Day 25 - They weren’t donuts, but they were alright….

We left Lille on Saturday for Brussels. By all accounts the road would be nice, scenic, pleasant, and FLAT. Guess which one wasn’t true? Maybe we let all the promises of reaching Brussels go to our heads a little too much or maybe we are just creatures of habit and our habit happens to be procrastination, either way we left Lille rather late - 2:30 in the afternoon to be precise. We started off making good time and made it to Tournai, where we had to pass through the city center, at about 4:00. Unfortunately their happened to be an impressively decrepit cathedral and a parade so we quickly became thoroughly distracted. Around 5:00 or more likely 5:30 we decided that we ought to leave town since Brussels was still quite a ways east. In fact much further east than we assumed. After leaving Tournai, we immediately discovered which description of the road to Brussels was not true; it was not flat. The first hill was over a mile long and included a section that was marked on the map that designates a grade greater than 6%. There were four more marked ascents along the way and the road was not ideal for climbing. It was often very bumpy causing us to have to make even more of an effort in order to ascend each hill. Alyssa, with here new pannier, was now forced to join me on the ascents and no longer got to wait for me at the top as I crawled up the hill. We struggled on until the odometer read 725 which means that by google map’s estimation we only had five miles to go. I thought that this was a pretty decent estimation, but a missed turn and the windiness of the roads through towns actually added quite a bit of extra miles between Brussels and us. The trip was supposed to be 55 miles, but at 65 miles into the day, we were a good way out from Brussels on our map, and it was already a pretty dimly lit 9:45. We were actually in Gooik which turned out to be about 15 miles outside of Brussels; however, it was too dark to continue safely. We decided that we could go no further. Having rode most of the day in Belgium already, we noticed a few things about the landscape: it was much greener; much less agriculture was taking place; and most importantly for our current situation, it was much more densely populated. In France, the countryside was often times entirely un-inhabited; there were only fields and forests which was great for finding a camp site. Belgium had many more towns, much closer together, and the often just blended into one another. We were pretty sure that there was not going to be any isolated forests for camping especially with our proximity to Brussels. After scouting the area for some indicator of a hotel, I headed to a bar to ask for help. On the way over, an older man turned the corner who I asked if he spoke any English. He happened to speak a little which turned out to be more than enough to tell me that there was a hotel that was very nice, which I instantly equated with expensive, and I asked for a cheaper option or a place to camp. He asked if I had a tent and then offered a large grassy area right next to the grocery store that he worked in front of which we happened to be standing! I said that we would take it, I ran to tell a tired Alyssa the good news, and he showed us where he was talking about. He asked if we needed food or water, and after we assured him that we were fine, he insisted that we take some pastries. They were slightly flaky, filled with crème, topped with thick dark chocolate, and were pretty delicious. We set up our tent behind a small row of bushes, devoured the extra pizza from the night before and the pastries, and then watched sixteen or so UFOs ascend from the trees off in the distance, hover for a few minutes, and slowly fade into the clouds. Alyssa later saw some stars moving about in an odd manner, and then we snuggled into the tent to escape the cold and quickly fell asleep.

Day 24 - Un Pannier!

Today was another day of recovery for us. We were tired and didn’t feel like doing much. Our hosts were very understanding and allowed us to stay in their house, work on the bikes, and eat a bunch of food. Biking makes me insatiably hungry. Rest days usually involve me eating tons and tons of food. However, the trailer is becoming much “lighter” and easier for me to pull. It’s still slow going on some hills, but they don’t wear me out at all like they did toward the start of the trip. One of our hosts, Gilliam (Sorry if I spell this wrong; please feel free to tell me if I do.), has done many cycling trips around Europe, has an extensive collection of bikes and parts, much of which he has found in a similar manner to tree lawn picking, and offered to let us have a rack to put on Alyssa’s bike. Not only that he also gave us his old set of panniers which was actually only one pannier since the other on was turned into a campfire by someone when the bike was locked on the street overnight. It was incredibly nice of him to let us have them, and despite many offers of some form of compensation which were continuously refused by him, we lamely, despite it being good and French, left him and his housemates some beer as at least some form of payment for being such great hosts. Later on in the evening Alyssa and I made pizza with the ingredients that we bought earlier that day. We over estimated how much cheese, flour, and veggies we would need so two pizzas turned into four quite to the amusement of our hosts. There WAS a lot of pizza! After the pizza and some conversation, we all went to bed since everyone had to be up early-ish to leave the next morning.

