By e-mail August 12:

Hey you, another update!

The last time I wrote was from Barcelona I believe...almost one month ago. Since then many things have happened. I escaped Barcelona that didn't seem to want to let me leave. First I broke a spoke after a half hour, not even out of the city...then I had to wait 2 hours for the bike store to open. And finally, the road I thought would lead me out of the city just...ended. The train station (conveniently) happened to be right at the end of the road, and so I hopped on for around 20 km just to get out of the city limits and to nicer roads. The next three days were tough biking, but incredibly nice, after I left the touristy beach towns of the Costa Brava. The concentration of French-speaking tourists greatly increased as I went north...until every cyclist I met was either Belgian or French! On the third day since Barcelona (July 15th), I reached the Cap de Creus, a beatiful national park, and the beginning of...a nice juicy mountain chain to get to France! Oh YAY! The next 60 km was 'nice', an endless string of small villages nestled in deep valleys...that I had to climb and descend. About 5 of them in all. I don't even want to calculate how many metres I climbed, let's just say that I was more tired that day that in any other day of my trip (inluding the big one described later). At the second last village before flat land I wasn't sure I would make it. Taking the (very) slow and steady approach, I finally reached Argeles-sur-Mer, after which it was completely flat all the way to Perpignan.

In Perpignan I picked my youth hostel, and there I met another cycle tourist who had met the Spanish guy that I had ridden with up to Barcelona! He'd decided that Girona (just south of the border) wasn't far enough and that he'd cross the Pyrenees into France. As for me, exhausted I walked around town for a bit to listen to the music festival (that ended, to my surprise, at around 11:30...after Spain this is very early).

The next day I decided I would try and make it to the Alpe d'Huez for the time trial stage of the Tour de France there...But I calculated that I wouldn't make it in time from Perpignan if I went by bike. So I took the train to Nimes that day (my father's birth place), also allowing my legs an extra day of rest, after the gruelling 240 kms in the two days before. In Nimes I saw what there is to see, the Roman Arena and a square house..aptly named 'Square House' (Maison Carree), as well as a Bocce ball competition (the 'Boules' Tradition is running strong, there were people of all ages entered in the competition!). I met a guy from Quebec that I got along well with (oddly enough a computer engineer), as well as a weird Brasilian, and also another cyle tourist from California. The latter also was on his way to Alpe D'Huez, but was a complete cycle-touring newbie...had no clue what he was doing (eg, he was riding around with a 1:1000000 map! HAHAHA), since he'd just begun. I could tell he was a pretty decent cyclist, so we decided to travel to the stage together. Averaging about 95 km per day, we stayed in charming French towns, and passed through Avignon (the famous bridge is disappointingly small, but from an aesthetic and enineering perspective is quite nice), and travelled through fantastic gorges and mountain scenery...unfortunately some of it was marred by the sheer size of the sandwich I ate at lunch causing me some digestion and energy problems. When we got into the Alps we had two days of hard climbing to get to Alpe d'Huez...first day were two cols (passes), one small, one huge (800 vertical metres in 21 km)...and second day were 2 cols (again one small and one huge, similar to the day before)...as well as the biggest climb of my life, the famous, the enormous, the LEGENDARY Alpe d'Huez climb! (this one deserves a paragraph of its own)

