PBP 2007 Fini
Page: 5
Typical French town. Typical, and gorgeous!
Saturday, we biked across Parc Etang—past
countless large rabbits, through a herd of goats that
arranged themselves single-file when we approached—to
Hôtel Camponiel seeking to join the Davis group
pre-ride. We rode with the Seattle group. Gilbert, having
just installed a brand new Rohloff hub on his Moulton, and
spending all his time working on my bike, had not yet
installed shifters and was enjoying the hills riding the most
expensive single speed hub in the world! In the commune
Monfort L'Amaury our group sat on the stone church steps
enjoying treats from the patisserie and basking in the
pleasantness of life in an ancient French village, then
climbed the hill to the ruins of the one-thousand and eleven
year-old castle overlooking the surrounding countryside and
the Forrest de Rambouillet.
Champion marathon Muscovite, and champion of Justice
Restoration, Janet Molokova!
(Photo by Ivo Miesen)
After the pre-ride we joined Jake and Emily in
searching out a bike shop to replace parts lost by the
airlines. Buying a topo-map at Mondo Velo, we discovered the
ridge between Maurepas and Plaisir. Byron had picked up a bit
of a sore throat on the plane so we sought out a pharmacy and
grocery in Plaisir — more Yop! Back at the F1, Janet
Molokova and team Karavan came streaming in excitedly.
Gilbert pointed to the broomstick on the back of one bike,
"Some secret Russian cycling technology," he asked?
"For the flag," replied our Russian friend.
Setting out Sunday for registration, once again in the company of
team Karavan. Riding away from Plaisir, "The American knows
way," Janet called out, and I rode toward the front, but
respectfully remained behind the Team Karavan
flag—which looked a lot like a Camel cigarette logo
painted onto a pillowcase, these folks know how to make it
fun! Embarrassingly, as we neared registration I completely
lost traction on the wet pavement and the bike slid out from
under me while I was trying to make a right turn.
Copyleft © 2007 Adrian Hands.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or
modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version
published by the Free Software Foundation