Day 23 Finally arriving in Lille France

Today we made our way to Lille. It was 45 miles there and most of the time it was overcast. Actually I’m surprised it didn’t rain on the way there because the wind was picking up quite a bit and it was sprinkling a little also. On the way to Lille we ran into a couple of pissed off people. For some reason this crazy woman in a car rode past both of us honking and waving her hands at us. She had her turn signal on like she had wanted to get onto the highway but then didn’t because we were in the way. It was on a circle but she didn’t even go back around on the circle to try to get on again. Fucking crazy. That’s what breaks are for; slow the hell down. The second person was pissed at David because he was in front of a bus and was going slow because of the trailer so he honked also and yelled something in French. The two crazy people both were in the same town so I’m not sure why there were more crazy people in this one area. Speaking of riding in the road and bike trails… bike trails suck. If a city wants bikers to actually use the bike trails to get bikers out of the street, the city should maintain the bike trails just as it would a road for cars. I would rather ride in the street and hold up traffic than ride over all kinds of broken glass, avoid huge potholes, and have to go over curbs every couple blocks. Dumb dumb dumb and fucking ridiculous. Theres no point. Anyway we had an easy entry into Lille and found our next house to stay in rather quickly. Our host, who we met on couch surfing, is Charlotte.

Charlotte and her house-mates that we met - Gilliam and Marianne - were all very nice. We were starving and had been carrying around the ingredients to make some pasta with spaghetti sauce so they let us use their kitchen to cook it. We all ate together and were invited to go have a beer with them and their friend across town. We rode to a place where there were four long dirt courts where they played the “old man’s game” called petanque. It turned out to be a lot like bocci ball. We played a few games and ended up doing very well. I believe that together, Alyssa and I, would have been a petanque-ing juggernaut! Maybe I’ll trade bike polo for petanque so that I don’t have to face not being the best at something when I return….

Day 22- My first poop in the woods OR David’s day of being a shit

The morning started out a little rough. David woke up with something in his eye and/or it just being sore and irritated in general. Eventually we packed up all of our crap and left our campsite in the woods. It was definitely time to leave the woods when I discovered a tick just dropped out of nowhere onto my arm. When we had all of out stuff out on the trail we took off the main road to get to our campsite we ate and packed up the trailer. We checked for ticks and of course we found three more on me. David found one on my sock and another one that I cant remember where it was. I also found one on my stomach. Gross. It was time to leave, but I needed to poop. David gave me helpful tips, like leaning against a nice tree, and the deed was done! Too bad David didn’t take his own advice and poop that morning because he was definitely a shit the rest of the day, probably because he didn’t have a nice poop in the woods!

Today couldn’t have been any fucking hotter for biking, probably the hottest day yet! David had an extremely difficult time with the trailer and biking in general. We tried to choose roads that didn’t have marked hills on the map but there were a lot of hills on the roads we were on anyway. With all of that came a lot of cursing and attitude from David. At the end of the day it was just frustrating to deal with the hills, and it was taking forever to get anywhere. I was trying really hard to be supportive and helpful all day but at some point I just had to answer David’s attitude and tantrums with my own attitude because it was getting ridiculous. Throwing bags answering my questions with sass was getting old and annoying. We had wanted to go about 80 miles to Arras France that day but we had to just find a hotel in one of the cities on the way there because we were both tired. Thank god we found hotels earlier that day in some of the cities along the way. We stopped in Baupume France and got a room at the Hotel le Gourmet. The room was actually really nice and there was a shower and toilet in the room for only 38€. We really needed a break, especially from David’s attitude, and a shower. After we got the room we found a grocery store which was closing, and David was the last person they let in. I had to stay outside because we forgot to bring a lock for the bikes, and my only request was some cold juice. David redeemed himself by apologizing several times for being such a shit the entire day and buying lots of treats for us to eat. I got my juice and we also had ice cream, champagne, red cabbage salad, and a couple other yummy things.

At the end of the day we ended at going 60 miles.

A Change of Perspective:
Its true. I was bitching the whole day. I was very uncomfortable, tired, sore, and the hills kept coming. The crest of each hill, instead of showing a descent, almost always leveled out into another climb. There were ascents that lasted throughout the lengths of town; several were over a mile long of solid ascent. My legs, for the first time this trip, were burning nearly all day which was my largest cause of aggravation. They had not even been that exhausted after the ride to Paris from Ameins which was over 100 miles, and today they wouldn’t take us even to Arras. But to say that I was a shit pretty much sums it up. I was not trying to be annoying but its hard to travel with someone, be in such a terrible mood, and not have it affect them. I did apologize many times, but was unable to transform back to a civil human again until we arrived in Baupume. The icecream, two juices, cheap champagne - .99€ only! - and some good beer. I think Alyssa forgave me and pretty quickly too, but if she tells you differently in private, let me know so I can buy more ice cream or something.

