Please participate! You don't need to own a bike, ride a bike, want to ride a bike, or do anything bike relelated, though that wouldn't hurt. You only need to have an opinion, formed from whatever experience you pay attention to.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Ashuwillticook Rail Trail

2011-12-03T16:42:00.001-05:00

Oooooohhhh la la la la la laaahhh. There's a tune to that but your imaginations will complete it better than anything, but anything, that I might do or write. It's no big secret that I wasn't wanted in grammar school glee club ... and they let everybody, well almost everybody, sing.

The cause of this uncharacteristic outburst is that it is now December, and today, on this December 3rd, I slipped another ride in, and it looks like tomorrow will provide one more. No lasting snow yet, but it is cold enough now, and the weeks after Thanksgiving in this part of the world are deer hunting season. The guns allowed in Massachusetts are not as powerful as in NY State, so at least theoretically, if someone shoots you, they can see who they are shooting. Small consolation.

As best as I know, and I checked with my husband, even on a cycle I look nothing like a deer. But I thought I'd play it safe(r) and anyway I needed to go to town grocery shopping, so I rode the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail. I don't often ride it, though it is a fabulous community resource. I don't ride it because I prefer to leave it alone for children learning to ride, families, and seniors getting some exercize (as if that isn't me!)

Today its 22 miles were empty. At the start I shared it with a local high school cross country skiing team training on roller skis. Bet they are pining away for snow. Saw two couples walking, and one fellow walking his dog while riding his mountain bike. Then three cyclists. That was about it.

And I'm thrilled that I was warm. Have recently, and also uncharacteristically, spent measurable sums of money on warm cycling clothes .... and they work! I hate hate hate being cold, and they made cycling in temps in the 30s comfortable. That opens up a whole new world out there.

The real reason for this post is this bird. I was riding along, working reasonably hard, not stopping for photos, when I saw this heron on the trail. It was barely disturbed by me, and by making myself as small and quiet as possible I got pretty close. It is either a small, or young, Great Blue Heron, or it is a Little Blue Heron. I think it's a little blue. Larry????

France Resources: Websites

2011-11-29T14:28:00.001-05:00

Discovering that this site is sometimes used to help plan trips in France, I put together a list of internet resources for cycling there. People often ask me how I plan a solo cycling trip: they usually travel with a group, sag supported. And many people ask me about traveling as a solo woman cyclist. Here are my resources. The list is based on my bookmarked sites, but unfortunately, I remember some sites that I can't find again. Although I tend to use sites in French, I tried to locate and include the English language version.

Categories are tricky. Many regional and townsites will list lodging possibilities. You will find those under regionalsites, not under lodging. These regional sites can be a wealth of information.

That said, when planning a trip,I decide what I want to see and where I want to go. Then take a look at my Michelin Maps to decide the bestroute. After I have a route I find places to stay. That’s it in a nutshell. It's pretty simple, but it's not a fast process.

I'll add to this list as I find new sites and welcome corrections and suggestions for additions. Just put them in the comments or email me!

Communications: Telephone & Wifi

http://v4.jiwire.com/search-wifi-hotspots.htm

Useful information for internetaccess.

http://www.callineurope.com/

I bought a European phone fromthem before my first trip, and for each trip after that have purchased service.

Cultural Venues

http://www.castlesandmanorhouses.com/catharcastles/

www.whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/fr

www.sacred-destinations.com/france/sacred-sites

Cycling Sites

Thecontent is mixed here: routes, guided trips, other information.

www.balades-de-reve.com/Cyclotourisme-france.htm

Suggested touring routes andthings to do, places to stay along the way.

www.climbbybike.com

Just what its name says.

www.crazyguyonabike.com

Journals, articles, tips. Iprefer Trento's format, but there is also good content here. Check both placesif looking for ideas.

www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=5184

The UK’s national cyclistorganization. Packing tips for bikes and more.

www.cyclinglanguedoc.com

Do not miss Gerry Patterson'ssite if you will be in the Languedoc, or are considering the Languedoc. It is afabulous site, and I am not telling you that only because I have guest writtena tiny bit.

http://gerrypatt.wordpress.com

Mr. Patterson Goes toLanguedoc. Excellent site for Languedoc, companion to Cycling Languedoc, above.

http://www.etoile.fr/fr/velo.htm
Routes in the Cevennes

http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/

Resources, advice andstories.

www.laroutedescols.com/index.php

Information on the high passes ofthe Pyrenees. Interactive.

www.pedaldancer.com
Super site, especially for the posts on travelling in France and the Tour de France.

http://www.provence-cycling.co.uk/home/advice-and-good-practices/pro-bicycle-policy-in-vaucluse.aspx

Cycling routes and resources inProvence.

www.pyractif.com

I've used this site primarily fortheir well-organized descriptive material about Pyreneean cols, but havefrequently heard that it is a great organization.

www.trentobike.org

A wealth of trip reports fromall,over the world, and some articles also. Good for inspirations and ideas.Definitely aimed at touring, not racing.

http://veloencevennes.free.fr

Excellent resource for planning atrip in the Cevennes.

http://www.velopeloton.com/

Paddy Sweeney's cycling blog, fullof his photos and info on the Pyrenees. Be sure to look if you may be in thePyrenees.

www.velo64.com

Cycling routes in the Aquitaine.I noticed the signs occasionally along my route during my Pyrenees trip andthey were always on good riding roads. Found the site after I returned to theU.S.

www.zanibike.net/default.aspx

Italian site, fabulous forinformation on climbs world-wide.

http://za.franceguide.com/what-to-do/nature/Discover-France-by-Bike.html?NodeID=116&EditoID=59302

The cycling page of the official French government tourist office. It includes along list of web resources.

Guides & Visitor Information
www.bonjourlafrance.com/travel.htm

Basic geographicinformation...which departement, what region ... and other travel info.

http://www.francemonthly.com/

http://www.francethisway.com/

http://www.francetourism.com/practicalinfo/regions.htm

http://m.france-voyage.com/en/

Practical, basic info includingmaps showing tourist bureau locations bytown or city.

www.routard.com

French travel guide. Available in paper in bookstores and very handy.You may see their sign in lodging windows; I have had good luck at those establishments.

http://www.weezigo.com/

A web guide to sports and natureby region.

Language Schools

http://www.alliancefr.org/en/who-are-we

Worldwide, classes offered inmany cities. This is the Paris site.

http://www.groupement-fle.com

Many reputable language schoolscarry the FLE designation. Courses vary in length and intensity. They can oftenlink students up with inexpensive lodging.

Lodging

Chambres d'hotes (B&Bs)(includes gites)

www.chambresdhotesfrance.com/

www.chambres-hotes.org/

http://www.gites-de-france.com/

www.vrbo.com/

Camping, including gites andchambres d'hotes on farms

www.bienvenue-a-la-ferme.com/en/

www.campingfrance.com/

Hotels

www.logishotels.com/en.html/

www.venere.com/

Maps & Route Planning

http://www.omnimap.com/

I buy the yellow, 300-series mapsfrom them. They have been reliable and shipped quickly.

www.mapmyride.com

Helpful for distances and ageneral sense of climbs. I understand the mileage to be more accurate thanaltitude gains.

Google Earth

Don't forget it, a good freeresource. Street view can sometimes be helpful. It once showed me a busy road,no shoulder and a guard rail tight on the roadway. Didn't look like happyriding to me.

Miscellaneous

www.americansinfrance.net/Links

Park, Regional, Town and Departmental Sites
Don't forget to google the town's you will bevisiting to find tourist bureaus, museums, businesses, etc. They include a tremendous amount of useful information. If you can get around in French try google.fr.

www.ariege.com

www.aveyron.com

http://les.cevennes.free.fr/en/national-park.htm

Cevennes National Park site.

www.causses-cevennes.com

www.corbieresweb.com/

www.justtourfrance.com/town-guides.asp

www.lespyrenees.net/en/
Pyrenees National Park site.

www.lozere.com/

www.the-languedoc-page.com/
Dense to look at, but lots of info here.

http://www.laprovence.com/

http://www.parc-pyrenees.com/

www.tarn-web.com/french/frindex.php

www.tourisme-hautes-pyrenees.com/web/FR/1514-sejours.php?IDhomepage=1503

www.tourism-midi-pyrenees.co.uk/en/

Trains & Planes

www.raileurope.com

www.ter-sncf.com

Regional trains. Easy to use with bicycles.

www.voyages-sncf.com

French rail site.

Weather

http://france.meteofrance.com/france/accueil

Current weather and forecasts.

www.wunderground.com

If it is possible to generalizeabout weather based on historical data, they will give you the info. Go toweather history.

France and Touring Resources

2011-11-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Berkshire Cycling: Cummington Loop 2

2011-11-26T21:25:00.001-05:00

22 miles Moderate Paved Roads

Parking: Rt. 9 and Fairgrounds Rd., Cummington

Towns: Cummington, Plainfield, Hawley

Today provided more beautiful riding, enough perhaps to trick me into liking November in New England, usually a month of grey low skies, damp winds and chilly temperatures. But here was another 55 degree, sunny day. My friend Ellen and I rode north from the parking lot on Rt. 9. Last summer, Abby, Susan and I rode south from the same location. (See Cummington Loop 1) Put together, they would make a lovely, longer, figure-8 ride.

