Gerry Patterson Interview, part 2

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 up racing?

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

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

Has that been a hard switch from touring?

Yes, it was, but just because I was suddenly working a lot harder on the bike. I learned I had a big ring on the front, for example! I encountered new words like ‘intervals’, ‘sprints’ and the ever-popular ‘fartleks’. I still enjoyed my rides, I suppose, but I was not going out for enjoyment anymore. My goals had changed. Now I was clipping in to suffer, so I would suffer less (theoretically) in the Etape, when it came in July. It’s a big change, but it’s still the bicycle.

I want to get some understanding of this suffering thing on a cycle. It seems central to the racing ethic, I see the word used all over the bike blog world. Years ago a dear friend told me that I was "the only person he knew who likes to walk up incredibly steep hills for days in a row, carrying heavy objects, in the rain." (I used to do a lot of backpacking.) Somehow, that seems related, though I have never thought of it, or bike touring, as suffering.

I’m no expert on racing, so I can only 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 old favorite of mine.) There were definitely hard treks, like a few I did in the Himalaya, and surely hard climbs when touring, but you always have the luxury of 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, now increase your heart rate by 20 to 40 beats per minute and sustain that effort for an hour and 45 minutes. That’s what climbing Mont Ventoux is like. Now, do that 3 times in one day and you get a big stage like the Etape du Tour. It’s probably similar to a triathlon like the Ironman, but I can’t say since I’ve never done one. And being in better shape doesn’t help either because, as Greg Lemond 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, of the community of racing ... a part of the camaraderie, the ethos, among peers?

Good question, and probably one that I 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 French riders, for example, is that they don't flaunt their suffering, but take it as just another part of their sport. Again, that's just my view today - it could very well change tomorrow. …There’s no denying that the ability to endure sustained pain is an integral part of the sport. It is what it is, you might say. 

  

Racing and touring seem like pretty different things, different skills, different mindsets. Could you talk a bit comparing your experiences?

Scenery Unseen in the Race

 Touring for me was always about travel and exploration. I still think that it’s by far the best way to see the world. 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 your campsite by dinnertime.) Racing is the opposite. You aren’t really going anywhere (literally, if you are on an indoor trainer,) or at least that’s not your purpose. You are riding to train and you train to get stronger and you get stronger to do better in races. The lovely scenery and freedom you feel on the open road (you can’t take that away) are bi-products. It’s an interesting transformation and I still shake my head sometimes that I am actually doing it…and even enjoying it!

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

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

Has racing ruled out touring?

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

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

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

Why the word should? I spent part of last spring saying I should ride with a group ... because I thought it would make me a stronger rider, and it probably would, but I never did. But what is the  should in riding with French cyclists?

Simply because it replicates racing like no other type of training, which helps with things like learning how to ride close to others, riding in a paceline, closing a gap, etc. Someone else usually controls the pace, too, so you inevitably have surges, sustained hard efforts, relaxed spinning, all started by someone other than yourself, but which you need to ready for and, more importantly, able to follow. If you’re not doing races, I don’t see the need for riding with a club, other than the social 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 about cycling in France?

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

Absolutely, and I wondered for quite 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 Cycling Languedoc. Why did you separate them into two distinct sites?

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

And the third site?

The Bicycle: Riding to a Saner Future was an idea that hasn’t found its time yet, I think. It is supposed to be a place for longer, more in-depth articles that would be (or should be) more objective and wide ranging. I’m still trying to find my feet with that one.

Want a guide for Ventoux?

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

In a word – no frills. OK, that was two words, but it’ll have to do. Right now I’d just like to offer the opportunity for anyone visiting the area (Montpellier or Nîmes) to get out for a few ho hours and ride the beautiful countryside we have here. I wasn’t sure if 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 are interested.

This year I’ll also be branching out a little and am hooking up with at least one B&B to do guided rides from their place. This should be fun and will have some of the components of a tour without the logistics.

Also, I’ve done one proper ‘tour’, I suppose, since it involved a big van, food and support, but it was really only one (long) day. I had a group of riders from the US and UK who wanted to climb Mont Ventoux together and the day was a great success, I thought. I’d be really interested in doing this sort of thing again because I find myself with a good amount of knowledge on that particular mountain all of a sudden and there is a massive market, I’m sure of that. It’s really the climb of a lifetime for many cyclists. 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, but let's let it go for now. Happy cycling in sunny southern France, and do break training enough for a bit of wine (or I guess that's beer,) unpasteurized cheese and good bread for those of us in unforgiving winter lands!

Interview with Gerry Patterson

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 Highway.

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