Journal by Christian Hoverath

Day 1, Cologne to Bonn
Today was fun. We had this TV crew playing around with us for more than 2 hours (1 hour was what we had thought about). Then we climbed the cathedral and started the ride, along the Rhine. One of the fun events here was when I dismounted into that pile of dog crap. Chris was pretty lucky at that one. He fell and with his knee he slid thru the grass next to the bike path. I dismounted about 2 m behind the point where he stopped and... Well, imagine the rest. And now imagine he would have fallen a little later. That would have been a nasty one. For the rest of the ride, nobody ever looked at the map until we reached Bonn, so we didn't take the shortcut that was suggested and as a consequence we rode 45 instead of 29km. Finding the youth hostel was another interesting task. The map for Bonn we had was of poor quality and did only show major roads, so we had to guess and ask to find the hostel. On the way to it Aaron hit a woman coming out of a cafe and walking right onto the bike path. Her ellbow was a little bit bloody, but except for that she was fine. Then we reached the hill to the hostel, about 5km long. Remembering what my uncle tought me (he used to race on two wheels), to do your own thing on hills otherwise you can easily die on one of the following days or suffer knee problems, I took off and got to the hostel about half an hour before everybody else arrived, but still about 20 minutes after Frank, who rode the first day with us and took a shortcut. I was pretty surprised by the climb since I had never practiced on hills before. The hostel was really nice, we got three rooms, four people each.

Day 2, Bonn to Koblenz
Instead of finishing with 58 we did 77km today. It took us 10 k to only get from the hostel to the river, which should have been about 5 or 6 considering the "short cut" thru a park. Well, then we got lost before even reaching the park. Then, after hitting the Rhine it didn't take too long until small groups were formed and people rode at their own paces. It was really surprising that we all met for lunch at the same point. It was in Remagen, and afterwards we decided to go to the museum at the bridge there. It has been built during WW1 and was destroyed in, I think, WW2. One of the adventures we had then was just following the river with a group of 7 or 8 people until we hit kind of a dirt trail with a tall wall on our right and the river on our left. We decided to keep on riding, since we thought that it couldn't last that long. Well, bummer that it did. After a couple k we saw a ladder on the wall (which has probably been more than 5m tall) and decided to find a way to get the Cokers back on the road without hurting ourselves. So, a couple people onto the ladder, passing the Cokers to the next person and so on. Scot’s uni was the worst. It was the heaviest one and came pretty late. Back on the road we met the others and rode together for a short while. Later on a couple of us stopped at a restaurant to get water and Andy, Chris and John kept riding. They got 20 min ahead of us and, because I felt like going faster (riding with a big group is a pain for me so far(not meaning it isn't fun!!!), because I have been practicing at average speeds of 23+ and most of the other riders around 17, but I’ll get used to it), I took off and wanted to catch up to them. As I found out later they stopped somewhere else and so i missed them, cruising at 25 and more kmh for 20k until I got to Koblenz. There I had to ask for ways to first cross the Rhine and then the Mosel to get to the hostel. Once close to the hill I started asking for the steep way up. The night before Andy told us about it and said everybody making it up would get ice cream. A sign said 17% and on the top I checked my computer to find out that it was 1.2k long. It was a lot of work to ride up, but it was worth it. Connie's first comment was: "You're looking dead. Did you ride up all the way?" Well, I got there an hour before everybody else did and so Dana, Connie and I started to worry, especially since I was sure that there were people ahead of me. When we saw the next group we started to relax. So, I was the only one to ride up that "Ehrenbreitstein" hill all the way. Later that night me and Elijah tried to fix Tanya's bearing, not being succesful. I got to bed around 1, after a really good massage.