We crossed Rt. 9 and headed north to Plainfield, using Main Street to Plainfield Road, continuing past Gloyd Rd. (Just what is it that makes Gloyd such a funny-sounding word? As in, she gave him a real gloyd when he got back with lattes instead of espressos. Or, that was a real gloyd of a move on that descent, what were you thinking? Is it a noun or perhaps a verb ..... Look out, that rough road will gloyd you!)

Plainfield Road turned into South Central Road, and after crossing Rt. 116 it became North Central Road. This is a fine ride, offering some easy climbing on quiet, mostly well paved roads. Except when riding on Rt. 116 itself there were almost no cars, and the landscape often provided beautiful wide open views.Even 116 is not usually heavily trafficked.

The road curved around, becoming North Street as it went into Hawley. Soon we turned right onto Watson, with traces of snow left on the sides of the road. After a lovely descent, with great views, the road takes a sharp right turn where Bug Bear Swamp Road goes straight, and took us back to 116. Bug Bear Swamp Road: now that is a road requiring a ride, just to experience its name. We were looking for a turn onto Gloyd, but it is signed as Pleasant so we missed it. In a short bit we didn't turn onto Jones Avenue, which would also have connected. Who knew there would be an Avenue in Plainfield, more of a village than a town, much less a city. And I had a map. No harm was done, so having missed the turn we continued on 116 to South Central, turned left and retraced our steps.

We've remarked on these beautiful horses before, black with small white markings. Today they were joined by a handful of chickens.

The map promises more good riding in that area, between Route 9 and Route 2. Today's ride was terrific, the climbing was followed by fast enough downhills, often with panoramic views.

Pay attention if you ride it, some of the roads my map shows as dirt have been paved. There are several roads you can use to return to your car, but watch for them to turn south off Rt. 116.

Roads: Cross Rt. 9 north and follow Main Street to Plainfield Rd. Turn right onto Plainfield Road, crossing the bridge over the river. Plainfield Rd. becomes S. Central to 116. Cross 116 straight, where it becomes North Central. Right onto North Union, right onto North Street, right onto Watson, right onto Watson Spruce Corner to Rt. 116. Right onto 116, then left onto South Central. Click here for the route on Map My Ride , with map, cue sheet and climbing details.

Berkshire Cycling: Stockbridge Loop 1

2011-11-26T19:30:00.001-05:00

27 miles Moderate Paved Roads
Start: Berkshire Botanical Gardens, Route 102, Stockbridge
Towns: Stockbridge, Housatonic, Great Barrington, Alford, West Stockbridge

It's now about two weeks later than the date of my last outdoor ride in 2010, and that was later than in 2008 or 2009. Before that, who knows? This despite the scare thrown into New England cyclists by the Halloween weekend storm. Today is sunny, 50+ degrees, little wind; what more could a rider want towards the end of November? There was a skim of ice on the swamp when I left, but it warmed up quickly.

And there was other news, as good as the weather today. What does this tell you: shopping center parking lots full to overflowing, with merchants providing school buses to ferry people from distant overflow parking. Town centers crowded, with people on the sidewalks and no parking places available. Yes, it must be the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., so called black Friday. Everybody was shopping ... so, happy side effect, no one was on our rural roads ... they were emptier than I have ever seen them from a bicycle seat. I will scoff no more at my culture's love of shopping. Instead, I'll jump on the bike and be glad for open roadways.

I parked at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens. This is a fabulous garden, gardens really, in Stockbridge. If you're in that town during the short Berkshire growing season, don't miss it.

Riding south on Rt. 183, I passed both the Norman Rockwell Museum and Chesterwood, a National Trust Historic Site that was home and studio to sculptor Daniel Chester French, probably best known his work on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. It is more than a museum to his work, also hosting resident sculptors and an annual juried show of contemporary sculpture.

The road follows the Housatonic River, and passes through the eponymously named town, where many of the old factories are put to use as galleries, studios, and one very good bakery, Berkshire Mountain Bakery. Worth a stop for bread, including some with chocolate, but unhappily, no coffee.

Turning south on Rt. 7, my ride went through Great Barrington, then turned west on Taconic Street. The traffic in Great Barrington was bearable, because everyone was inside shopping, their cars still on the roadside.

This year's crop of winter berries is abundant, their bright red colors appearing in wet areas. I followed Taconic Street through Alford, using West Road to West Center, which ends back on Rt. 102, where I turned right into West Stockbridge, then continued on back to Stockbridge

Besides its historic downtown, Alford still has several working dairy farms, a happy fact in a town where development pressure must be intense, given its location in the southern Berkshires (read that: accessible to NYC, Tanglewood and Great Barrington.)

All in all, this made a very nice ride, thought not exactly what I set out to do, it was fun and I saw quite a few other cyclists on the road today.

Finally, a retraction. I've been wondering if there are any careful readers out there who noticed my writing a month or so ago of my plan to keep fit by going to the gym on the way home from work, and thought: huh, what's that, her? Is this the person we know? Well, there was at least one: my brother! So truth be told, no. I came to my senses, lost the illusion, and realized (happily before spending $300 that I will do much more fun things with) that there isn't a bat's chance in hell that I will stop, after work, tired, in the cold dark winter night, to work out in a gym. I don't like gyms. I like the outdoors, cycling, cross-country skiing. So this year, once I can't ride, it's back to the stationary set up. Though I'm thinking of purchasing studded snow tires for the bike, they certainly help the car get around in winter .... hmmmm. Black ice, anyone?

Roads: Rt. 183 south to Rt. 7. South to Taconic Street. West to West Road / West Center to Rt. 102. East to West Stockbridge, then Stockbridge. Click here to see the route, with map, cue sheet and climb details, on Map My Ride.

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 4

2011-11-17T13:15:00.001-05:00

Touring as Sport?

It was a good start to November. After October's first minimal snowstorm, then its second, 20+ inch snowstorm, the weather warmed up, and the snow melted almost completely. Last week I got in three good rides, including a 25-mile ride in the Connecticut River Valley, where I rode a few weeks ago, and a 50-mile ride in the Berkshires from Pittsfield to Great Barrington and back.

These two rides set me to musing again on the differences in the nature of experience between cycle touring and riding at home. What makes touring so alluring, compelling, seductive ... required even, for me. Part is the travel, the adventure. Part also, the "grass is greener" phenomena. Part probably related to goals. More about those things another time. I've written that a part of it is the physicality of riding a bike. But is that physicality any different on a local ride, say of 50 miles, and a touring ride of the same distance?

The blog Le Grimpeur recently got me to thinking about Roland Barthes, a French philosopher I am somewhat familiar with, but Le Grimpeur linked him to sport. Specifically to cycling. I've never associated Barthes with the philosophy of sport. This made me curious. That should not be surprising, Barthes being a French author, coupled with my interest in the relationships between touring, cycling, sport, culture, adventure ... I bought a copy of What Is Sport? and just now it offered a new insight.

It's a little book, and I'd been happily reading along, thinking that of course touring is athletic, and the physicality that I enjoy is athletic. But just because an activity is athletic, does that make it sport? Barthes first chapters got me to thinking that touring is not sport: racing is sport. Yes, I know people talk about "conquering" mountains, and conquering would be sport, like bullfighting. But I don't buy it, even as metaphor. Conquering by its nature means getting the better of, overwhelming, beating, subjugating. The mountain submits to none of these things. No one conquers a mountain: capable cyclists successfully ride up it, faster or slower, with more or less grace, as the case may be. The mountain goes on with no measurable change in its existence after a cyclist climbs it: it is not defeated. This in no way diminishes the experience of climbing mountains, on a bike or on foot. I love love love the experience of climbing mountains. It is a language issue, a part perhaps of a philosophical issue.

So, sport or not? But then I came across this. Barthes writes (in translation) of the Tour de France "...for that is the stake of the Tour: to hold out. To hold out against anger, against suffering. To hold out, which means to begin again." This quote could equally apply to self-supported touring. There are times when anger or suffering need to be ignored, held out against, and you just go on. Just push the pedals around, just keep paying attention to the experience. And it is in the nature of cycle touring that you begin, again, and again and again. The only time I became sad on my last trip was when, at the end I could not, the next day, begin again. It was time to get on a train and head home. Sad didn't originate in the coming home, this is a good place to live. It was caused by not beginning again the next day.

Perhaps there is an element of sport involved in my touring, that doesn't exist on my local rides, and which I miss when riding here, however seriously I ride, and however much I train. Sport may be one component that contributes to the difference in experience.

Anyway, my third ride last week finally provided a chance to ride with my friend Ellen. We rode about 35 miles, climbing the hills up into Windsor, then making a looping route back to town. The day was sunny, in the low 40s and blustery, especially windy high in Windsor and we had cold toes. It was a good and beautiful ride. For me, it was especially fun to ride with a friend ... the first time I've been able to since back home.

By the way, I've been tickled to learn that at least some riders have been using my site for planning trips to France: just what I hoped for. That's encouragement enough for me to put together a listing of the websites I've found helpful in the past. When I can get these organized by categories, I'll put it up.

