PBP 2007 Fini

Refreshed from my hour's nap and proud to have made it this far having lost only one pair of sunglasses (in '03 I lost a whole pannier full of stuff at Carhaix) I saddled up and…oh no! The headlamp that had been so effective at illuminating turns was lost! They were not found on the ground where I'd fallen just outside the dormitory, the thick hedge into which I'd parked my bike, the restroom, the time-control area, the lost-&-found—Rien. I'd wasted too much time searching for that pannier in '03, this time I minimized my loss and set out without (I bet that headlamp is still stuck in that big hedge!) resolving to just follow other randonneurs through the night.

It was a long, wet, cool and slow night. It helps to recite the Bene Gesserit litany against sleep:

A number of kiosks were dolling out hot soup and coffee in villages along the route. Descending one dark and slick section of road in the countryside I moved left to go around a small group of cyclists stopped on the right shoulder and moved too far left—WAY to far. Leaving the left side of the road I slid on wet grass and crashed. Wow, I must be really sleepy to have done that—time to take a break and collect yourself. As best I could tell, the cyclists who'd stopped were French and were looking for…something. I joined the search, figuring doing so would be a good mental exercise. Bikes passed, one-by-one searchers departed, until it was just the one Frenchman and I. I think it was a pair of glasses we were looking for, but they didn't turn up, the stream of cyclists passing had diminished, I wished Monsieur a bonne chance and pushed on.