Once arriving at our hotel in Versailles I built my bike to discover my wheels had been knocked out of true. This was Friday night and my bike inspection was the next morning. I was able to get them a little better using an emergency spoke wrench notch in my multi-tool. Although the hop in my wheel was something I wasn't able to fix and my rear wheel would rub my fender. So off came the fenders.
The skies had cleared and it was looking to be perfect weather for the ride.
Got to the velodrome to witness thousands of riders getting their bikes inspected. It was finally hitting me exactly how big this event was. Once in the velodrome gathering my number plates and brevet card, I would run into friends from SF and just take in the fact that there are riders from all over the world here.
Time for some sleep and then relax before starting my journey the next evening.
The hours before the event were spent hanging out in a quiet park before heading over to the velodrome to watch the fast riders take off for their 80 hour starts. The atmosphere for the starts was amazing. So much excitement. I couldn't wait to hit the road.
While waiting for my 7:30 departure, I eat half of a Sin Dawg for dinner.
Once we are off and riding through town behind the pace car, I just keep thinking "this is the coolest thing I'll ever do!". It felt like a pro race. People cheering along the route.
Once out of town, it felt more like a brevet. The first stop I made was in a village where riders were filling water bottles and getting food/cokes from a bar. I got a coke and made my way onward to the next stop( an unofficial control) where I would eat some rice and bananas.
The first control was 200K in. Got stamped and moved on.
After this point, I'm real foggy on what went on, so I'll just sum up the ride best I can in Part Trois.
No comments:
Post a Comment