Days 12-16 – Rest Lyonnaise

Bonjour bonjour! We have been disconnected from the net (and any sense of responsability) for a long while. A good long while We just leaved Lyon, our first big stop and the conclusion of 1/4 of our journey.

Food update

Just one day after writing what Daniel eats in a typical day we started having problems. The way from Yssingeaux to St. Etienne was “short” (62km) but Daniel’s legs were in very bad shape. It was not muscle ache but simple fatigue. They didn’t want to pedal any more. We had to take it slow, with low gears and a lot of patience, and the day seemed to be eternal. One could think it was because of the lack of rest, but because we couldn’t solve that we assumed it was about the food. The diet was upgraded and the next day (St. Etienne-Lyon) was a breeze, the legs working like the first day. Therefore Daniel is now strictly eating 5 times a day! And those are 5 full meals each. Here is the diet for St. Etienne:

Breakfast: Cereal+Milk+Banana
2nd Breakfast: Pastry from bakery (around 300g of bread, creme fraiche, ham, and sausage), 3 energy bars, 1 peach, 1.5L of isotonic drink.
Lunch: 2 pears, 1 peach, 3-floor tuna sandwich with egg (maybe 650g).
2nd Lunch: 420g of canned raviolli.
Dinner: 2 chicken filets, pasta with white sauce (350g), rice with sausage and cheese (200g).

Eating is good…

Naked Europe

As a young copper ball I used to be amazed by the documentaries about african tribes who didn’t wear clothes. Some would be topless, some totally naked, and I wondered how weird it would be to be in such place, with everyone naked around you. It is, for me, a rule of common sense: thou shallt cover thyself. Ah but you don’t have to go as far as Africa to find these weird tribes, they inhabit ALL Europe!

In the Sauna in Germany it is forbidden to enter with clothes, not optional to be naked; a rule. It is terribly uncomfortable to go to a beach in Spain, there is nowhere to look without staring at someone naked. I don’t want to stare, but they are everywhere! And now France…

I played goalie on the football match in St. Etienne. All fun except that there was a clear line of sight to the changing room, and no door! The whole match (1 hour) naked men were coming and going… it was… uncomfortable. How do you concentrate? Ah and of course, after the match, it was our turn to come and go… naked. No curtains, no doors… Hell they practically took their clothes off on the playfield and walked to the showers. What is left to do? Get naked, look down, go, shower… uncomfortable. After all, do I really want to get used to it? The risk of “nakedness” being a regular thing, with no fun, is too big.

THOU SHALLT COVER THYSELF!

Last sprint to Lyon

The last biking day was fantastic. The goal was so close! We were as motivated as we could be. The route started climbing after St. Etienne but a big part was later downhill. We found several fellow bikers along the climb that kept us company.

Ah only 20km to Lyon!!!! Only 20km to rest!!! That deserves a picture… but then two road bikers take advantage of the pause to overtake us. Hmmm that is not fair, but wait, they are not going that fast. We catched one, overtook the other one. The one we catched soon took another route but the one we overtook was trying to overtake us again, JA! Nothing like a small race to finish the journey

Did I say the last day was a breeze? Je je, a breeze until the last 20km. It was a fierce race, 30kmh average, Daniel was screaming of pain (literally) at the end. After all, we carry around 30kg of extra weight and wide tires. Ok, that only means the road biker was not that good because he should have won, but we arrived at Lyon at the same time (did he realize we were racing?)

Lionesse vacations

Our hosts, the couchsurfers and the Jond family in Lyon, have treated us like kings. It has been another world. It is funny how fast one forgets things. Riding a car suddenly feels weird, you move but make no effort! Not to mention not having to pitch the tent every day and sleeping on a real bed.

Jean-François in St. Etienne took us on a little tour of the outside of the city. We got lost and instead of the majestic view of the city from the highest mountain we got a majestic view of trees in the highest mountain. A funny thing, he took us to play footbal… precisely on the day Daniel’s legs were fatigated, ja ja ja, but it was actually really good.

I will not write every detail of our vacations in Lyon… would be too much and you wouldn’t enjoy it. I cannot thank the Jond family enough, they were too nice. Luis, Faustine’s brother, was our personal tour guide every day. As a welcome, they took us to the ruins of an old theater made of stone. The cool thing was, that there was a big concert going on (Le nuits de Fourvier – Goran Gregovic), fabulous. They took me to eat traditional Lyonnaise food… again fabulous. They really did too much for us, thanks!

Lyon has a huge park with a Zoo inside, and it is all free! Very impressive.

Stats

Day #12: 62km – 3:30h
Day #13: 77km – 3:18h
Day #14: Rest
Day #15: Rest
Day #16: Rest

GPS

Thanks to all who are still with us reading and cheering!!!