Day 21- I finally fell off my bike!

Well we finally left Meaux! We stopped on our way out of town and bought more food for breakfast or at that point lunch which included yummy coconut yogurt! After riding a bit we noticed a field full of a plant we didn’t recognize so I ran out to the field and pulled one from the ground! It was some kind of root plant and it tasted sweet. I still have no idea what it was but David’s guess was a rutabaga.

I’m not sure how it happened but we stopped for water, and when we started riding again, I immediately got my front wheel caught in the space between the trailer and its wheel. Of course I completely flipped over my handlebars and somehow scraped up my shin, knee, and shoulder. It hurt a little but mostly I just felt dumb. I don’t even remember how it happened, I must have been zoning out…

That evening we found somewhere to camp quite easily and early since we had been riding through some National Forests. I was happy we didn’t have to set up the tent in the dark and there was time for us to eat and hang out outside the tent. We had to carry the trailer and our bikes in two separate lengthy trips to the campsite so we were out of site. The first trip we took the trailer and I was in back so I couldn’t really see where I was walking so my legs got all scraped up from the prickly vines that were all over. My legs look terrible, I’ve never had so many bruises and scrapes. I’m not even sure where half of them come from. We set up the tent easily though and changed into pants since I at least was already getting attacked by mosquitoes. Huge mosquitoes! While eating dinner we heard some rustling in the woods and a fox eventually passed by us. In the night there were some other strange noises especially from some birds that sounded like death.

Day 20 - Camping directly behind the hotel we stayed in the night before!

After packing up and leaving the Formula 1 where we stayed, we started our day with coffee at, of course, McDonalds after riding back into Meaux. The McDonalds was needed to locate the bike shops and bookstores in town that we needed to get new chains and a map of Belgium and Amsterdam. Here is a weird thing about France. The country is dead in August. Everyone is on vacation. The weirder and more subtle thing about France is that it does not at all adhere to the same ideals of capitalism that are so prevalent and taken for granted in America. Don’t get me wrong; capitalism exists here in all it glory, which, ironically, we came to be very happy about, but the people and business here mostly operate which what seems like a different mentality than they do in America. For example, in France, when its time for a holiday, you just shut your shop up and put a hand written sign in the window that you will return and please have a nice day. In Meaux, the only sizable town for sixty miles around and, more importantly, the only one that had cycle shops for sixty miles around, all the bike store owners must have gone on holiday together. While I’m happy for their chance at a break and the confidence they have at the prospect of loosing customers while a way from their shops (perhaps that’s why they all left at the same time) we still needed new chains. After forgoing breakfast because we assumed that the trip to get new chains would be quick and after having visited three shops, one of which was very far outside of town, we were getting frustrated. I started to think of what would I do if I were in America and if I were faced with this situation. Since I could simply go to my basement and pick out a few new-ish chains at home, I was unable to fully comprehend how this could happen in America unless it was at 9:00 at night and even then I could just wait until morning and not until August 28th or whatever date my local bike merchant decided to return from his month long holiday. Then I had a thought that would turn out to reverse the course entirely to what could have been a very unproductive day. What if a store was open 24 hours and carried a bunch of crap that you could get in case you need it? In America, people with far superior free-market instincts had that same thought long before I, and they had brought that idea to fruition in a recklessly profit-driven venture that they called Walmart. Now the avid reader of this blog will note that, although what we found was a lame French replica of what we know as Walmart complete with set hours of operation, the superstore model did exist in France and, on our way out of town to the final bike shop we checked which was closed for holiday, we happened to pass one of these replicas. I admit that I have never been happier to have found a discount superstore, but would the French replica live up to it’s American conceived forerunner and provide for us a selection of low quality merchandise large enough to include bike chains? It turns out that the L.Eclerc, the name of the French monster retailer, had an inventory of bike parts that would rival that of all but the most serious of bicycle retail shops! We got two new chains, lubricant, break-pads (mine are starting to wear), and they had fenders that definitely temped me for a moment. Next, since we failed to find a map of both Belgium and Holland at the local bookshops, we checked for maps and found to our further surprise that they carried Michelin maps for nearly every part of the globe! We left; amused at our happiness at having just left a replica of the very store that we both avoid while in the states. Our next goal was to get food for what now would be more appropriately called lunch but was in fact our breakfast. The trailer had been left locked up at the hotel while we ran errands without its cumbersome presence, and we had picked out a grocery store on the way back to the hotel where we planned to stop and buy food both for our immediate needs and for our trip to Lille. Yet, when we got to said grocery store, we were confronted with another aspect of the more leisurely atmosphere in the French economy. The grocery store, although it was 2:00 in the afternoon, was closed. Turns out that everything also closes everyday from 12:30 and 2:30, so we waited until it reopened with a crowd of locals. The crowd queued up at around 2:15 and then go pretty restless when the manager opened the doors but wouldn’t let anyone in until 2:40. We were annoyed but if everything closes everyday for siesta time, I’m not sure why the locals weren’t more prepared for the inconvenience. Anyway we got food, made it back to the hotel, ate on their patio, and decided that we wanted to have a siesta of our own instead of starting our journey to Lille. While eating, we discovered that the code that we got for our room still opened the door to the hotel, and since the showers and toilettes were separate from the rooms, we still had access to them. After scheming about how our code may still open our room, but discovering that it did not, we decided to find a place to camp nearby and use the showers at the hotel for one more night. I worked on the bikes, and Alyssa went to scout a place to camp. She ended up finding a great place right behind the hotel so we set up our tent and returned to the hotel to eat, cut our hair, and shower before going to sleep. The day also included our first flat tire, Alyssa’s rear wheel, which went flat as we were scouting out our camping spot. Alyssa and I quickly fixed it with a patch so we still have two spare tubes. Tomorrow we are finally leaving Meaux…We hope.

