Saturday, July 18, 2009

Bonjour from France!

I am doing a test blog update via email to see if it's possible. We
are having an awesome time do far but the biking has been very
challenging so far. My loaded hybrid probably weighs about 50 lbs and
we've been doing tons of climbing everyday. We ride about 3-4 hours
per day, with plenty of rest stops, but the temps have been around
35-40C (100+F) and we always seem to ride in the hottest part of the
day. It is more humid this time too so that makes it harder as well.

We've climbed from 1500-2500' feet per day. Longest climb was about
10k. Steepest climb was about 20%. My quads are screaming ;)

The food has been wonderful, the wine is too. I've been sticking
mostly with rose because it is cooler in this heat.

We've stayed at some nice B&Bs but today we are splurging on or
gorgeous place in Apt, France. Google Le Couvent in Apt if you want to
check it out. Sigh...

We are staying here two nights so today we can do a shorter ride in
the Ocre hills without out panniers. There wa a sto yesterday so it is
cooler and very windy today.

Yesterday was our longest ride- 72km with a sting headwind as storm
arrived. It started out hot as usual but rode the last 30 minutes in
the rain and wind, it felt very refreshing after 6 days of oppressive
heat.

We have 3 more days until we are back in Cavaillon to catch the night
train to Florence. I'm looking forward to Italy!

Please excuse any typos as I type this on the itouch. I have tweeted a
few times but it's often in the middle of the night for north America
so check ny Twitter stream to see what I've been up to.

Au revoir pour maintenant!

A bientot!

Barb

5 comments:

Lybbe said...

To heck with the typos - the gist is there. Looks like you're having a wonderful time despite the heat - riding will seem so much easier to you once you get back home!

Sheila said...

Great post! Certainly gives a much better feeling for how you're doing than your Tweets do.

Gina Harris said...

It sounds like you are having a great time AND getting those quads strengthened. :) Have a great rest of your holiday.

EnviroSafeOne said...

Great stuff, however you got it out to the world :) Sounds like you're making the very most of a great opportuinty!

PunkRockRunner said...

Would love to ride through Europe one day. Thanks for sharing