April 15, 2022
To Lunel
Some unqualified good news
As we’re packing to finally leave Uzès this morning Rachael asks for her radar tail light. We shuffled our belongings yesterday while we were off on our hike and then later changing hotels, and I can’t remember offhand where I packed them. I look in all the obvious places and come up dry; but next to the tool bag I find the Garmin, and reach to hand it to Rachael. She has an odd look on her face - I’d say stunned - because she also has a Garmin in her hand. We’ve apparently had them both all along but just didn’t look hard enough.
So do you think this counts as good news? We do. Ca-Ching! We hear the lovely sound of 700 unspent euros staying in the Team Anderson account.
Embarrassing, but a way better outcome than our short tour from Victoria to Portland four years ago, when I lost my iPad on day one of the tour and assumed it had been stolen at the Seattle train station. Running a whole tour without an iPad to manage photos and post the journal with was a dismal thought, so we were happy to be able to find a replacement at the Home Depot in Mount Vernon. Trip saved, but $$$ squandered as we discovered a month later when I magically pulled the lost iPad out of my pannier when we were packing to leave for Dubrovnik. At least this time we were lucky to have failed in our search for a new Garmin.
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We’re down to breakfast before 7, and out the door before 9 - one of our earliest starts of the tour. We anticipate a slow 25 mile ride to Nimes, where we’ll catch the train to Lunel. It’s already warm and pleasant - almost 60 already when we wake up - and we want to allow as much time as possible for the bike shop to fit us into their schedule, so there’s no point in stalling around in the room.
I’ve plotted out the flattest route to Nimes that I can find, although it adds about eight miles over the hillier direct route. Neither of us really trusts my derailleur and we want to give it every chance to see us through to the station. The one I found is nearly perfect, with only a single climb of any significance at all. I walk a short 8% piece of that one to avoid putting any extra tension on the system, but otherwise I just bike at a smooth, even pace the whole way. It’s a perfect ride for the situation, with a successful result.
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Steve
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We arrive in Nimes about 11:45, with the next regional leaving in about fifteen minutes. I use three or four of them up trying to figure out the French dialog on the ticket kiosk, but that's a success too. were on the platform in plenty of time, helped out by the rare good luck of finding an elevator large enough for both bikes, at both ends of the passage.
The platform is crowded when we arrive, including six or seven other cyclists. The train arrives, and all the bikers quickly rush down the platform to the door of the bike car. Fortunately it’s easy to just roll right on, but unfortunately there are more bikes than slots. We don’t really pass this test, and end up trapped - we’re in the middle of the car with our bikes and the way to the exit is blocked with other bikes clogging the aisle, with their riders having moved on to claim seats. So that’s a concern we puzzle over on the short, two stop journey to Lunel.
On the way Rachael strikes up a conversation with one of the bikers - a Frenchman from Normandy with quite good English skills. I was physically one off from the conversation so could really only overhear part of it, but it was quite interesting and very travel-oriented. He’s a photographer and very well traveled through his profession - he’s lived in Boston and New York, traveled in South America, and was very interested to hear about our experiences in Taiwan and Japan since he’s never been to Asia.
When we arrived at the short stop in Lunel we had a real situation on our hands. The man Rachael had been conversing with helped out, enlisting another man to help move the other bikes to the side and help us with our luggage so I could slip through with our own bikes. Without their help I’m not really sure we’d have made it off the train.
It’s positively hot when we pull up to the bike store, Cyrpeo. Unsurprisingly they’re closed for lunch and won’t be back for an hour and a half - so we bike a few blocks to the center of town, find a free table under the shade of the plane trees, and have lunch ourselves. As we sit we watch the street traffic pass by - a steady stream of bikers and walkers - and are taken with what a sunny, attractive place Lunel seems.
We’d never really noticed Lunel on the map before but today it feels like a very attractive place, one we might use as a base. It’s a better size for us than sprawling Montpellier a few miles to the southwest, and is in an appealing location - on the edge of the Camargue, not far from Sommieres and Montpellier, on the train line, within a day’s ride of the foothills. A place worth considering.
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Two thirty comes and we head back to the bike store, a bit apprehensive and wondering what the rest of the day will look like. How soon will they fit us in - later today? Tomorrow? In the meantime how will we manage logistics since our hotel (the Ibis, the only place in town that still had vacancies over Easter weekend) is a mile and a half north? It could be an awkward and tiring afternoon.
It’s neither of those though, because the shop is waiting for us. The apprentice mechanic has my bike up on the rack spinning through the gears within five minutes of our arrival, wondering what the problem is - the gears shift smoothly through all the gears, the derailleur is new. Why am I in here? Heh, heh - doesn’t this guy know anything about pull ratios?
The owner of the shop takes over. He pulls out the box with my name on it and a Shimano 105 inside and gets to work. Fifteen minutes later he pronounces the bike as good as new - better than new! In the meantime I’ve been checking out the clothing department and find a new shirt I like - a souvenir, I tell him. We leave him with our nearly new 9 speed derailleur, now just a brick we don’t need and confident that somehow he’ll put it to good use somewhere. When he presents me the bill we’re charged the list price for the 105, the jersey, a new cable, and $0 00 for labor.
A great shop, which further disposes us to Lunel. As we’re chatting on the way out the door though, he tells us the big drawback of life here - the winds. Have you heard of the Mistral, he asks? It’s unbearable.
It’s hot when we bike the mile and a half to our hotel, the Ibis at the north end of town - it must be near 80. I’ve got a dim mental image of the Ibis chain, dating back to a place near the DeGaulle airport 30 years ago - an ultra-efficiency unit, it had the tiniest washroom space we’ve ever been lodged with. We’ve stayed at two on this tour though, both reasonably priced and quite nice. I’ll have to reconsider.
Finally, a word of thanks for everyone who offered they’re condolences, sympathies and advice over the last few days. It all helped, and it looks like we’re back on the right track again. Now if UPS will just pay up for those two suitcases!
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Video sound track: Mr, Lucky, by Sarah Vaughn
Ride stats today: 29 miles, 600’; for the tour: 740 miles, 38,800’
Today's ride: 29 miles (47 km)
Total: 740 miles (1,191 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 13 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 14 |
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Here's to an ordeal-free rest of your tour!
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They took it away, used it for a few adventures, and then quietly snuck it back.
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