Things to like about living here

2011-11-11T18:03:00.002-05:00

The oncoming car was stopped. Parked. Engine off. Sitting still in the road, watching the birds in front of it.

The turkeys weren't seeming stressed, or confused, or realizing that in two weeks time their species would be the prime main dish on most citizens' plates.

No one was hitting their horn and blasting by.

Of course, before too long, some car did rush by, honking, the birds panicked and flew, and the other driver and I continued on our ways. But we both looked pleased with the interlude.

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 3

2011-11-06T18:54:00.002-05:00

Land Use

This weekend brought three sunny days in a row, and it is a good start to November when I get on the bike every day. Though most of last weekend's snow has melted, when the sides of the road are white, it's chilly on a bike. There's a skim of ice on the swamp, which doesn't melt off until the afternoon sun has some time to do its work.

It is always warmer in the valleys, so Friday I drove to Pittsfield, parked in the giant and oh-so-American parking lot at the giant grocery store on Rt. 7 (where everything anyone actually needs is located in the perimeter aisle or two) and rode across Dan Fox Drive, then south on Swamp Road to West Stockbridge. I was hoping for lunch at Cafe Pomo d'Oro, but it was past tourist season, and Scott is only open on Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday, looking for somewhat warmer temperatures, I drove to the Connecticut River Valley with temperatures rising into the 50s. Parking on Damon Rd., I used the rail trail to cross the river, rode up Rt. 47 to Sunderland, crossed back west over the river on Rt. 116, and returned south on River Road. It makes a nice, very flat 26 miles, with not much bothersome traffic, although the road is busy, and cluttered with shopping malls on the west side at Northampton.

This is traditionally farmland. Sadly, most has been lost to housing. There remain some small vegetable farms, and tobacco, a profitable crop. You still see drying barns on the landscape. I know next to nothing about its history: one of the remaining large farms had a sign reading: established 1953. I wondered if 58 years makes an old farm here.

This time, more than my other trips, it has been a hard re-entry, from riding in southern France to riding at home again, and I'm not yet sure precisely why. Maybe a part of it is returning at the approach of winter, the time of year to put the bike away for months. But for whatever reason, I am constantly conscious of the cultural differences. The similarities and differences between the two countries fascinate me.

The landscape is beautiful here, also. Differently, though there seems so little open space between towns, we fill most every spot along the road with houses. And the more houses we have, the bigger we make the roads, and the more traffic they accommodate, the further away from jobs and towns go the houses, and the more houses (and so commuters) there are, the bigger we make the roads. One man I met in France, talking about suburban sprawl around Toulouse, said that France of course keeps space for farmland, it needs the food. He said, compared to the U.S, it is a small country, so there must be space for farms. Now, you need to know that Toulouse is a beautiful, cosmopolitan city, with major industry, the fourth largest city in France, and I was, by the efficient, affordable, train system, less than hour away ... still, commuting is just arriving there. Try to imagine that: outside the 4th biggest city in the US, an hour away by train, there is virtually no commuting, a distinct local culture, and a small city surrounded by productive farmland. It is almost unimaginable, in a place where there is barely a rural gap between Boston and Richmond.

Riding along, it is impossible not to notice that along these roads our culture leaves far more litter, thrown from car windows. I have no idea why we do this, or what we are thinking, when we do it ... probably we are not thinking. The roads here are also beautiful, though there always seems to be more traffic. The two things may be related. We are always driving somewhere, and always eating and drinking: coffee, chips, donuts, a soda in hand as we go ... and then thrown out the window into the landscape. Not to mention, based on the litter, how much boozing goes on in cars. It escapes me, but is perhaps because generally, culturally, we don't walk or cycle our roads, and experience them only as passageways that we speed insularly through. In any case there is a constant stream of litter roadside here.

Three days off work, all sunny, three rides. A fine weekend and an excellent beginning to November.

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home

2011-11-05T11:18:00.000-04:00

Solo cycling frequently provides time for my thoughts to wander. After my most recent solo tour in the Pyrenees, it's been a difficult re-entry to daily life, that is to daily life without cycle touring. Daily life definitely includes cycling, but not touring. Here are some disorganized musings about the nature of cycling, travel, sport, culture ...

Failed strategy 2

2011-10-30T11:58:00.004-04:00

My last post wondered about finding a good strategy for weather control, with the aim of continuing cycling. Cycling outside, on the roads.

Friday's snow didn't melt, there has been no outdoor riding for the past week.

As usual, hope proved a poor strategy indeed ... here are two photos of this morning's view.

I include the picnic table because it offers an easy way to see how deep the snow is. The picnic table, by the way, is under the rectangular pile of snow on the top of the table. Note where the benches are, and how close the top of the table is to snow level. This is what January, February usually look like here.

October 30th, still riding season? Or time, already, to plan next year's season, training, trips?

Even my cat doesn't want to go out, always a sign of winter weather.

Later in the day, I went out, 18-inch ruler in hand to take a photo to illustrate just how much snow there is here. Must have really thought my readers, especially the few in France, would be amused, to make it worth slogging through snow above my knees. The ruler wasn't long enough, so I added a twig to help show how far below the snow the 18-inch mark is. It is close to 20 inches of snow, I suppose. That's with no drifting.

Thirty-seven days ago I was on the Mediterranean with my bike.

Next?

2011-10-28T10:01:00.004-04:00

Here's a photo from my door, taken in dawn's light this morning ... about 3 inches of heavy wet snow, loading the trees and bending birches towards the ground. Covering the greenhouse, solar cells and garden beds.

I'm absolutely not ready to put my bike Papillon into the barn for the season. Not ready to give up cycling season for the nastiness between between it and ski season. Lacking an effective strategy to control the weather ... I suppose it's time to resort to hoping for a few more days of fine cycling skies.

And I'm also not ready to buy a bike with thick, 4-inch wide, gnarly snow tires, though they are now stocked in my bike shop. UA-27598358-1

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 2

2011-10-23T14:37:00.001-04:00

Why Cycling?

Every local ride is a little more delicious now, stolen from the encroaching winter season. This week I rode most every day after work (the semi-annual change in the clock will put an end to that all too soon) and got in one flat, fast ride on Friday.

Chores took me to Northampton, in the Connecticut River Valley, and I couldn't resist riding north along the river, crossing over the bridge to Sunderland, and returning south on the east side. Unfortunately, you can only really see the river from the two bridges. The landscape in between includes a few working farms hanging on amidst the ever-encroaching suburban housing that we call North America. The land itself is very fertile farmland, but the development pressure on it is intense.

I got to thinking again about the quality of cycling experiences. One contributing element is sport, the sheer, unadulterated, physical pleasure of it. The feeling of pushing and pulling those pedals around, and around. The challenge of the hill, the speed of the descent, the pace of rolling hills or long flat stretches. The varying experiences that different weather conditions create. This physical quality is enough to keep cycling fun, engaging, an important part of my world. Similar in many ways to the role of cross-country skiing.

Also though, an element of the best cycling experience is travel. The excitement found in exploring and experiencing a new landscape and culture. That irreplaceable sense of adventure, of change, of not knowing what the days will bring, of something-new-is-going-to-happen. Traveling by cycle offers the perfect pace to experience, to see, smell, touch, interact with the landscape and culture. It provides an excellent way to meet people. All that, while still including the physical experience.

Putting traveling and cycling together is a dangerously exciting combination in my world. Especially when the riding is really, truly, class-one, super-excellent, unquestionably great riding. And if that unbelievable riding is paired with and immersed in a brilliant, very old culture, rich with history, art and architecture, not to mention incredible food, it can become a kind of peak experience. Intense, and containing the possibility of changing the person experiencing it. Certainly not replicable, but perhaps an experience that can be built and expanded on. Therein lies more of the difference in the quality of riding in my home landscape and in France.

But back to today. I was riding along at a decent pace, musing about this kind of thing, probably getting slower and slower with reflection, when four cyclists passed me. Not so unusually, my competitive switch had been somehow left on, and I picked up my pace. Unusually though, I kept up with those riders, until it began to feel a bit rude since I wasn't sure the man in green knew I was behind him. Hello, I said, I usually ride alone and sometimes get lazy, where are you headed? Turned out he is from Spain, south and west of the Pyrenees, though lives in CT now, and the group had driven north to ride in the river valley. Some of his friends caught up, they slowed as their own conversation started, and I picked my pace up a bit more and finished out the ride.

Right now, I'm left remembering something one of the funniest, most ironic and facetious, of writers I've read said: "We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible." ---Oscar Wilde. Ironic as it is, I'll go for that!

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Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 1

2011-10-18T10:40:00.009-04:00

Expectations?

Perhaps I somehow think that if I don't post anything new, but instead keep my recent tour in the French Pyrenees right-up-front, first-thing-you-see, home-page-important, that my experiences in France will depart into the history of my personal world more slowly. Perhaps they will linger longer. Perhaps they will stay fresher in my memory. It is true that I don't want to let go of the trip, and that I am having a hard time letting go of it. Perhaps, though, what will happen is only that no one will continue to look at this site. So it's time to write again.

