#454 Down the Loire valley

This is the first week of riding as a bike guide for Rutas Pangea (same as #456 above). There are 28 Spaniards riding from Orleans to St Nazaire in France. I'm the Lantern Rouge or as I'm in a Spanish group El Farolillo Rojo.

I'm making a big mental adjustment, I normally average 20km/hr on my long rides but with this group it's more like 10km/hr. Frequent stops and no rush to arrive means we are really relaxed - very Spanish.

Plus I'm learning to be patient helping riders with less experience than my (roughly) 55 years of road bike riding.

Last day we had to cross the Loire by bus as the bridge was deemed to be too dangerous for cyclists (It is!). As is tradition everywhere the group started a sing song which included the lines:

Que buenos son,
Con Chus y John
¡que  excursión!

(or something to this effect).
And a jolly good time was had by all :-)

* some of these pictures make it look like a wet week, but we actually only had two rainy days.



Day 1
Orleans to Blois 63km
Day 2
Blois to Seillac 82km
Visited Chateau de Chambord
Day 3
Seillac to Tours 85km
Visited Chateau de Chenonceau
Rained ALL day :-(
Day 4
Tours to Saumur 92km
Excellent!
Day 5
Saumur to Angers 58km
Then some wine tasting . . . :-)
Day 6
Angers to Nantes 98km
Longest day and the shortest, at our hotel by 6pm.
Day 7
Nantes to St Nazaire 6km
We reached the Atlantic. Por fin.

Orleans

On the bridge in Blois (it's wet).

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#453 Next day

. . . Even more food!

#452 Repas Gourmand

Duck and potatoes, choice of various wines -all at the same time :-)

#451 day 3

To Lalbenque 85km, beer :-)
Then I cooked a Thai green curry for my hosts.

If you think I look gaunt and knackered, it's cos I am.

#450 day 2

To Lavaur, 126km. Over 7 hours due to headwind and hills that went up. GPS went on the blink so had to go back to traditional navigation.

#449 To France 1

Sunday from Puigcerda in Spain to Quillan in France. 85km. Stayed in a very nice Chambres d'hôtes - interior design Charity Shop Chic.

#448 Allez Wiggo

I'm gutted!

I wanted to buy a Bradley Wiggins/Fred Perry shirt, there are no size M available so I sent Fred a mail asking when they would have them back in stock and got this reply:  

"Due to the item(s) being part of our current season collection we will not be getting any more stock in."

 Boo . . . . .

#447 Packing

  I'm going for a ride.

In my handlebar bag: Red Specialized wind jacket, black long flight socks, white Rapha cycling socks, black Rapha touring shorts, red Icebreaker long sleeve T, grey Rapha short sleeve T, grey Northface trousers, black Adidas swimming trunks, grey Nike Air shoes
.

In the front pocket: Assos rain cape, bike lock, alarm clock, mini bike lights, Body Shop face cream, mini toothpaste, toothbrush, swimming goggles (and a mini phone charger).

and this is where I'm going:

#446 iPod Touch

I've just spent all day configuring my new iPod Touch.
One App asked me if I used a Dictaphone?
I said "No - I use my finger, like everyone else!"

#445 Saturday? it must be Fiesta time.

#444 Ironman logo

My Rapha Lightweight jersey has a black arm band that makes me look like I'm going to a funeral. I cut this Ironman logo from an old T-shirt and Sally sewed it on (might have to get an M.dot tat next).