Part Deux - En Francais

The beauty of the French countryside cries out for cycling!

'Cycling in Lot & Garonne - it helps to have a bike'

Sunday 6th December 10:02 a.m - Pitouret Bas

"Ah, jeeze, it's only a fecking bike, you can have it", said Dermond

I surveyed the beautiful object in front of me.

"It's not just a bike it's a great bike, a real classic; look it's got a Reynolds 531 frame", I said, excitedly.

"Well, yers can have it anyway"

Not a bad bike considering the price!

"But, I must pay you something for it"

"Ah, feck me, just take it, I don't want any money; yers can have it for free - it just needs a new saddle. I've still got another bike, I'll tell yer what, we can go out cycling together some time, but if yer turn out to a fecking professional yer can feck off, O.K?"

He bad me goodbye and I was left alone with my new possession.  I lifted it, in the classic manor, using the saddle and bars, to gauge the weight.

"Mmmm, about a ton and a half", I thought to myself, "but who cares - I'm in love"

I admired the beautiful turquoise paintwork (I'm pronouncing this in my head as turqwarze) and the embossed seat stay - sure signs of quality; the drops engraved with 'hand made' - oh, what a delight.  She's a Dawes 'Super Galaxy', complete with a triple chain set, 'rat traps', mud guards and down tube shifters.  I straddled her for the first time and imagined the fun we would have together.

The Previous Day

03:15 p.m - Decathlon Sports Superstore , Marmond

" 'ow can I 'elp you", said the young assistant

" I'm after 'zis, sorry, this, bike", I replied.

I pointed at the B'twin Triban 500.

"It has great reviews in the U.K, for the money, do you think it will be o.k for all situations, here?"

"On zer flat - yes, in ze montans, you will be tired after only two hours"

At this point Vicki interjected.

 "So, if he goes up the range, what then?"

The assistant pointed at the Triban 520.

"I zink wiv zis bike, monsieur will be very 'appy"

Vicki turned to me and said:

"So if I buy you it for Christmas, will you be satisfied?"

"Oh, certainly, I'll be ecstatic!"

It looks great, feels light and has a 'Sora' group set with triple chain set  - not bad for a holiday bike! After receiving a mini bike fit I added all the extras I needed like: pedals, pump, bottle cage etc, and was just about to make for the pay point when I spotted the soft archery set.

"That would be great fun!", I said to Vicki.

"Well if you're happy to pay for it we can take it.

I turned to the assistant.

"We'll have one of those as well"

"I zink they are for cheeldren", he protested

"How far do the arrows go?"

"About 50 metres, I zink"

"Well I want it then"

We stood at the pay point with my lovely new bike and my new archery set and I felt pretty good about the world.

"You realise that you can't have the bike until Christmas morning", said Vicki

"But I still haven't got a bike", I protested

"Well you can carry on using that old bike you've been doing the baguette runs on a for a few more days, surely?"

"Yeah, I guess so, but please don't call me Shirley (yes, that old 'chestnut' again)"

I was a bit upset that I had been in France for 9 days now and I still didn't have a bike (to be fair, I had agreed with Vicki that I would give priority to getting the house straight), but it would be great to receive the bike on Christmas morning - all red and black and shiny.  I had been building up a real hatred for my Raleigh Ladies Sportive - I really don't know how Neil copes with his one.  It has five gears - all of them sh*t, and weighs an absolute ton; I didn't realise Raleigh had a cast iron frame in their range.
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On the way back home a 'light bulb' went on in my head: I had remembered that Dermond had said he had a bike I could borrow. I'll text him when I get back and see if I can 'borrow' it.  Dermond is the guy who has been doing work for us in our new home - and is know locally as 'Father Ted'.  I really like him, even if every other word he says is 'feck' - I find this really amusing - I'm not sure Vicki does.

The Next Day

08:21 a.m - Pitouret Bas

Pete is made up with his 'classic' Dawes!