I have been riding here at home since I got back, on routes described and included in the Berkshire Rides section of this blog. And, yes, the Berkshires of western Massachusetts are a fantastic place to live, and to ride a bike. People move here from afar to live, to enjoy the quality of life, the landscape, the cultural events. They travel here from afar to visit. Bike touring companies bring groups of people to cycle here.

I know all this, and I try, hard even sometimes, and with attention, to see my home landscape with fresh eyes, to grab some of what I experience on a cycle in France and to experience it here. I wonder: where is the difference in the experience to be found, what is the essence of that difference, from what does it originate? Some of that difference is located simply in the fact of being elsewhere, of traveling itself, away from daily routines and habits, immersed in a different culture, a different history.

Some of the difference in cycling experience is in having a pretty good idea what to expect when riding in the landscape of home. Riding down Kirchner Road, last weekend, I was thinking about these differences in cycling experiences, specifically that here I know pretty much what to expect, what will come my way. There is state forest and a reservoir on both sides of this road, a road where there are no houses, no houses at all within a distance where someone would want ... a chair? A kitchen chair? A kitchen chair sitting on a rock above the reservoir, waiting for a sitter? To sit with her back to the reservoir, watching the road? Helped to remind me that I don't always know what to expect.

Some things, of course, are the same. Sometimes, though happily rarely, exactly the same. When I first noticed an eight-sided, red and white sign in France, indicating to drivers that they are expected to bring their car to a halt, I was flabbergasted, assuming that the very Anglo-Saxon sounding four-letter word S-T-O-P is not a word in French. But there it is, in the Larousse dictionary, approved by the Academie Francaise. Remains odd looking to me.

A fine thing about bicycle travel is that it happens at a speed that allows both close observation and measured contemplation, and these two things feed upon each other. I was thinking of these things, too, when I noticed these inky cap mushrooms at the side of the road. In France I occasionally saw walkers heading into the woods carrying rigid baskets designed, I think, for mushroom or nut gathering. These particular fungi are said to be edible, but don't look appealing to me.

I have promised myself to try to hold onto not just the insights I gained in my Atlantic to Mediterranean trip, but also to the fitness, which is not so easy with my work schedule and our ever-shortening days. So I've committed to a local gym and aerobic class. But after work today it was warm ...well, anyway it was over 40F, and sunny. My bike is still in the back of the car, so I jumped on and rode, rode hard, for an hour, instead of the gym. It was great riding, and what's more I saw two bluebirds on a wire, always a treat.

To paraphrase trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, cycling always washes away the dust of the day. The gym will wait for worse weather.

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Solo in the Pyrenees 2011

2011-10-03T21:45:00.000-04:00

Back to France, again cycling as a solo woman, this time in the Pyrenees and Corbières.

The bulleted items here are the individual posts in my Atlantic to Mediterranean trip, September 2011. Click anywhere you are interested to start. The next button at the bottom of the post will take you to the next section.

Pyrenees Tour: Lodging

2011-10-02T21:50:00.003-04:00

It turned out to be a good decision not to camp on this trip. I made this decision in order to carry less weight. The lighter I am, the easier climbing uphill is. Also, I suppose, less weight means less stress on the bike and more control on steep fast downhills, though that never was a problem in the Cévennes. I didn't anticipate how much, how very much, more enjoyable my days would be without any concern as to where I would stay at night, or wondering whether or not I would find a place for dinner. I was pleased to have a more fixed, structured itinerary, and scheduled lodging. It did slow me down (a good thing) and offer me more time to enjoy my surroundings. Only for a few of the days do I (with hindsight) wish I'd made a different plan and incorporated more miles.

Here are the places I stayed that I would go out of my way to visit again. They are located from west to east, as I discovered them on my route.

Auberge du Relais. http://www.auberge-du-relais.com/. Berenx. This Logis hotel was a find. My cycle was no problem, locked into a storage/workroom. My room was perfect for this cyclist and everyone there was welcoming and helpful. The restaurant featured deliciously prepared regional cuisine, both at dinner and breakfast. Take a look at the breakfast table.

Maison Carriquy. http://sites.google.com/site/lamaisoncarriquy/. Located in Barcus, this was a fabulous B&B, the room extremely comfortable, my hosts gracious, friendly and helpful, fun to spend time with. I would quickly stay there again, using it as a base to explore the Basque country and Pyreneean foothills, an area that I think deserved more time than I was able to give it. The chambres d'hôtes is in a farmhouse built in 1852 and beautifully renovated. The town's main restaurant (in walking distance) was absolutely delicious.

La Lantern Rouge http://www.lanternerougecycling.com/. Irish expats Paddy and Olive Sweeney run a wonderful cycling lodge in St. Savin. The area is a cycling paradise and this is the perfect place to stay.They are both always helpful and full of information, the rooms are more than comfortable, dinner and breakfast perfect for hungry riders, and the location can't be beat, with six Tour de France cols nearby. Check out Paddy's blog for loads of information and great photos of the Pyrenees.

Au Chat Ronfleur. http://www.bagneres-chambredhote.com/. If you are in or near Bagneres de Bigorre, this is a great place to stay. My room was large, the tub and shower great (a highlight for cyclists) and the owners terrific. Breakfast was delicious, and I lingered until late in the morning, visiting with them and another guest. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo.

La Souleillane. http://souleillane.free.fr/default.htm. St. Laurent de Neste. A fabulous, luxurious, chambres d'hôte that I lucked into, having been unable to make reservations where I expected in St. Bertrand de Comminges. I rode slightly out of my way to find it La Souleillane and was very glad that I did. It was a highlight of my trip, the family generous and engaging, offering real conversation and insight into their part of France and recommendations for local sites to visit. My room was large, extremely comfortable and with a fabulous bathroom.

Les Deux Velos. http://www.lesdeuxvelos.com/. Between Biert and Massat. Run by Dutch expats Elma and Mark, it is fabulous, and they are wonderful hosts. The cycling from here is amazing, and equally amazing is Elma's food. Dinner was absolutely delicious, as was the morning's breakfast. They pay attention to every detail that makes a cyclist's stay perfect ... and the shower in my room was classier than I have ever seen anywhere. I took Mark's advice to climb Port de Lers instead of Col de Port and couldn't have been happier about it.

Les Trois Graces. http://lestroisgraces.pagesperso-orange.fr/ Lagrasse. The restaurant was closed, so I didn't have a chance to eat there, but based on my excellent room and the good breakfast, I imagine it offers very good food. The B&B is located in a building probably built in the early 16th century, in the medieval village of Lagrasse, in the Corbieres. The town itself, with its abbaye, was fascinating to visit.

In retrospect after making this list, I see that I have included every châmbres d'hotes (B&B) that I stayed in, and only one hotel. It is true that they were my favorites, but here's an extra piece of advice. Many of the châmbres d'hotes do not have restaurants, which can be a disadvantage on a cycle, so plan ahead. I stayed also in many Logis hotels, which were always fine, sometimes quite nice, with the advantage of a restaurant. Plus, this could also make the overall price of lodging and meals lower, important and necessary to my budget. But they rarely offered the personal interaction or character that the places listed had. You can find them listed by town online at the Logis site. The one I have included here was unusually comfortable, with unusually good food.

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Pyrenees Tour: Roads and maps

2011-10-02T17:30:00.000-04:00

As I've written before, I rely on Michelin 300-series maps. For this trip I used maps 342, 343, and 344. I don't buy much over the internet except airplane tickets, but lacking a local source, I do buy these maps there, from Omni Maps. They have been reliable and ship quickly.

There are newer versions of these maps that incorporate more geological features, including contour lines, but for now I have stuck with what I am familiar with. They are thorough, showing virtually every road I passed. Their graphics system is very helpful: surfaces are indicated as paved, or not. Road size is indicated by the color and thickness of the line. Both color and thickness need to be taken into account to make a guess about traffic volume, and even then it is hard to know.

White roads are local, yellow regional, red national. As much as practical, I stayed on thin white roads. French roads can be busy, very fast, full of trucks, and without shoulders. With some planning, at least where I've ridden, those roads can be avoided. Occasionally I've used google earth to get a visual sense of the traffic. I keep the map folded to the day's ride, though sometimes this requires a stop to refold during the day. It does require a big map case, they are large and bulky maps.

The white roads were delightful to ride on. I generally found very little traffic, though I was several times warned about them by local residents, telling me that, yes, this is a small road, but it is busy, with traffic for the (school, store, etc.) that drives fast, it might not be safe. Nonetheless I loved riding on them. No shoulders, often no dividing lanes, sometimes no room for cars to pass each other without edging off the roads onto the grass. Some days I rode for hours without seeing a car. I will add quite a few miles to my day's ride to enjoy the pleasures of rural small roads and avoid the busier, more direct roads. Frequently I checked the map as I rode, adjusting my route to include a little road that I knew nothing about. I was never sorry for that.

I have found the road signs in rural France superb. Rarely in my riding there have I been at an intersection where the sign wasn't clear about direction. When I found an unmarked intersection, lacking other indications, I follow the more travelled route.

In my part of the world, roads with this little traffic would be dirt, or perhaps rough gravel. At home my local road is wider than many that I rode on in the Pyrenees and the surface much less smooth. I believe this is weather related: the winter takes a hard toll on New England roads. In the valleys of the Pyrenees there are rarely, if ever, extended periods of frozen ground. I understand that the high roads are resurfaced each spring, though don't know if that is accurate.

