Day 9

Sunday, May 8
Montmarault to Pontgibaud
106km

Lovely day of riding today.  Probably the most climbing we've done so far, but very scenic.

At dinner last night, Brian complained of a sore tooth.  Apparently, it had been bothering him for several days.  By the end of the meal, it looked like he had a golf ball in his right cheek.  To make matters worse, there were no local dentists and everything is closed for a long weekend this Sunday and Monday anyways.  As it happens, there are two dentists on the trip with us (Rob and Sarah) and one doctor (Willameana, a British GP), so they all consulted and decided it was best to send him back to England.  Someone had some antibiotics to give him, and they put him on the train.  It doesn't seem likely that he will return.  Too bad, as he was a very nice man.  Very soft-spoken, but funny.  The only upside, if there is such a thing in these situations, is that I have a single room tonight, as I was supposed to share with Brian.

Today was our entry into the Massif Central region of France, which is a range of extinct volcanos.  That means lots of long climbs and long decents.  With seven long rides under our belt already, and steady rain in the morning, it was shaping up to be a tough day.

Luckily, the rain let up about 45 minutes into the ride and we had lovely weather for the rest of the ride.  It did rain off and on a few times, which meant a lot of stops to add or remove clothing, but on the whole it was very nice weather.

The scenery was fantistic.  The long climbs would take us from about 200m to about 700m...over and over and over again as we crossed over river valleys.  Beautiful.  The climbs were several kilometers long, but pretty gradual for the most part.  I'd find a comfortable gear and then maintain a steady tempo, and didn't have any problems.

The decents were magnificent. Long and not to steep, I would maintain a speed of 45-55km/h for several minutes.  They were wonderfully windey to as they curled around mounds, switchedback on themselves, snaked onto an adjacent mounds, and so on.  They were as random as rollercosters, so you never new what the next turn would be.  Despite the wonderful views, I didn't bother to stop for many photos...the decents were too much fun for that.  I never get decents like that near Toronto, and they were a definite highlight of the trip thus far.

For lunch, I stopped and had a jambon et fromage sandwich.  It was huge.  (I did have time for a photo of it.). It was the equivalent of half a Canadian loaf of bread, with a thick piece of sured ham and a big block of blue cheese.  Lovely.

Immediately after lunch was the longest climb of the day.  I pulled well out in front, and felt very strong, until I reached the top and realised that I didn't seem to be on the right road.  This after 30 minutes of climbing!!!  I wandered through the town at the top of the climb, and was happy to meet up with Steve and the girls...who had also taken the wrong route.  When John and Roger caught up, we figured out where we were, and managed to carry-on without repeating the big climb.

Again there was a bit of confusion regarding hotel rooms, but I ended up with a big private room which I imagine I'll get to keep for the rest day tomorrow.

For dinner, we had another nice french meal.  For 23 Euros (all in) I got 2 glasses of wine, a fancy salade (with tomato, blue cheese and nuts) a steak (with blue cheese sauce), some veggies (not many...but a real treat all the same), 3 cheeses (that I picked off of the "framage chariot"), and a fruit and sorbet desert  ("Pudd"...as the brits say).