July 18, 2023
Sans Souci
Dijon to Savigny
Being in Dijon, I could run errands. The campground's not far from the center of town. I dealt with postcards, about some presents for my kids, and I bought some new cleats for my bike shoes, since the old ones were getting quite worn down and not holding my foot as tightly as they should.
There was also another thunderstorm at 11am, that passed by quickly. Increasingly I'm coming to the theory that there are no "rain days" for bike touring in France, there's just "rain hours". I watch the weather radar, to get a general sense of one of the storm is coming, and then when the rain drops start to fall I head for the nearest shelter. The Dijon campground had a breakfast restaurant there was under a giant tent, so as the rain drop started to fall a shoved everything into my bags come out road to the big tent, in organized everything as the skies opened up.
Between being exhausted from yesterday, running errands, and the thunderstorm, it wasn't until noon that I left. On the way out of town, in what seemed like not the best neighborhood of Dijon, a French driver passed me, and stopped in front of me in the middle of the street and opened his door. Ordinary looking French guy, ordinary car. Thinking he was making it delivery in a strange place or something, I started biking around him. But then he was looking at me and it was apparent he had stopped in order to say something to me, which so far is my limited French comprehension allows, I think was "Vous êtes sans Souci?" (You are without worries?). He didn't seem mad, but he didn't seem friendly, either. And he hadn't pulled over. In the moment but I actually did was say "huh?"and keep biking, which I think is the universally correct response to a driver that stops and opens the door of their car to say something to a cyclist. I actually then turned into a neighborhood and did a loop around a block before continuing on my way, just to make sure I had lost him. I then spent the next 20 minutes wondering what he meant. Was this some sort of sarcasm? Did he think I was biking carelessly somehow? This seemed most likely, but I hadn't done anything unusual in the proceeding five minutes except actually wait at a temporary stoplight for a construction site, which I think 99% of French bicyclists would not have done (a careful bunch, but not ones for rules). Maybe it was literal, a comment on riding a bike with bags strapped to it, which made me seem carefree? It's the "What's the frequency Kenneth?" of this bike tour (happily a no-injuries variant). And in any event he's kind of right, and so the post gets its name.
Exiting Dijon, now I was solidly in Burgundy, wine country. There were lots and lots of vineyards. Vineyards are not my favorite landscape of France. Maybe there are people who really enjoy wine who just like thinking about the grapes growing there so that they can eventually turn into delicious alcohol, but to me it just looks like a giant monocrop wasteland.
There's no shade and all the plants are the same. The only trees are in the distance, on the hilltops. And as much as I love trees, I'm not biking to the top of the hill just to see them.
It was also hot. Probably about a high of 87 degrees Fahrenheit. In the exposed sun, it felt even hotter. However come up I've developed pretty good systems for surviving the heat. Most of it involves bringing a ton of water with me and pouring it all over myself a regular intervals. It becomes a little bit like being in a swimming pool, except on a bike ride. Vigilant about where all of the water sources are, but especially in a more developed area like burgundy, it's not too hard. The villages here are different, they drip with wine money. There are wine themed restaurants and little shops. The public buildings seem much better maintained; there's no permanently closed boulangeries.
There were also good place names for selfies:
In order to try to get on an earlier schedule, I called it a day after 50 kilometers, around 4:00 p.m. less exciting day then yesterday, but some days are just normal bike touring days. I have decided on a new goal, which for tomorrow is to reach the last high point of the trip. After that it really is seemingly all downhill. I still have six biking days left, including the last day when I have to arrive back in Paris (likely aided by a train). So if I can just finish this uphill part, then I would have five downhill days. That would be exciting.
Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 1,001 km (622 miles)
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