77km: Blagnac – Castelnaudary.
While on the plane waiting for takeoff, the pilot and co-pilot introduced themselves over the speakers. The pilot then announced that we were bound for Bordeaux.
Continue reading ““We’re going to Bordeaux… I mean… Toulouse.””
Our full route:
Mosquitoes here in Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines have a taste for this Canadian. With every sentence I type, I get a new bite!
This trip is going to have to be rebranded as our Catalonia bike tour. At this point we’ve already seen more than 650km worth of Catalonia.
We had some idea of how much climbing we’d have to do on our bikes, yet it’s been tougher than expected. The surprising challenge ended up being the wind. In fact, once we reached Port-la-Nouvelle last Saturday, the wind was so intense that I had to convince Yann to take the train to Perpignan so that we could bypass the worst of it. I don’t know why a mouthful of sand wasn’t enough to convince him.
Another thing I learned is how essential it is to be well-fuelled in the mornings. This means big breakfasts! No shame in stuffing your face with 4 chocolate croissants. We need the calories!
I’ve been keeping a paper journal and aim to blog in detail once I’m home.
For photos, visit my Instagram page.
A big part of our preparation has been figuring out what to bring, aside from ourselves and our bikes.
After having seen just how little gear some of the Transcontinental Race competitors have gotten by on, I have decided to remove my front rack and limit my goods to what can be crammed in my 45L Arkel Orca panniers.
Hope everybody had a fantastic Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day! If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry: neither do I. I just know that it means I get a three-day weekend, and get paid for not working on Sunday. This year, I decided to distance myself from the francophone revellers by not just leaving the province of Québec, but the dang country too.
Yann and I spent 1100km riding under our bicycles while they were strapped to the roof of the car to get to Maine. There, we did 101km on our bikes.
“Does it still count as a century ride if it’s done in the USA, where they don’t use metric?” I asked Yann, who responded with a glare.
squaremeat.com 