Getting home was easy. Across the street and on to the train in Clermont, down one ramp and up another to change trains in Lyon, and off the express and onto the local in Beaune. When I get off the train at last, its two minutes to my house. The total distance pedalled was less than one kilometer.

Now to assess the tour. I am not the milage hound I used to be. My daily average on this tour was relatively modest, and I think I like it that way. In Aurillac and Figeac I ahd time to wander around town, visit museums, take photos, and even had time for a nap. That with less than ten kilometers pedalling. I think I like this day off business, and I'm going to more of it on future tours.

I enjoyed the semaine federale, but I had to work at having a zen attitude about things.

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Its fun to meet friends old and new, and the semaine is made for that.

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The semaine will be in Dijon next year, so I will be volunteering and not riding, but I suspect that my future participations will be fewer, or shorter in duration.

The tour was in serious climbing country most of the way. It was a rare day when I didn't have at least five hundred meters of vertical, and many days were significantly more. Despite that, I only got off to push twice, once for about two hundred meters on the co lde Cere, and once for about a kilometer on the very last col. The second time I chalk up to fatigue, but the first was due to gradient, which was a bit over twelve percent at that spot. In all though, I think I did OK for a loaded tourer. I also suspect that the endless climbs contributed to my weight loss of 2.3 kg, a bit over five pounds. This in itself is not a bad thing, as a lighter load is easier to haul up hills!

The Auvergne is very beautiful, but if you go be prepared for a lot of cheese and potato dishes. I got rather tired of aligot and truffade, the two most common.

Riding when the temperature is above 30C is nasty, and can be dangerous. I will try not to do much of that again. If it can't be helped, I will drink even more water than I did on this tour.

Finally, every tour in this country is a revelation. The scenery in France is so diverse from one region to another that its never boring. I am more than ever proud, and just a little awed by my adoptive home, and I plan to continue my explorations of it as long as I can turn the pedals. Thanks for reading. I'll be on the road again soon! Oh,and I never did hear from the bike constructor I contacted at the Sem Fed.