Day 8

Saturday, May 6
Charost to Montmarault
121km

First, a correction.  Harold is not 86 but rather 78...my mistake.

Also, I forgot to mention yesterday that Ian, one of the tour guides, replaced my front brake pads for me as they were wearing a bit thin.  He picked up some French brake pads the previous day.  I joked with him that french brakes wouldn't work between noon and 2pm. (When all the french stores are closed).  I also could have sworn that I saw the brakes smoking a little yesterday...at a cafe stop of all places.  :)

We've run into a lot of large flies on our travells so far.  They mostly just hang in the air waiting to smack into your face as you cycle into them.  I've had about 8 end up in my mouth thus far, and told John that I get more meat on the rides than I do in the french resteraunts.

I felt a bit sick last night over dinner (too many flies perhaps), and went to bed early.  Actually, I think its allergies to the rape seed crops.  Apparently this is common.  "Luckily" we start to climb into the Massif Central over the next few days...so hopefully my allergies will pass.

Today was a long, wet ride.

It looked nice as we left the B&B, and we had a nice morning ride.  It was a lot of rolling hills today, which make the ride much more scenic and interesting.  There were many fields and farms, and many of the small stone villages to pass between.  Most of the roads were on don't even have names...just signs pointing to the next small village.

We also passed through a few forrests og beech trees...apparently called Beech Forrests (which initially odd to me).  They were lovely though, with lush green branches arching over the road.  I really like how the french use trees in their landscaping.  Rows of very tall trees look beautiful along both sides of a road or driveway.

At about the 20km mark, Big John broke a spoke.  Unfortunately, he is using very specialized bladed racing spokes (vs the standard "light touring" spokes that most of our bikes have) and he does not have any spares with him.  He taped the spoke to its neighbouring spoke, and rode the rest of the day without incident.  Not sure how long this solution will last him, but perhaps the rest of the tour.

As we stopped for a drink at the 30km mark, it started to rain.  And it kept raining pretty steadily for the rest of the ride.  Not a lot of fun, especially since I didnj( have all of my rain gear with me, but not to bad really...now that I am dry in the B&B.

At about 40km, we passed through Bruere Allichamps, which has a small monument marking the geographic center of France.

After that, a clear pattern developed:  ride through rolling hills, ride through tiny town (many with no cross-streets, steep decent out of town, cross small river, steep ascent, repeat.

I'm pretty much exhausted now.  My left knee is stil a bit sore from my fall on day 2 (although it luckily bothers me much more walking than cycling), my derrier is a bit tender after seven straight riding days (the most I've ever done) and my nose and chest are still very congested from what I assume is allergies.  But other than that, I feel good and have been riding very strongly.

There was a bit of confusion at the B&B today as we beet the van again and didn't know who was in what room. Worse was the fact that we were all cold, wet and grumpy, and we didn't have any dry clothes to change into.  Rob and Roger showered anyways, and then attempted to sit in the dining room in their towels. The french matre D was not impressed, and immediately sent them back to their rooms...with a beer to keep them happy.

I need to get some euros from a bank tonight, since I have been told that we might not see any more banks on this trip. 

Tomorrow is the last riding day before a much needed rest day.