The maps also show tunnels, and grades. One chevron is a climb of 5-9 percent; two chevrons indicates a climb of 9-13 percent; three chevrons a climb of 13 percent or more. I avoided three-chevron climbs, though now I regret that. Without more detail, I couldn't judge the actual grade, or distance of the climb. (The Michelin maps with topographical detail would allow a more accurate understanding of the road ahead.) Since I know very well that 14, 15, 16 percent grades wear me out quickly, I just avoided them. With retrospect, and much to my chagrin, this is why I decided not to try Col d'Aubisque. Wish I had.

In photos, without good, clear reference points it is hard to show how steeply a road climbs. I have often thought, watching the Tour de France, that the cyclists faces and diminishing cadences show the steepness, not the road images on the screen.

Occasionally the roads got very small, looking very rarely travelled. If I wasn't sure it was the right road, I turned back. If not, I continued, and always ended up at my goal.

The hardest route-finding with these maps is through cities, where they can't show necessary detail. If I knew I would be passing through a city, I used my tablet and a mapping web site to establish my route.

Pyrenees Tour: The Mediterranean

2011-09-21T15:36:00.001-04:00

First thing this morning I rode to the train station, and bought a ticket to Toulouse. No problem for Papillon, the train is a bike-friendly TER. I might never go anywhere on a train in France except on a TER, they make it so easy. It is harder and more expensive to put a long distance together, I suppose, but the trains really are easier with cycles. All TER trains take cycles, all have a place to hang them.

After that I rode south on the Canal de Robine, headed for Gruissan Plage, a close and very nice sand beach on the Mediterranean, less than 10 miles from the city. The ride was along a cycle trail which followed the Canal de Robine. If you were to follow it north, you would reach the Canal du Midi. After leaving the pavement of the city, the cycle path surface got pretty rough, and I was glad to have Papillon's sturdy tires. As it was, a bolt on my rear rack rattled loose and I needed to replace it.

In the Pyrenees I often saw beautiful black horses, the Merens. And I remembered the famous white horses of the Camargue, though I don't know their breed. I wondered what I might find in the Aude, a region of the Languedoc between the Pyrenees and Camargue. Looks like some of each.

Soon after the horses, I passed a herd of black cattle, very similar to the ones in the Camargue. They must be accustomed to grazing in water, since they are often in salt marshes, more than ankle-deep.

Gruissan, the town itself, is located on a large salt-water lake, which the cycle path circles as it enters town. The views to the hills in the distance were lovely. If you look closely, you can see the Pyrenees to the southeast, somewhere between here and Perpignan.

On the way to the beach, I saw this sign and included the photo for my brother. All the world wants to be where he is.

The Mediterranean

The beach at Gruissan-Plage is fine, wide, sandy, with no pink high-rise apartments lining the coast. It wasn't crowded, and everyone here was having fun, playing, snoozing, swimming.

I spent the entire day here, enjoying the sea, doing nothing but relaxing and thinking about the amazing bike ride I have just completed.

And after a few hours, asked someone to take my photo, explaining why. So an amiable woman took my photo, and that done, I sat in the sun, waded in the water, took a walk on the beach, ate a good seafood lunch beachside, took a snooze, waded again, walked again, and .... called the trip finished.

Hard to leave the Mediterranean, but there it is. Atlantic to Mediterranean. Done, terminé, achevé, fini. Last post from this road. Thanks for sharing this very cool adventure with me!

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Pyrenees Tour: Narbonne

2011-09-20T15:52:00.000-04:00

For the first time, I've had a hard time getting started on writing this post from the road.

Left Lagrasse this morning, with an easy climb out of town under very welcome blue skies, in soggy, smelly shoes, still wet from the previous days' rain. The picture of the town from above also shows part of their municipal campground. It's great, and reliable, that so many French towns have campgrounds, and many that I've seen look much like this.

The landscape is drier, flatter ... and much windier, than that I rode through yesterday. I understand that it is pretty generally always windy. That didn't bother me early in the day, on the open roads with little traffic, but it was a pain in the afternoon on the busy roads approaching Narbonne, where I didn't want to be blown around at all ... not by the wind, not by the passing trucks.

But before Narbonne, I rode through a lot of grape fields, and a few prosperous-looking towns. I was interested to watch the grape fields being cultivated. One nearby town boasted a cooperative processing plant for wine, with overhead walkways and conduits.

There is something about the patina of so many of the architectural details, gates, walls, windows that is eye-catching to me. They seem to tell their own stories, of history and habitation.

I read in one of Gerry Patterson's postings that the artists in Oppidum le Vieux removed roofs from their houses to avoid taxes. I wonder if that explains some of the small rural buildings that I see which don't look too run down, but have no roofs.

As I said, it is windy, usually windy, and there are many installations of windmills along the ridgelines. You can see one in the distance in this photo. Sometimes you could see one group of windmills, sometimes you could see many groups.

On the way to Tarascon-sur-Ariege I had seen an installation of solar cells on a very very large (warehouse) sized roof. I don't know what the building was, it probably served an agricultural purpose, but I know the cells were providing electricity.There seems to be more attention paid to alternative energy in France than at home.

Stopped at the famous Abbaye of Fontfroide for several hours. It was beautiful, but more of a mix of styles and more commercial than I anticipated. Access is by scheduled tour, which always offers good points and bad. Lots more information and I was happy to be able to follow the French, but not so much time for lingering and reflecting.

Like so many of these old communities, it was badly decimated by the plague in the mid 14th century. It was at its strongest during the end of the 12th through the 13th century. There are abbayes, or remnants of them, everywhere, at least in southern France. They are interesting to me because they were so central to medieval life. They were essentially how society, towns, communities were organized, and controlled huge areas, in a very broad way sort of like small states unto themselves. There is something about our era that reminds me of that time, but I can't quite put my finger on what.

An American archaeologist, who had previously purchased another French Abbaye and created the Cloisters, in NYC, was going to buy the whole cloister of Fontfroide before WWI, but instead a French family bought it, and still owns it, making repairs and renovations to it.

After that, my riding was focused on getting into Narbonne. The road got progressively busier, with large trucks, and I had to decide which of two roads to ride into town. I have no idea which route would be better, but the one I chose was at least shorter, if somewhat hair-raising. I have no idea why big trucks think it is useful to honk when they are passing me. If they're going to honk,they might as well do it before overtaking a cyclist. As if they are so quiet that you might not know they exist. And for the first time today, I walked with Papillon for a bit, not wanting to ride the narrow space allotted over a busy bridge.

Now safe, snug and none the worse for it, I'm in the Hotel de France in Narbonne. Tomorrow I ride to the Mediterranean and will spend the day there. The hardest thing will probably be finding the start of the route, although I believe it starts on the Canal de Robine. I could be a good tourist and look at historic sites in Narbonne, but I am finished, full-up, can't absorb anything else, sated and done with museums, cathedrals, chateaus, and Roman ruins for a little bit. Well, at least for a day or so. Time to sit on a beach. And imagine ancient travelers.

I am not sated with cycling, though, and think this harder than usual to write because there is so little time left on the bike, and I already miss it.

NEXT

Pyrenees Tour: Lagrasse

2011-09-19T17:09:00.001-04:00

Arrived here in Lagrasse, a medieval city with a Roman history before it, at about 3:00, and haven't seen any rain since then. I have a very comfortable room in a lovely chambres d'hote named Les Trois Graces.

After a quick clean-up, I went out to investigate. The city is located in the Vallee d'Orbieu, and is lively, with what appears to be a sizeable tourist base, and also numerous galleries, crafts shops, a few antique stores and interesting small shops. It is on the list of 100 most beautiful villages in France, and appears to be home to a population of artists who relocated here. Although there is clearly a tourist based economy, it is not overwhelming and the town retains quite a lot of character.

Of course, I had to take a few photos for my cat, who is no doubt by now quite miffed with me.

The town is still dominated by the huge Abbaye Sainte Marie de Lagrasse. The abbaye was divided into two parts in 1796, and this division remains today.

As best I understand a part of this abbaye is being lived in and restored by a group of religious chanoines, who are not monks, but mostly priests, who, with academic and scholarly advice, are restoring and reinhabiting it.

The other section is also being restored, and is also a historic site, but today not in active religious use. Altogether, it felt, in a very good way, like being in some sort of archeological site.

The stone is a warm, reddish color, especially where it is cleaned up. You can see the color difference in the photos.

I had an extremely good dinner, with an appetizer of dried duck on a mound of mashed potatoes, fresh chevre and leeks, in crispy puff pastry, followed by a delicious bird of some kind, I didn't understand the words, but since it was today's specialty I ordered it anyway. It was fragrant, along with its rice, of herbs and spices, and ended with a perfectly poached pear in honey.

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Pyrenees Tour: To Lagrasse

2011-09-19T16:02:00.001-04:00

Just this morning, though it feels like perhaps three days ago, the weather forecast said there was more chance of rain than not ... 60% chance of rain and also 40% of sun, and silly me, I remembered the 40% part. It was sprinkling when I started, so off I went with rain pants and jacket on me, front and rear lights on Papillon. These lights are very helpful to have along.