So, as we approached the valley that the climb leaves from, more and more cyclists were appearing on the road, going up and down various climbs in the area. This was the first indication of the crowds and fans for this event. Then, as we reached the top of the second (and big) col of the day, first we noticed that it was raining hard, and then we noticed thousands of flies chasing us (their maximum speed seems to be 14 km/hr), and lastly we noticed a group of Trek Travel tourists, apparently waiting for their helicopter to come and pick them up to go to the top of the Alpe d'Huez. As we began the descent, their chopper dutifully came and picked them up! Some people have all the money! At the bottom of the hill, there were people camped everywhere!!! Imagine a place where every square metre of an entire valley is covered in tents or camping cars or RVs, and where people from all over the world (many Canadians even) are just kinda milling about, especially at the grocery store. There we picked up our dinner, that we decided we'd carry up to the top of the mountain as a celebration. Just to add an extra kg we bought a bottle of wine as well! I ate my first dinner and two Mars bars, and we headed uphill...i will never regret having inhaled those two chocolate bars! Within 500 m the road tilted up (to quote a famous OLN announcer) and we were rising at a steady 11 % for 3 km, and pretty much the same for the rest of the climb...which lasted 15 km, covering a vertical drop of 1000 metres with 21 switchbacks! On the way, I did a double take on a few Italians eating cookies and nutella, and they kindly gave me one after I begged a bit. Some Germans gave a glass of Coke, and a little dutch boy gave us some Rabobank candies. Not only that, but people were camped on the side of the road, and they were cheering us most of the way up, clapping, and sometimes giving us a helpful shove! A really awesome atmostphere, if it weren't for the fact that I was sucking wind the whole time. Anyway, luckily I didn't run out of energy (due I think to dinner number 1), and made it up the hill without bonking. My legs were obviously dead, but I was still able to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere. My friend arrived about 5 minutes after me (unwisely he hadn't eaten two mars bars...and I'm a stronger cyclist after 2.25 months of touring) and seemed slightly delirious. We picked a camp site...unfortunately right beside where big trucks were unloading equipment until 4 am, and right beside it a truck blasted a Robbie Williams concert at 7 am. Next day for the race we weren't in great shape, but 4 coffees and some crepes kept us alive. The race itself was pretty amazing, seeing these cycling beasts zooming up the hill. And I got shots of the top fifteen cyclists in Black and White film, which I hope turn out, including Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso! That night we ate burgers that made us sick, and next day we went down the hill to head to Grenoble, and the last 45 km of that leg of my cycling! 15 km from town, my luggage rack broke! Some passing dutch tourists with a truck were kind enough to carry us to town in their truck (after I just walked up to them at the service station and asked). In town I ate lunch with some friends from my winter in the alps, and then we headed onto a train to Paris where (according to the ticket person) bikes are not allowed, but where there is a compartment on purpose for bikes if you know who to ask.

In Paris, I waited for my friend Sharon to arrive, and then we left for Florence, to visit my sister and brother-in-law. I love Florence, and I've already written all about it last year, so I won't do it again. We also went to Cinque Terre, north of there on the coast...amazing villages and fantastic scenery (if you've been following my adventures, much like the Cabo de Gata in souther Spain, but much greener). Getting there was a pain in the ass...We had to change at a village that has two train stations, one of them being the wrong one...we got off at the wrong one (along with three American backpackers) and thus had to wait 30 minutes for the next train to the right one, about a two minute ride. Then another wait for 45 minutes to the first village.

Anyway, after that we went to Rome and stayed 4 nights. Rome is...Unreal. A huge collection of ancient buildings piled on top of one another. Everywhere you turn are two thousand year old buildings or ruins. I think the highlights were the Pantheon (it was incredible to sit in this huge dome thinking about how old it was...and the decorations, though newer, were amazing) and the great Gelateria I found out about near the Trevi Fountain. If you're ever in Rome, look it up, it's called San Crispino's, and take it from me it's got to be the best in the world! Only two small streets North from the fountain...yummmmmm

Finally, we tried to go to Sicily, but it turned out, as we found out two hours before the departure, that when we bought the tickets to that train (a night train with only sleeping cars) there were already no spots left! They failed to tell us this and sold the tickets anyway. So, frustrated, we decided that we'd go North instead of South, and headed to the Alps! It was on a beautiful lake (with ice cold water) in the Dolomites called Lago di Garda. We spent an evening, night and morning and afternoon there, at a really cute tourist town, then headed back onto a train, me for Paris and Sharon for Venice...thus sadly the end of our travelling togother.

And that brings me to now, sitting in an internet cafe at Montmartre. My parents arrived yesterday for a holiday and a conference in Florence (handy for them that the world geology conference happens where my sister lives!). I have no plans...maybe I'll go ride another 1000 km. It wouldn't hurt for the upcoming mountain biking season!

Anyway, that's it for now. I hope you're all well, even after reading this long long email. Cheers! Marc

PS:

Thoughts of the day: ummm...i don't think as much when I'm not riding my bike, soooo...not too much to say here, aside from the fact that you don't get to see the country as well when you're backpacking...cycle touring is the best!

PPS: I have a question for all of you heading off to grad school or jobs outside of Toronto...when are you leaving? My plane ticket gets me back on August 31st, and I was wondering if I should try and advance it to see you all before you leave...thanks