Day 3, Koblenz to Bernkastel-Kues
The ride was scheduled with 94.8k, but after the last two days we really didn't know what to expect. Surprisingly we came pretty close to the estimate. We took two shortcuts and so we made it in 98.73 km. Those who didn't take the second shortcut finished the day with 110k. I don't wanna know what it would be like if we would not have taken these and just had followed the river’s bendings. Well, we started out as a group, riding along the Mosel. Pretty close to the hostel Elijah ran into a woman. Somewhere on the way I had to go to the bathroom really badly and so I stopped at a restaurant. Since nobody waited (I didn’t tell them to, wanted them to ride on) I continued the ride on my own. After a couple k I was somehow concerned because I couldn't find anybody and saw that I should have crossed the river 2km ago. So, I rode back to cross it and met a couple more people, but not those I expected to be ahead of me, since I lost those about 20 minutes ago and the guys I met at that point only about 10minutes before I caught up. I kept riding until I hit a bridge close to which we should have met support. I rode around on the side I was on for a little while and then rode back to the bridge to be visible in case support would show up. Suddenly I heard people yelling my name. Those were the guys I was looking for. They said they would have been riding on the right side (the side I was on before, but thought I would have been wrong, so I rode back to cross) and I passed them a couple k ago, but would not have heard them on the other side of the river. Well, we met Connie and Dana and decided to ride to the next town to have lunch there. The owner of the restaurant there told us about a shortcut which we ended up taking. It was a really good one, cut about 7k and was a hill. I think this was the one I started to know that I love hills. It was a 12%, 3.5km one, the descent was 15% and 3k. I was the only one who rode the whole way to the top, even tho I had to fight at some points, turning to the left and right for a revolution to make it less steep. Well, I got to the top and waited for ten minutes, I wanted to wait for the first one to show up. It was Andy and a little bit later we were on our way down. At a really nice spot we took a break because you could see so far, it was just too great. Chris caught up to us at that point and we continued the ride as a group of three. We cut another loop of the river, hitting two hills, not as steep and long but still fun. About 8km before we got to Traben I took off because I wanted to ride a little faster. I got there about 15min before Andy and Chris and then we took the van to the hostel because we could either walk 7km (there was a walking dirt path you couldn't ride on) or take the van. The others got there more than 3 hours later. The three of us tried to find a place to get food at 11pm and the only place we could find was a Chinese. We ate a whole lot (Andy paid for me, training competition). It was too funny to see the table afterwards. Andy and me, “the chopstick experts,” got food all over the table, while Chris, who used chopsticks for the first time ever, got most of his food into his mouth. Actually, I don’t think Andy and I need chopsticks to get a table dirty. We stayed up long, thinking about the day and writing diaries. When we wanted to sleep, I couldn’t sleep on my back because I got a sunburn in Camelbak shape.

Day 4, Bernkastel to Luxembourg
The total distance of today was 128.50km, instead of 108. Last night we decided to sleep a little longer, what probably was a mistake. We didn't start until 10 and stopped at a grocery store to eat, even tho we have had breakfast these 10 k ago. After a couple minutes Aaron took off and we didn't see him again until we got to our final destination. After restarting about 30 minutes later we passed a small river and took another long break. Then, we came to a little town and Elijah, Tammy and I wanted to take a short cut, which would have cut about 4 k and to have a little adventure. After not being able to find the marked street we started to ask people who told us the shortcut wouldn't exist. Tammy and Elijah asked somebody to use their bathroom and I tried to find the shortcut. Since I couldn't find it I thought the others would already have left and so I decided to catch up. Somehow I got into vineyards and it took me some time to figure out how to get back onto the road (I must have missed a sign because the first parth of the path was thru the vinyard, but then I couldn’t find any more signs for quite a while). Soon I caught up to the group which was waiting in front of a restaurant, but Tammy and Elijah still weren't there. We decided to wait and this stop took another 30 minutes. A couple km later, close to the point were we wanted to meet Connie and Dana, the group stopped again, next to the mosel, thinking about swimming. I rode the 2 k to the meeting point and talked to the support crew about the day so far. Connie could see that I was a little bit upset (and I was, because we took so many breaks and were going slow enough so I started to have doubts about finishing) and