Soon after I left town, signs of last year's TDF appeared on the road, all about Thomas, and I got this photo, had been hoping for one before I return, but hadn't stopped. I didn't realize that the TDF had followed this route. It was a bonus for me, after not having grabbed the photo in the high Pyrenees.

It continued raining, and raining, and raining but not hard, and I continued to remark on the changes in the landscape that yesterday had brought. Cypress trees have appeared, that I remember from Provence, palms have disappeared, there aren't so many flowers and instead vineyards are everywhere.

My route was to take me past St. Hilaire, where sparkling white wine was first discovered. The monks made a delicious wine (by chance) but didn't learn how to bottle and preserve it, and the honors went to champagne. Still, the Limoux area is now famous for this wine, and the abbey itself is said to be extraordinary. I was excited to visit it, and especially looking forwards to it on this wet day.

At the top of a rise I saw the sign, pointing to the left and followed it left, where it descended sharply, on a small road though not the smallest I'd been on. Within perhaps half a mile the road became quite untravelled, with no signs of traffic and grass growing in the middle of it. I decided it was time to turn back, it felt altogether too private.

Upon returning to the main road, I saw my error, continued straight, and reached St. Hilaire, with its abbey, located right in town.

By now it was pouring, really dropping sheets of rain, and blowing hard. If you look closely, you can get a sense of the rain by the runoff coming out of the drain in the photo. My shoes, gloves, helmet and rain gear were soaked, though I was mostly dry.

The cloister at the Abbey opened onto the road, well, not the road, but directly onto the public access, and I took my bike into the ancient cloister and locked it to a closed door. The staff was fine with that, and took great care to be certain that I understood enough French to comprehend the history and importance of the abbey.

The master of Cabestang created some of the sculpture, and the history of the abbaye is intertwined with that of St. Sernin, an extraordinary cathedral in Toulouse.

I stayed quite a while, soaking up the history and atmosphere of the abbey instead of soaking up the rain outside, getting warm, and re-energizing.

The rain continued, but eventually I zipped back up and started off. It was a great ride, gently uphill for a good distance, long but somehow almost unnoticeable. There was also almost no traffic, perhaps two cars over 10 miles or so.

The visibility was close to nothing, but I grabbed a few photos when the sky lightened. Lunch today was leftovers from lunch yesterday, eaten as I rode: the French version of fig newtons; totally overpackaged and so very convenient baby bel cheese; and chocolate. Keeps me going without slowing me down. Stopping when soaking wet in the rain for lunch inside does not feel like a workable option, either for me or the bistro that would have to deal (or not deal) with me.

I took a picture of the day's first marked col, at 489 meters. A col is a col, after all, and it felt like a sweet little thing, after he high steep cols of the Pyrenees.

More gentle uphill riding and then another col ... and then a long, long, gradual descent. Somehow the descents often feel longer than the climbs. I don't know what that is about. I suppose I had never really much descended after the first col.

It was fun, a good day, and I enjoyed it, but nothing like doing it on a dry road with some visibility would have been. Soon enough, I came out of the clouds, and the landscape changed again, becoming more like I expected of the Corbieres, rocky, dry, with scattered vegetation.

The sky cleared on the east side of the ridge, and I saw my fist-ever fields of ripe grapes.

Soon after that I arrived at Lagrasse, a medival town near Narbonne.

This was a super ride, I'd like ro repeat it in sunny, or at least clear, weather.

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Pyrenees Tour: To Limoux

2011-09-18T13:18:00.001-04:00

Foix was wet, and much chillier today than it has been. The forecast this morning told me it was in the low 50s, and that it would rain all day. So I dressed in layers, with a wool base, and hoped that my rain gear would be sufficient to keep me dry. I have a lot of confidence in my panniers. Not so with my rain gear, especially the jacket. I later learned that the rain I rode in was snow in the high Pyrenees.

As I loaded up my panniers in the hotel garage, another cyclist appeared. He turned out to be Russian, though now lives with his family, including grandchildren, on the Mediterranean here in France. He was headed to Toulouse, and said he's made 9 cycling trips to the U.S., including LA to San Francisco, and the Skyline Trail in the Blue Ridge. I noticed that we had very different approaches to the rain, me in layers including rainpants and jacket, he in shorts, cycle shirt and rain jacket. I hate to be cold, once found a hiker with hyperthermia, and like my layers.

It did rain the entire 45 miles to Limoux, sometimes a drizzle and sometimes in windy sheets of heavy rain, with enough wind gusts to push me and Papillon around a bit.

I imagine that had I been able to see more of the countryside, the ride would have been lovely. It had extensive flat stretches, two easily managed climbs to marked cols on my map, good long downhill runs and very little traffic. Actually the riding was very fine, the roads small, well surfaced mostly, and provided enough climbing and descending to keep it interesting. But I am a cautious solo cyclist, and rode slowly on the wet surfaces. In dry conditions I would have had more fun with the long, curving downhills. I was glad for my sturdy bike and its touring tires, but even so, I didn't fly today!

Unfortunately, I could rarely see very far in the mist. Took only a very few photos, when the sky was a little lighter. The terrain reminded me a bit of hilly areas of Vermont. I've had some very good pumpkin soup since I've been here, so enjoyed the garden with pink cosmos and orange pumpkins in the background.

As I descended into Limoux the landscape suddenly and dramatically opened up, becoming flatter, with fields of grapes, something I never saw in the Pyrenees. I don't remember ever seeing a landscape change so suddenly. There must be some strong micro-climate influences on this edge of the ridge. It was pines, oaks, heavily forested, with open fields and cows grazing, then suddenly the landscape opened, and the horizon, to fields of grapes. Still raining, though.

Happily, except for feet, head and hands, I did stay dry. I could pour water out of my shoes, though, and my rain gear deposited a large puddle on the floor in the hotel. When I first arrived in my hotel room and took my shoes off, I was very startled to find the floor so very warm. I wondered the kind of tired, wet things one wonders: surely this floor isn't heated ... surely, there isn't a fire downstairs. Then I realized that my feet were so cold that room-temperature floor felt warm. Next trip I will bring along a pair of wool cycling socks.

The Ortlieb panniers kept everything in them bone dry, particularly important with this tablet in them. The tablet is great to have along. Not only does it let me keep in touch, which has turned out to be quite important to me, but it provides me with maps of towns, so I can more easily find my hotel, restaurants, tourist bureaus, or just the route through town.

Rain is forecast again tomorrow, hope my gear dries out overnight. Actually, I don't have much hope for the shoes.

I think I've realized that one of the things that helps to keep smaller hotel prices lower here is that they are not staffed all the time. Arrived to find a phone number on the door, called, and the owner came right over to let me in. After a couple hours drying out, rinsing clothes, checking email, I went out for a walk, and found the sun had appeared. What a nice surprise! My window opens out close to the back of the church, so there's not much sky to be seen from it.

Tomorrow I head to Lagrasse, a short ride.

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Pyrenees Tour: Foix and its castle

2011-09-17T15:49:00.001-04:00

I suppose every trip of any length will have its flat days, and this was one. Hmmm, this is a cycling blog, that could be confusing. I don't mean flat as in a lack of hills, I mean it as in less than exciting, thrilling, engaging, demanding. Beige ... flat. You get it.

Tarascon-sur-Ariege has, I'm sure, many fine things about it, but I was there only as a place to stop to visit the Niaux Caves. On my original route (which I altered to get to ride yesterday's fabulous climb of Port de Lers) it was the closest town to the caves that promised a hotel and a place to eat. For me, Tarascon itself wasn't engaging enough for even a few hours.

Today, I awoke to drizzle, low clouds and a forecast of thunderstorms, and made the regretful decision to skip the ride back a few miles into the mountains for my 1:30 p.m. tour of the Niaux caves. Crowds are strictly limited and you must book in advance. I didn't care for the idea of starting my short (only 15-mile) ride from Niaux to Foix, on fairly busy roads, late in the day, in storms and thunderstorms. At some point it doesn't matter if the ride is 15 or 35 miles, thunderstorms and traffic and bikes are not a happy mix. And I definitely wasn't going to spend a second night in Tarascon-sur-Ariege.

So, I arrived in Foix early, with more than enough time to visit its very famous castle, its cathedral and explore its medieval central village. Just outside the castle was a large fig tree that provided a handfull of ripe fruit that the birds had left for us humans.

After that, a shower, some dinner and get ready for tomorrow. Not enough riding to make me happy. Not the art and art history that I had been hoping for. Flat, beige.

But, I'm safe, secure, dry and inside, all good and well-appreciated things. Without what would have been a white knuckle stressful ride on wet roads with traffic speeding by. The last photo is at the end of the day, with a view of what I avoided.

Heading to Limoux tomorrow, through the Corbieres. I don't have any idea what to expect, but already miss those big mountains that I was in ... just yesterday.

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Pyrenees Tour: Port de Lers

2011-09-16T11:36:00.002-04:00

Last night's cycle lodge, Les Deux Velos, in Biert was terrific. Elma and Marc were great hosts, who know how to take good care of cyclists. Their gardens are fabulous, and so was dinner ... and breakfast. Elma includes many vegetables from her garden in meals. What's more, she made up a lunch for me without my asking! Here's a picture of her with their very tall zinnias. And a picture of me getting underway.

