More France 07/24/2010
More France With Jim feeling better we headed south to met up with a friend or Jim’s, Brad. Brad rented a motorcycle from a shop in Madrid (Happy Rider, more to come on that). Because of the Kidney stone delay we missed the Running of the Bulls. Looks like I will have to go back some day. We caught up with Brad and spent the next several days riding through the French country side looking at castles, fields of sunflowers and gigantic wind mills. One morning, at a camp sight Jim and Brad started discussing the logistics behind the days ride. I usually keep quiet and as long as I know the plan really don’t care what we do or see. I just like to be informed. It look as if we could catch a stage of the Tour De France. All we had to do was leave a half hour ago and ride 100 miles to the town of Mende. Quickly we removed our luggage and secured it in the tents. Then bolted out of the campground with super light bikes. Heading east along the those same fields and small towns we raced (ok mom, we rode fast, but cautiously, but for the story I am using raced). We rounded many round abouts, in one side out the other. We passed cars and got passed by motorcycles (they ride motorcycle crazy over here). We ended up at the small town at 2:00 pm just in time to get a good standing spot (no where to sit and it was 95 degrees). This is where I will do my best to describe what I consider to be controlled panic (at least from me and the kid next to me). The Tour De France is of course the biggest bicycle race, period. It is raced over multiple days over multiple countries. It is a bicycle race, but in France it is the superbowl/NASCAR/Coolest whatever you do, mixed into one exciting 3 week period (Major sponsors). Standing in our spot next to a guard rail, at the 3km to go mark, on a up hill, right turn, we waited. Waiting for 100 bicycles to come by., we waited, and waited, “When are they coming?” 5:30. WAIT here is the weird part. At 5:00 a parade of sponsor vehicles, some cars, some floats, some other. Each of the vehicles throws handfuls of the sponsors’ products or some sort of advertisement (key chains, hats, water bottles, etc.). People are going nuts to catch an umbrella hat, today’s paper or a bag of jelly beans (ok, I might have pushed a little for the jelly beans). Shoulder to shoulder crowd screaming and jumping when a giant Peugeot lion cruise by throwing out key chains. I gave most of the stuff I caught to a kid standing next to me. He was short and didn’t have much of a chance. So after a half hour the gimme parade, the crowd was worked up. It was now that the races came by. Up hill and to the right the first 4 came speeding by. Closely followed by the “Peloton” (larger main group). And who was in the beginning of the second group? Lance. At least that I call him. Yes we saw Lance Armstrong for a second. Then it was over. Poof done. No more parade no, more racers. We loaded on the motorcycle and rode back to the 100 miles back to the campground. I sat alone in my tent that evening and wondered, “Was it worth 5 hours on the bike in the heat, to watch 30 seconds of the Tour De France?”. Yes. After the race we turn our attention to Spain. Brad had to return his bike to Madrid so we figure we would ride with him. On our way out of France we climbed the winding switch backs of the Pyrenees. The higher we climbed the cooler it got. Soon we pulled over to add layers of clothing. As we dressed for the cooler temp (on the side of a mountain) the fog was rolling in. We started back up the twisting mountain road waiting for the mouth of a tunnel to lead us to Spain. Thicker and thicker the fog layered in. Soon I had trouble seeing the tail light of Brads motorcycle. Resisting the urge to rise my face shield (fog coats your glasses) I smeared the water across my plastic visor. “Don’t do it” I repeated over and over. “Do lift the face shield, but I can’t see. “This is STUPID” I said out loud but no one could hear me they were wrapped up in their sightless drama. Can’t see the edge “whoosh” a car goes by the other way. Now the fog is so thick, it isn’t safe to stop. The traffic won’t have enough time to stop once they saw me. “Keep going. Don’t do it”. I finally broke and lifted my face shield I could see! For a second. Water vapor quickly covered my newly exposed glasses. What comes next, is a quickly trying to slide the glasses down your nose so you can see over them, all the while telling calling yourself stupid for knowing the outcome, yet still do it. Although sometime I get lucky. Right before the glasses fogged up I saw the opening of the tunnel. It was a straight shot into the mouth. This tunnel was closed to a mile long and dropped significantly in elevation. So much of a drop in fact when we exited the tunnel (now in Spain) the sky was clear. The temperature increase 30 degrees and we were scrambling to remove our jackets. We entered France by ferry in the fog and exited France by tunnel in the fog. We rode 25 or so miles but had some of the fight taken out by the fog. It was hot and we decided to best to make camp. CommentsDebbie Nobkes 07/25/2010 3:53pm
Good job on the blog....have fun, do not fall off a mountain and come back when you are done!!! Debbie Nobles 07/25/2010 3:54pm
you travel the whole world and I cannot spell my name correctly.... joe 07/26/2010 12:47am
Hey boss, we are rolling along, and I think of you everytime we come to a mountain pass! HA! Will be back soon enough. You have a long term sub (baby Leave) PE. position I can pick up when I get back? Debbie Nobles 07/29/2010 12:44am
We have 2 baby leaves for you!! Leave a Reply | Joe ParkerThe original, one and only, Joey Joe Joe Joeker Mo'Joe!  ArchivesFebruary 2011 Categories |
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