she said I would be right. We'd take too many breaks and would never be able to finish the day keeping this pace. This break lasted for another 45minutes. Another hour or so later we finally got into Trier, about 2 hours behind schedule. There we met Simon, a unicyclist from England, who wanted to join us for the day. After this 5min break Andy, Chris, John, Scot and me took off and continued the ride. We stopped in Kons, the last major town before the border, to hit a grocery store. We stopped there, buying a whole lot of food and water, refilling CamelBaks and water bottels. Never before I had so much weight in my CamelBak, which was filled with 3l of water, 2 apples, 2 bananas, 2 pears, cheese and Powerbars. We knew stores would close soon, since it was about 6 and we knew we still had about 40 k to ride (ended up to be more). This stop probably took us another hour, but it was worth it. It was so much fun, eating, playing around, finding a pay phone to call support telling we were crossing the border soon. Scot bought a potatoe salad which wasn't the best idea for the upcoming 10k. At least he said it would have been to heavy. After crossing the border we got away from the river and it started to become hilly. The best one was a 10%er, length 1k, directly following a 12% hill of a couple 100 meters. On one of the earlier hills Chris and I got in serious trouble. We both had to go to the bathroom for a couple k now and we just couldn't find one. So we asked John for his toilette paper he always carried around and... It started to get dark soon and Andy began to die. I don't really know what had happened but he was totally out of energy. This was one of the first moments I saw the cameradery. We all gave him food and he was strong enough to make it, motivating himself enough to reach the hostel. One of the funnier moments was when we saw the support vehicle. We stopped at a gas station to get liquid (gatorade and water) and to call support to tell them we were still riding, getting closer, when they passed us, riding back, heading towards Germany. As we found out later, TNT had called to get a ride for the last 30km since it was really dark, darker than dark. Luxembourg doesn't have too many lights on the sides of the streets and it seemed to be really dangerous. If we would not have known that we were really close, I don't know. The fun part about the distance were the signs. It started about 30 km out of Luxembourg city that signs said 16k. The next one was 16 and then 15. We had these 15km signs for another 10k, seriously. We rode 2k and the next sign was 15 again. We started to really hate these signs, especially Scot. We finally got in at 10.30, about half an hour after Aaron. Down at the front desk we met Simon who had just reached the hostel with his car. Somewhere on the way one of his cranks broke right in the middle, I have never seen that on a Coker before. Elijah and Javier, who had been riding with the girls, finally reached the hostel at half past midnight. It was so cool to see them and they were smiling, a satisfied smile of pride. And they could be proud on it. I don't really know what happened, but I think Tammy told Elijah to keep on riding because he really wanted to. And Javier said he would not let him do it on his own. So they rode thru dark Luxembourg, reaching the hostel. After getting a couple really nice massages and being lotioned, Tammy, Tanya and I stayed up until 4, laughing and talking about everything. They are really cool persons, so easy to have fun and laugh with.

Day 5, Luxembourg, Day off
Today was a day off and I think we all needed it. Even tho I wanted to ride Connie said she wouldn’t let me because I would be looking too tired and needed the break. So, I somehow woke up at 10 and then immediately went downtown with Andy and Chris. I only brushed my teeth and that’s it. And that’s how I felt walking around. Not too great and a little smelly. We got fruit for the next day and went to an internet place. Until we had found a place for breakfast it was lunchtime (1230) and we had a pizza. We went back to the hotel, I took a quick shower and then I went back downtown with Dana and Aaron. Then we, as far as I remember Andy, Connie, Dana, John, Scot and Tammy, went to a huge grocery store to get group food and stuff for ourselves. Getting back it was almost time for dinner. We split into two groups, one having Chinese and we, Chris, Elijah, Tammy, Tanya and I, had Mexican. Tanya broke her glass and spilled all her Sprite over her CamelBak. At a Chinese street artist, one of those making things out of wire, I ordered a unicycle before we got food. I drew him one because he wasn't sure about my explanation and he said it would be impossible. Then his wife told him something and he drew a scetch and finally ended up making one. In the middle of dinner I went back to him, he sold it to me and said I should come back in 15 minutes, because he would make a better one and I could trade it for the one I had. I wanted to have one for Connie’s collection and so I decided to keep this one and Tanya and I bought the better one for her. This was pretty much the end of the day.