After consulting with them, I changed my route from Biert to Tarascon-sur-Ariege, where I have a reservation tomorrow to visit the caves at nearby Niaux, with their famous prehistoric paintings. I was going to cross over Col de Port, but instead decided to climb Port de Lers, a longer ride, harder climb and higher pass, that is located south of Col de Port.

This pass is also frequently ridden on the Tour de France. The change in route was a good decision. It is likely my last day in the high Pyrenees and I wanted to make the most of it.

There was almost no traffic, and the road, as anticipated, went up, and up, and up. Papillon and I went up along with it. We've got this down: I push the pedals around, she carries us uphill.

It was never overwhelmingly difficult, and not as challenging as Col du Soulor. It is on average less steep, I was earlier in the day and it was much less hot. The sun is strong at this altitude, especially above treeline.

My route took me past a beautiful small alpine lake, obviously popular with fishermen and other visitors.

Don't get me wrong, it was a good challenge, and hard enough for me, hard enough to work at, and hard enough to enjoy. There is always a good reason for a quick break, and taking photos is one of the best reasons. The flowers are lovely and I stopped for this patch.

Some of these photos might give any cyclists reading a sense of the climbs, the famous French switchbacks and the steepness of the mountains here. I always enjoy the narrow, steep roads where the roofs of the houses are below road level. It is very hard to get a photo that gives a real sense of the road, but if you look carefully at some of these, you'll see the switchbacks working their way up.

The road was often quite narrow, especially I thought, on the descent. But I find the differences hard to judge. The descent seemed far steeper than the ascent, but the statistics on the signs told me they were very similar. The road seemed narrower, but I might not have noticed going slowly up.

Getting close to the summit, names were still legible from the last TDF. I was totally pleased to see a lot of Thomas and Voeckler, and also saw Cadel for the first time.

But I got a particular kick of seeing this name, shared by my husband, who I am sure is very happy not to be climbing up this mountain with me.

I stayed at the summit for about an hour, and only one other cyclist arrived, who looked at the summit sign, turned around and rode right back down, probably out on a training ride. It must be more of a big deal for those of us who don't live in the area.

Hiking trails went off in both directions, but I didn't walk them, preferring to sit and eat my lunch in the sun, watching other people arrive and depart.

The ride down was fast, gorgeous, and never exposed. The roads seemed smaller, and I passed several cyclists on their way up.

When I stopped at this falls a couple taking photographs offered, without being asked, to take my picture so that I would have a souvenir.

Getting close to Tarascon I rode under this ruined castle; I know nothing about it. And this route took me past the Niaux caves. I've looked at photos of prehistoric cave paintings in art history texts, fascinated, for years and would love to see originals; I thought it would prove a highpoint of this section of my ride. But the forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms and I don't relish the idea of climbing in the rain, then returning in thunderstorms on a busy road. Perhaps I'll feel differently tomorrow. Just in case, I checked at the tourist bureau and there is no bus or shuttlebus that goes there, and no car rental in town.

It has started raining now, with lightning and thunder, after a beautiful blue day. Tomorrow will show what the weather will bring.

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Pyrenees Tour: Biert and Massat

2011-09-15T16:05:00.001-04:00

OK, no art history, cathedrals or architecture today.

Today's ride was short, just to Biert, where I'm staying at Les Deux Velos, a cycling lodge and chambres d'hote owned by a Dutch expat couple who have been here for three years. It has been a cycling lodge much longer, and the Tour de France sometimes passes immediately in front of the house (on the road pictured here, in the photo from my balcony.) The photos and signed jerseys on the walls are very cool to have a look at.

The ride followed the river gently up the valley, close to where tomorrow's climbing will begin. There were several trout fishermen, and spots in the river I think designed for fish steps, as in the photo.

Spent the afternoon riding around unloaded, ate a delicious lunch, without almost any ham ... have I mentioned the ham? Well I do like ham, especially dried ham, the prosciutto type. But after 15 days of hardly a meal without it, either plain, fresh, roasted, dried, dried country, bacon etc., I can't forget my friend Ed's song, with the refrain, "please, no more Rembrandt's today." Substitute in jambon (French for ham) and you know what I sing before meals.

I took a few photos of water sources in town. Some in use, some not.

After the very delicious lunch, with no ham (ok, a little piece of excellent bacon on the top of a vegetable dish) I went or an easy ride around the towns in the valley here.

With a left turn, the main road turned into this road

I love French round-abouts, especially this one

And the road became this

Spent a profitable hour or more wading in the river,

Before passing this bat cave,

Then these thirsty horses. They are a Pyreneean breed named Merens.

Before returning to the lodge.

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Pyrenees Tour: St. Lizier

2011-09-14T17:21:00.001-04:00

I'm now in the Ariege, slowly working my way to the Mediterranean.

The medieval city of St. Lizier was the perfect place for me this afternoon. Lunch (late) was on the terrace of a creperie across the place (square, but it wasn't so I'll stick to the French term) from the Cathedral of St. Lizier, another on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites.

The cathedral was awesome, in the less-than-hip sense of that word. Its cloister was small, beautiful and with a second story porch, which was closed to the public. The building itself makes a kind of arching curve, clearly visible from the inside. Typical of medieval churches, other buildings ran right up next to it and I couldn't get far enough away for a good photo.

The interior of the cathedral was dark, with lights that could be illuminated for short periods. It made me imagine the interiors of these old cathedrals before electricity, in candlelight. The frescos are from the11th century. I don't know the date of the polychromed wooden sculpture, but she is hollow. From the back chisel marks remain visible in the wood. This was another of the stops on the Route de Compostellae, this route coming from Narbonne.

The city has another Cathedral, and a palace of bishops, which now houses a museum rich with Roman and Merovingian objects from the area. There were architectural elements, but also jewelry, tools, and coins. A fair-sized section of the original, Roman (not medieval) wall remains, included in a photo here.

The frescos on the ceiling of the other Cathedral, La Cathedrale Notre-Dame de la Sede is covered with frescos of the 12 sibylles of antiquity and the 12 sons of Job. They date from the 15th century.

The gentleman who checked me into the hotel was also waiting tables at lunchtime service, and very busy. But he took the time to tell me where I could bring my bike in and lock it, later gave me the internet codes. When I returned late in the day, he asked about my trip, we got to talking cycling, and he gave me the name of this site. You can find it by googling salite. It is http://www.zanibike.net, and anyone interested in climbing on a bike should look at. An Italian site, cols all over the world are included, along with stats about distance, altitude gain and grade. I am sure he has done a lot of riding, and suspected him of winning the Tour de France long long ago, but he laughed and denied it.

The last photo is the view from my hotel balcony at the Hotel de la Tour.

Dinner was delicious, and leisurely and I am now full and tired. Tomorrow I head to Biert, at the base of Col de Port.

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Pyrenees Tour: To St. Lizier

2011-09-14T16:34:00.001-04:00

The days can be so full, with so many new experiences, that sometimes a day feels like many days. Today I left early enough, in the rain. Happily, the Ortlieb panniers are really waterproof and everything in them stayed bone dry, including this tablet, which does not come with a washable label.

As for me, I was watching the road, and the world, through wet and sometimes foggy glasses, so the camera saw more clearly than I did. Lack of distant views made me switch back to details for today's post, which I will split into two, the ride and the town.

I noticed yesterday that along with the hot sun comes a clear deep blue sky and dry atmosphere, something we never see at home. The stone buildings and green hills stand out beautifully in the light. Today all was diffuse and fuzzy until the sky started to lift about 10:30.

The 35 miles went by quickly, with no difficult parts. I am glad because I don't relish the idea of serious climbing or fast descents in the rain. While riding in the rain, in whatever terrain, it is easy for me to follow my nose, without looking around enough, and end up in the wrong place, so today I stopped at many crossroads to check the map.

By 1:00 I was checked into my hotel, by 2:00 cleaned up and back outside exploring. While riding I had daydreamed of the big towns in Provence with their cafes, museums and livelier scenes. When I first arrived, I thought St. Lizier was going to be another small village that a friend described as "The only thing to do in those little villages is look at their church." I was wrong, and happy for that.

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Pyrenees Tour: Roman Ruins, a Cathedral and a Basilica

2011-09-14T12:37:00.002-04:00

I got a decently early start today for what was planned to be a day of minimal cycling and maximum tourist-spot visiting. I had hoped that my first stop would be the Grotte de Gargas, famous for the prehistoric paintings, actually outlinings, of hands on the cave walls, many of which are missing fingers. Everyone I have met who has been there says it is very emotionally moving. Several people have warned me that it is closed often, even when the publicity says it will be open, and I've tried to call during the past two days but only received a recording. I arrived at 9:00 to learn that they don't open until 10:30, and decided not to wait, since I had little realistic hope of a spot on an early morning tour.

