We’ve made it. Made it to Paris and beyond to the beautiful Loire. By train, boat and bicycle. We’re on an adventure to Barcelona ready to run the marathon on March the 15th in just under two weeks.
We don’t yet know exactly how we will get there. We do know that the vast majority will be by bicycle.
It’s been a while since either Simon or I have ridden a bicycle for more than an hour or so and over the next few days we will continue to harden our bodies so that they are able to cope with the rigours of cycling day after day.
We are now both over sixty and the curing process takes longer. Old injuries resurface and remind you of pain from yesteryear.
The first few days have been cold and wet and for me that’s meant I’ve been struggling with cold feet and painful toes. Simon equally has been struggling generally with the cold.
With the help of a train out of Paris to jump over the urban sprawl we have made it to the Loire. The sun has come out and we’re in good spirits. As we cycle sometimes we chat sometimes we ride in silence mulling our thoughts.
Earlier in the day Simon seemed very excited that I put a glucose monitor on my arm. I have diabetes and I want make sure that on the road as my diet changes I continue to manage my sugar levels. Breakfast in Paris, a simple croissant, spikes me steeply.
During one of our conversations Simon decides that it’s a good idea to see if he can set up a human experiment to observe the effects of m&m’s on my blood sugar. So over the course of the afternoon he feeds me single yellow m&m’s while observing the effects on my sugar.
I’m not quite sure what he’s hoping to learn. He did mention that it has something to do with regulating and managing my sugar all the way to Barcelona. As his human lab rat by the end of the experiment I was feeling quite hungry and left worrying that I not might arrive to run the marathon in a fit state. All my body’s reserves depleted from the paucity of nourishment that a single yellow m&m an hour delivers. I haven’t yet worked out the importance of yellow in all of this.
Apart from the banter and conversation between us we are meeting lots of people along the way. Lots of highs and one low with me nearly getting into a fight with a youngish French man who opened his car door on me. Simon playing the role of good cop, with me filling in pissed off cop.
All in all the cycling infrastructure is very good in France and nearly all of the other road users extremely kind to bicycles. The only exception being impatient Parisian drivers. In the centre it’s fine as there are a myriad of segregated cycle ways. In the suburbs at best the experience is varied and you are often left to your own devices to do battle with the cars.
Over the next few days our goal is Lyon and the Rhone valley. Gateway to the south and Mediterranean.