Day 6 was Luxembourg - Verdun
The distance was 111.06km. We made it to start riding at 8 in the morning. Luxembourg is one of these countries where almost everybody is supposed to ride a bike and so we met a couple bikers on their sunday morning rides. And, since Luxembourg is pretty hilly, you can imagine that I had fun. I got a comment from a biker that made me feel a little bit proud. When I passed him on a hill, he gave me this weird, tired look and asked: "Are you Lance Armstrong?" After racing another guy he caught up to me on the down and started to ask me where I was from, but I didn't get it, since it was in French. Then he asked me “Deutsch?" and we started to talk. He was about 60 years old, I guess, and really friendly. He liked the idea of the trip and wanted to lead us to the French border. On the way there we stopped at his house and he gave us water and the girls used his bathroom. After the border, Aaron, John and me took off and soon it was only me and Aaron left. In the town where we were supposed to meet Dana and Connie we called the SV. We decided to meet in the middle of the towns, between where they and we were. Aaron and I rode back a little bit to leave a sign at the entry sign of the original planned town for lunch, so that the others would know where to go. On the way to that sign we met Andy, Chris and Scot. Then we got back onto our unis. It turned out to be a pretty narrow road in the middle of a couple fields and we had a hard time when cars came by, because it hardly fit two. I got my worst Camelbak sunburn this noon, I think. On the way to Verdun we wanted to stop at Fort de Vaux, one of the battlefields of WWI. While the others decided to take a short cut and walked up most of the hill on a dirttrail, I rode it up on the road. It was the toughest hill for me so far. Not because it was steep or so, but because I fried my CamelBak at the bottom and then rode 10 km without any water in the heat. I saw a lot of cool stuff on the way up, and the fort itself was pretty interesting, too. It was worth taking the detour to get there. By the way, northern France is really cool. In my opinion we have the nicest countryside here and it is really hilly. All the hay, pastures, cows, fields… it is like a huge painting. Getting into Verdun we met TNT, Elijah and Javier who didn't go to the Fort. They were at a bakery and so we rode into Verdun as a group. Since we were in France we all needed to get money, and so we stopped at a bank and that ATM ate my card. I was shocked at first, but then I could laugh. And since it was a sunday I had to wait for the other day to get it back. Luckily my mom has still had some French money from when she and my sister had been there two years ago, which she gave to me, and I was able to get dinner. I had two Crepes and a turkey sandwich (thanks, Aaron, for getting it). Then we went back to the hostel where Scot took the windows apart. You could only open them half way, but since it was really hot he took a screwdriver, unscrewed the things that were blocking the window and got us air! I got a nice massage and went to bed.

Day 7, Verdun to Neufachateau, 121.47km
Since I had to go to the bank, me and John, luckily fluent in French, got up half an hour later than the others and left the hostel about 15 minutes after the main group. Aaron and Scot rode with us to get traveller's checks cashed and Javier even left after we did. So, we went to the bank, I got my card back, Aaron and Scot their checks cashed and off we went, taking a wrong way that turned out to be still working, just on the wrong side of the rivers, on the left. Since we saw a bridge on the map we decided to keep on going until we would get there. Not even half way I saw a bridge and we wanted to take it. Don't listen to me, my sense of orientation isn't the best! We followed the road which crossed the first of the three rivers and turned onto a path with grass, hay, mud and cows on both sides, ending at the second river. So, back to the main road, walking part of it because of very bad ground conditions. Back on it, John told Aaron that he was having hay under is foot, what made him take it off the pedal to shake it off and fall, John right behind him without a chance to not run into his uni. John was kinda mad, but it didn't take too long until he calmed down. After 20km we already caught up to the others. I don't know how, but they were standing there, taking a break on the side of the road. I guess it was a result of us, riding with the faster people of the group who don't have to take many breaks. A couple km later we got into a town and some people bought fries and kebaps (not me, though. Not good food). John and Scot took off and we continued the ride as a group of six. A short while later we reached a hill, pretty long and really steep. On the way down I received a phone call by Javier, who wanted to tell