On to St. Bertrand de Comminges, with its famous cathedral, standing high on the hill above the plateau surrounding it. The Cathedral is a mix of styles, without feeling to me like a hodge-podge. It has Romanesque and Gothic elements together, and a cloister unusual in that one side is open to the hills on which it is built. Last night at dinner, my host said that he doesn't think the Cistercian Abbayes are beautiful. In looking at this cathedral with that in mind, I have to agree in many ways. The Cistercians built powerful, simple, symmetrical structures, beautiful perhaps in their simple perfection, but there must be a better, more precise, word. This cathedral, however, was simply beautiful. The Renaissance woodwork of the 60 stalls is extraordinarily detailed in its carving, said to be some of the most exquisite in France.These stalls createe an enclosed, private space for religious authorities to chant the canon, away from the hubbub of the congregation and many visiting pilgrims.

Neither of the two hotels in St. Bertrand de Comminges is really open. The restaurant in one is closed, I suppose for the season, so the sole, overworked, woman there won't rent a room to anyone without a car. The other hotel, which has a restaurant, is sometimes open, sometimes not, unpredictably and day by day. In any case, today although their door said open, they were closed. All this left me with no desire to stay in St. Bertrand de Comminges.

I rode down the hill to Valcabrere, with its Roman ruins and Basilica. The ruins were too ruined to be particularly compelling to me, but the basilica was fascinating.

The basilica was built in part using ... is the word recycled or looted ... stone from older, Roman buildings. The structure itself dates from the early 11th century. Its walls include items such as Roman masks and parts of sarcogaphi and Roman columns. The area apparently withstood the Celtic invasion without too much damage, and was an important commercial center starting in Roman times. It sits next to the Garonne River, which continues to Toulouse and now appears to have a mixed farming and tourist economy.

I decided to ride on, at least to nearby Barbazon. No one answered the phone at the two establishments there that I called, and I thought of continuing to St. Gaudens, a city, where there would surely be lodging and dinner, but where I will probably get lost if the tourist bureau isn't immediately visible. At 3:30, it's too early to stop and I feel like riding. But the sun is very, very hot now, in mid-afternoon, I suspect it is something over 90. When I saw a Logis Hostellerie I decided to stop. It was closed until 4:30, but with a minimum of grumbling the proprietor offered me a room a bit before 4:00.

Tomorrow I head early to St. Lizier and hope to both get some miles in and get off the bike before it is too hot. Then back up into the Pyrenees for one more col and look-around, before heading for the Mediterranean coast.

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Pyrenees Tour: An Abbaye and a Gouffre

2011-09-14T12:15:00.004-04:00

Last night's chambres d'hote, The Cat who Snores, was delightful, with a very enjoyable breakfast. The house is a city house, built before l820, and terraced up the hillside. The garden was above the house, up a long set of exterior steps that the owners built. The town, Bagneres de Bigorre was pretty well destroyed by an earthquake in 1660.

Another guest was from Montpellier, and breakfast was leisurely, with lots of animated conversation about language, governments and the state of the world.....hmmmmmm.....

So I left later than usual and took the road to visit L'Abbaye de l'Escaladieu, a 12th century Cistercian Monastery. This road had a fantastic, very long and sometimes somewhat steep downhill that I didn't expect. Guess I only notice the chevrons when they indicate climbs, because when I checked, there they were on the map.It was a delightful ride down to the valley with the Abbaye. The Abbaye was another of the many pilgrimate stops on the way to Santiago de Compostela. It was inhabited by monks until 1830, a more recent date than many others I visited.

The Cistercians were strict, their architecture simple and symmetrical. I don't know if the earthquake damaged it, for my untrained eye is difficult to tell what is original, what reconstructed. The photo of the three small nooks in the exterior is a photo of the "library" where their books were stored. Unfortunately, I arrived only an hour before the lunchtime closing, so didn't spend as long as I might have. The stained glass work was simple but beautiful. I find Cistercian Abbayes lovely, and quite beautiful, but was to learn that not everyone does. Perhaps another word would be more appropriate.

The small three-vaulted enclosure in the photo was in the cloisters, and was the library! The precious books were stored in this spot, safe, dry and conveniently located for the monks who needed them.

Couldn't find a place for lunch, so I ate some leftover cheese and chocolate and continued on to Le Gouffre d'Esparros. I don't know the translation, but the difference between a gouffre and a cave is that you enter a gouffre from the top, and a cave from the side. I raced to get there before 2:00, to join the tour at that hour, and arrived breathless after the gradual climb from town. I arrived just after 2:00, and the group had already departed, but that tour had been full anyway, so I purchased a ticket for 3:30. A large tour bus arrived at about 2:15; there was a tour at 3:00 that was for that bus group only.

While I was waiting, one of them joined me on the bench where I sat and started a conversation, then another and another, so I had the chance to visit. They were mostly residents of northern France, all retired. They were very friendly, and gave me one of the places with them, at 3:00, so that I wouldn't have to wait longer.

Pictures were not permitted in the gouffre, so I can't include images, but it was extraordinarily beautiful, all kinds of crystal formations, many extremely delicate. Unlike yesterday, this one didn't feel creepy-wierd. The water that makes the stalactites and stalagmites is rainwater, though there was once a river. It is extremely clear when you see it in pools. Or perhaps they are underground ponds? Never expected to visit so many caves, but hopefully there will be two more, these with prehistoric paintings on the walls.

Today's pass was not a high one, but it felt difficult enough, and I knew why. It is hot and I missed lunch. I always turn into some sort of jelly or something like that when I don't eat enough. The roads wind up, down and around, beautiful riding. Some of the photos are included to give a a sense of the size of the roads to any other cyclists reading.

After that I came to St. Laurent de Neste, where I am staying at La Souleillane, a 3-star chambres d'hote in town. I was invited to join the family for dinner, and am very grateful, since there isn't a restaurant nearby and it gave me an opportunity to share a meal with a family here. The two boys are about 10 and 14, if I remember correctly. Dinner was delicious, and very welcome, soup, quenelles, salad, and local cheese. It was very fun, a special treat for me, and one of those impossible to plan things that sometimes happen. My room was huge, large enough for a couple with a child, beautiful, very comfortable (the two do not always go together but they do here) and with a large bath.

Not sure quite what tomorrow will bring, but I'll head to St. Bertrand de Comminges.

Pyrenees Tour: St. Savin to Bagneres de Bigorre

2011-09-11T16:22:00.001-04:00

After breakfast with Olive, baby Sean, and two Irish cyclists (Paddy wasn't around, he's about off to lead a group on a 6-day crossing of the high Pyrenees cols,) my ride today brought me from St. Savin to Bagneres-de-Bigorre. Anybody out there noticed the string of towns beginning with B? Bayonne, Biarritz, Berenx, Barcus, Bielle (then St. Savin.) Now Bagnere-de-Bigorre, more to come.

It was a lovely ride, up, down and around the hills, past rushing water. Some of the rivers sported fly fishermen. I've learned that there are loads of trout in the rivers, that the salmon are only here during spawning season, and that they must be released if caught. Also, today was the start of wild boar hunting season. The noises reminded me a bit of deer season at home, but also of Pagnol's books set in Provence.

Arrived in Bagneres de Bigorre at lunchtime, and since the only thing to do in France at lunchtime is to eat lunch, that's what I did. How inventive. And I think I may have gained another cultural insight. Several people, maybe even many people, here have told me that they find the U.S. less stressed, less competitive, less uptight than France. And they are comparing France, Toulouse specifically, or the Cevennes, or the Pyrenees, not Paris, to NYC. What's that about? I've never understood it. But here's my possible insight.

Seeing a crowded cafeteria-style bistro for lunch, I chose it, locked my bike and went in to get a tray. Next to me in line were two cyclists, somewhere around my age, man and woman. Not a bonjour. They were a part of a group of six at the table near me outside, who also didn't utter the routine bonjour. You can bet that if a solo cyclist sat down near a group of cyclists at home in the Berkshires conversation would be opened. I think the difference may rest with where the conversation needs to start. In the US, at least in New England, it would start with someone in the larger group. Here, if it is going to happen, I think it needs to begin with the solo cyclist.Or maybe they just didn't want to interrupt their day.

This may be what is understood as less stressed, or more relaxed, and maybe it is, in a way different than I usually understand it. But maybe it has to do with social distance and interaction.

I say that partly because after lunch, I realized that I was near the 2-Michelin-star Grottes de Medous and decided to give it a look. Arriving at 2:00, just as it reopened after lunch, I was told that there was a minimum of 6 people needed for a tour. So I waited, along with another woman, then another joined, then some more. We had a group. I opened the conversation with one of the first few there, discovered that she was from Normandy, and when we got in line asked her to go first, since my French is inadequate to understand all that the guide would have to say in the way of directions. After that we chatted on and off throughout the afternoon. Cultural difference, I think. Or maybe those cyclists hardly ever get to ride and see each other, and didn't feel like breaking up their day.
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By the way, that was the first big cave I've ever been in, full of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, huge chambers, an underground river, wierd formations....it was wild, and in many ways creepier, if that is the word, than the Catacombs in Paris.It included a short boat ride, that felt tippy, but was no doubt very safe.

It is now a very controlled and protected environment, some of which is closed to the public. Pictures were forbidden, but I'm sure there are some online.

And after all, including a shower, a walk and dinner, Bagneres-de-Bigorre seems a very pleasant town to spend the evening in.

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