PBP 2007 Fini

Tuesday was daytime riding, but neither dry nor sunny. As I recall, the section between Fougères and Tinténiac (365km) are much flatter than the rest of PBP. One unfortunate rider was down at an intersection with two telephone company vehicles. French motorists pass differently from motorists in the U.S.. In Europe, there's curved arrows painted in the oncoming lane at the end of passing zones—directing passing motorists back into his own lane. Whereas motorists in the U.S. merge into the oncoming lane and then merge back after passing, French motorists seem to pass as if tracking the curve of that arrow. The section around Fougeres seemed to be the only place where motorists seemed…less than encouraging. A few cars and motorbikes seemed to lean on their horns, but maybe those where blasts of encouragement? It's hard to say—car horns aren't very expressive.

Approaching Fougères (310km), I pull out to get water from two boys standing by the road. They pour their whole bottle into my camel-back, then one jumps on his bike with the empty, thrashing furiously at the pedals to get home and back with the refill. Just outside of the control I met up with Ivo Miesen. "And is that the Pentax with which you've taken so many stunning photos of the Ukraine and Caucuses," I asked? Ivo checks the viewfinder, "Yes, and I've already taken 400 on PBP." Overall, there seems to be fewer photos of PBP-2007 on the web than PBP-2003. Probably the rain kept many cameras packed in their cases.