me that he was on his way. After we got down and took a left onto a quieter road, Andy quit. I couldn't really believe it, after he put that much time into it! I thought he would be the rider in best shape and I would have loved to help him somehow. He said that he would not have been able to recover from the Luxembourg day. I guess the fries did the rest. Aaron, Chris, Elijah, Tanya and me were left in this group. Riding thru a town a friendly lady asked us if we wanted water, which we didn't take since I already had the feeling that we were late. And then, only a couple hundred meters later, it happened. It hadn't happened to me for several years, probably about 6 or 7. I looked down, saw my shoelace getting caught between crank and hub and then I hit the ground, without a chance to roll out of it because this heavy uni was attached to me. Luckily we weren't going fast. I lost skin on my knee and my hand. The skin on my hand was still attached to my palm in one spot, so you could flip it open. One of the people who watched it let me use the sink in his garage to clean it. The roads here are pretty bad and soft, the tar was kinda melting, so I got it everywhere. It took me a while until I thought I got it all off and out and then the other riders got their bandaids out and doctored me up. Aaron wanted to cut the piece of skin off, but I remembered the doctor leaving it on when I had something similar on my finger so I told him not to. They really helped me, it felt nice to have friends around. Lunch was in a town called Commercy, where we got around 2. The van came our way to go and get Andy. Dana and Tammy were in there. Tammy didn't ride today because she wasn't feeling well. I think she was really muscle and saddle sore. When they saw us, they waved and wanted to drive away, but when they heard us yelling they stopped, gave us bandaids and then drove away. The whole town was dead. I mean, there were cars driving around, but no restaurant, except for one was open. They weren't really friendly there and wouldn't let us drink our stuff, so we had to disappear around the corner and drink and eat there. The support van came back and the others were ready to leave. Since I had Connie and Dana taking a look on my leg (I wasn't sure if all the tar was gone. Now, Connie’s book fell onto my knee and I was like “sorry” because I wasn’t sure if there was any blood on the book. So, Connie said: “Why? It doesn’t matter. Or do you have AIDS?” I answered:”I don’t think so” and Scot was like: “Have you ever had sex?” with all the people sitting around. I mean, I don’t care if people ask me stuff like that, but it was just too funny how he asked) I told them to leave and left about 10 minutes later. And guess what, I got lost! Luckily we had the cell phones. I called Aaron and, since he missed me, he was already on his way back and we met right where we split up. It was good that Connie was standing on the side of the road, otherwise I would have missed the turn and would have never gotten back to that place. So, Aaron and I rode back and, now this may sound unbelievable, I found the road we had to take, almost getting lost again. We caught up to the others at a hill, that was really, really steep and long. Some were just taking a break in the middle of the hill, but I didn't dismount since I want to ride every single hill up to the top. When I got to the top I rode back down to the others, and the support vehicle arrived. They stopped somewhere to give us fresh water and food. I rode back down to the others and then there was this biker. I mounted again and started to get closer. When the hill got flatter I just gave it all my energy and passed him, reaching a maximum of 33kmh. When I rode back down to the van I looked into a couple smiling faces. I think it was John who said: "How are you doing? Your legs are shaking." I didn't even have to respond, since Connie answered it for me: "I'm sure my legs would be shaking if I rode this hill three times to race bikers. I think he's doing fine." Actually my leg was feeling pretty good. The only thing I was worried about was my palm, because I wasn't sure about the skin. I rode the rest of the day with Aaron, Elijah and Tanya. We had a couple more hills and a lot of fun waiting for us. Actually, it were many hills and even much more fun. The hotel was great. I shared with Scot and John, but they didn't really show up till late night (early morning) and I got interviewed by Tanya for that featured rider of the day thing. John came into the room to get his map, and so we just lay there, chatting and laughing. Then he left, we finished the interview and then we were falling asleep, waking up, falling asleep, and so on. I think she left around 2. The hotel is really great, so nice rooms with great, huge beds and a nice restauarnt (maybe too nice for our group…:-). This hotel really earns its name “Eden.”