Helmet-less and in jogging bottoms I set off for the boulangerie on my new Dawes.  It took a while to get used to using the down tube shifters - but what a revelation! - the gear changes were precise and instant.  When I joined the club my first bike was a Peugeot with DTS, but I don't remember it being as sharp as this.  Our house is halfway up a lane that gets progressively steeper and the short trip is downhill all the way there and uphill all the way back.  On the Raleigh I couldn't quite make the final few meters from the lane and up our drive, but on the Dawes - no effort at all - as I pulled up outside our house I looked through the window and hoped that Vicki had witnessed this momentous achievement.

After the usual superb breakfast I changed into my Tenn 'club kit'.

"Don't go too far, sweetie, you know what you're like for getting lost!", said Vicki reassuringly.

"Don't worry I'll use one of my Strava routes, I'll just do a 15 mile loop"

The lovely river Lot!

Our house is situated part-way up the side of the Vallee du Lot and offers some challenging cycling.  The Dawes was a delight - the extra chain wheel compensates nicely for the the extra weight making climbing a slow but manageable affair.  I was loving it.  Once you reach the top of the valley the views down to the river Lot are amazing.  I was a bit concerned that I didn't have a spare 'chambre a air' , but the 32 mm chunky tyres looked like they could take a pounding. It is all uphill until you reach the high point and then you 'whizz' down to the bottom of valley in one go - a really exhilarating ride through twists and turns - I never felt able to really 'let go' but I'm sure I will in time.

It is a real treat to ride on these French roads, the lack of cars and the great road surfaces add massively to the experience.  The only problem seems to be with dogs who laze around in the road outside some of the houses in the small villages -  I was chased for about 100 meters by a small, but really aggressive 'Yorky looking' dog who wanted to kill me.

Back home I uploaded my ride onto Strava and was delighted that I had got a trophy - seventh overall on the 'D101 Climb'.  This feeling of elation was increased further by the comment I received from Neil saying: 'Nice trophy' - but why then did he find it necessary to point out to me, the next day, that I was 7th out of 7? - cruel b*stard!

I have to be honest and say I didn't do very much cycling while I was there, mostly because I didn't have a bike for the first 9 days , but I am hoping to do a lot more when I go again, on the 22nd Dec.  I have some friends staying with us and my dear friend John Davis, who is a real lover of 'old skool' bikes, is just going to love the Dawes!

The First Day

"Oh, feck me, look at that", I screeched

"Don't try to sound like Dermond - it's not big and it's not clever - what have you seen?", said Vicki

"A big black boar just ran past the window!"

"Where?"

"Well it's gone now"

That Night

We were having a peaceful evening in front of the log fire when we heard a massive kerfuffle going on outside.  We opened the french doors and gazed into the blackness.  The boars were gathering outside and letting us know of their presence through screeching and snorting.  The previous owner had told us that they are living on our land, but at the back and in the trees.  Not being Dr Doolittle I didn't understand what they were saying but it was probably along the lines of 'Feck off, this is our patch".

"We'll have to let the 'Le Chasse' onto our land to sort them out, I don't want them attacking Poppy", said a worried Vicki.

"I think once they know we are living here they will keep away", I said

Sunday morning seems to be when 'Le Chasse' happens.  You can hear gun shots in the distance.

Since that night we have not seen them again, and at the time of writing Vicki, who is still in France has said she hasn't heard them but has seen hoof prints all around the house.  I quite like the idea of them being in the garden as long as they keep their distance so we have decided to go for the option of putting  'Chasse Interdit' signs on our boundaries to keep the hunt out.

Beaujolais at just 2 euros 80 cents a bottle!

Among the many lovely things about being here is the wildlife; we have seen an eagle, plus many other interesting and colourful birds, and red squirrels (they are getting Poppy very excited.)  The old cliche about France is that it offers great food, wine and a slower pace of life - this is so true.  I was delighted to discover Beaujolais Nouveau at 2 euros 80 cents a bottle in the local Carrefore  - this was a great price, but when I when back a few days later it had been reduced to 2 euros! .Vicki and I have accepted that we will definitely become fat alcoholics if we aren't careful.

HSLCC members welcome here!

The house itself was great a 'find', it was built in 2002 using some of the materials from the original farmhouse so it looks old but has all the benefits of a new house. It is only a mile from the Medieval town of Clairac, which is a pretty, but small town on the river Lot and has everything we need.  I'm hoping that members of the club will join me here for some great cycling in due course.


Peter Buss