Day 19 - Lessons

After waking at the hotel and discovering a deep freezer full of mini baguettes and croissants that we couldn’t resist, we bought groceries for our trip and started off early to Meaux where we would decide to either go to Reims or to Lille on our way to Brussels. It was a hard morning to ride through, and I was irritated with the trailer (one of the lessons of the day) by the time we finished the short five mile ride to Meaux. We found a McDonald’s easily and just as easily found that we weren’t going to Reims since our only contact hadn’t yet responded to our email. After planning our trip, finding bike shops to buy new chains and oil based lube since our chains regularly were producing a gummy excretion that constantly, it seemed, needed cleaned from our derailleurs, and book shops to buy a Michelin map of Belgium, we confidently set off to purchase our supplies and head north to Lille. We made it to the center of Meaux where we realized that it was Sunday. We had again forgotten what day it was and didn’t consider the fact that everything is closed in France on Sundays. Our disappointment subsided and we visited Meaux’s historic cathedral. It had been started in 1170 which was a vaguely important number to Alyssa, and we started off on a new, vaguely planned trip to a large national forest. This is where another lesson was learned. The trailer had been difficult all day long, and after an entire morning of struggling, I was beyond frustrated and decided that my legs could not “break free” with this trailer. Some times cycling is hard and becomes a mental battle. The reward comes when your legs break free - a rhythm develops and it becomes easier. I found no reward today, only a lesson. Although taken for granted until this day, pulling a heavy trailer requires a lot of concentration and synchronization, and a few things were fighting me. First my tire pressure was a bit low. Second, the trailer, while going up hills, constantly bobs and tugs downward canceling forward motion. If pedaling is not planned and smooth, the trailer can almost entirely cancel out any work done while going up-hill. Third, because rhythm is so important while pulling a trailer, your bike has to be in very good working order. My chain developed a kink due to the wax collecting dirt. I probably slightly damaged a link when breaking the chain to bring it on this trip, but it was now accented by the dirt and had become stiff. Therefore it caught on the derailleur and caused a jump in my cadence. It may sound particular but that kink caused a lot of difficulty while taking the trailer up hills since it was most pronounced in my lower “climbing” gears. Anyway, we made it to the next small town outside of Meaux and decided that new chains were necessary and that we wouldn’t go on at the pace we were going. We would spend the night in Meaux. After stopping mid-way up a hill that lead through town that we were not making it up, we ate lunch at a fork in the road. The hill, in actuality, continued for more than a half a mile through the town - over a mile of ascent in total. Our lunch provided another us with another lesson. The croissants that I had put in a bag with a bunch of mini baguettes turned out to be frozen croissant dough which had melted on and covered the baguettes. Baguettes with croissant dough turn out to be pretty good so we laughed about it and ate them anyway. The rest of the day was spent hunting for hotels and camping sites. Eventually a hotel was decided upon but it was outside of Meaux. I have gotten over any regret that I feel about leaving Paris. There was some internal conflict, but Alyssa was right; we needed to leave. Expect more on Paris though. It was an interesting and difficult city.