Day 8, Neufchateau to Langres
It was the last day in July and the distance was 73.79km. I got up at 8, actually a pity considering the hotel and the time we actually left. We started to gather outside in front of the hotel around 9, some people worked on their unis, hit a pharmacy, asked for the way out of town at the office de tourism... When we finally left the hotel it was pretty late and then we went to a grocery store. We bought stuff, sat down in front of it and had breakfast (same procedure as every day). Then I had to find a gas station because my tire pressure felt low. I let the others go ahead and we finally made it out of town at 11.30. Wow, I got up pretty early for this. I was kinda pissed, but now I think it was worth it, since it was a lot of fun and it only took me a couple k to realize that. Today was also full of hills. There was only a strech of about 1.5k that was flat, the rest was up and down. This probably is hard to believe, but there was no flat part between them. When I got back to the group there were actually three smaller ones of them already, seperated because of the hills, I guess. John had taken off and you could see him a couple 100m in front, then there were Aaron, Elijah and Tammy and the tail was Tanya. I rode with her for a while and as soon as we caught up to the other three I took off to catch up to John. This happened going up a hill. Since we knew (experience from the last couple days) that restaurants were only opened until 1pm we wanted to find one before, but we couldn't make it. After about 30k we found a restaurant on the side of the street in a small village and had a little snack. When we were almost done the support van with Andy showed up (he took this day off) and soon the others (Aaron, Elijah, TNT) did. They took their break here, John and I stayed a little longer and then we left. After a couple more k I left John because this day felt perfect for me. I felt good and there were so many hills, just fun. I only took one bathroom break until k65 (about) and then I suddenly saw Chris. I couldn't really believe it, because he left really early (acording to what he told me 8.30) this morning and so I expected him to be at the hostel by this time. I somehow felt proud on my speed and the number of breaks, and about the fact that I could gain three hours on people. I rode about one km with him, and then I took off again. We met the support vehicle again; they gave us water and directions to the hotel. Connie said I would like it, because it would be located on top of a hill. We took kind of a wrong way and had to ride across this old town on top, many one way streets and people everywhere. It took me about 20 minutes to get thru it and find the hostel. Then Andy, Chris and me walked around downtown and got pizza and pasta with Dana and John, who also joined us. Walking out of the front gate of this old town (I think its history goes back to the 11th century) we saw Connie sitting on a bench there, reading a book. We took a key, walked to the hostel and I walked back to give her the key. We had a nice conversation, I really enjoyed it. The others were already at the hostel and wanted to get food. Since they wanted Italian food and I was still hungry we went to the same place we had been to before. Later on I decided to go for a walk, because this hostel is really hot. It was already dark (probably like 11.30) and the old town was really pretty at some points. So I decided to go back to grab my camera. Scot was standing at the window and we watched bats and talked about the time when he was young and how he used to see them. Then I got my camera, and Tanya and I went downtown. It was really cool, at some places a little bit weird. Not like "Oh, I'm scared," but kinda mysterious. If there just wouldn’t have been cars around… I still had fun tho, walking around with Tanya. Back at the hostel I talked to Tammy and Tanya and fell asleep on Tanya’s bed around 2.30. I woke up at 4, started to panic a bit (I thought I had to get sleep. What have I been doing there, didn't I sleep?!?) and rushed into my room (sharing with Aaron) to hop into my bed. Luckily he wasn’t mad that I was pretty late and woke him up.

Day 9, Langres to Dijon.
We got up at 7.30 and got a breakfast that was really bad. We got milk and a piece of bread. At breakfast Connie asked us if there was anybody we did/didn't want to share a room with. TNT were like: "Christian". I was surprised, but it was cool. This day was scheduled to be short and picking the direct route it was supposed to be around 60km. I ended up with 67.3. Since we looked at the map the night before and knew it would be a short day, I decided to take half a day off and ride on my own to be there as early as possible. That was my plan the night before and I did it, leaving at 9. Andy and Chris had left pretty early and Andy has had a really fun day, according to his stories. It felt really good to see him laughing again. I don't know why, but I was really worried about him. There were a couple hills today, but only a couple forced me to go slower than 22, which was my goal for the day. I wanted to get there as fast as possible, only taking bathroom breaks and, if possible, never go slower than 22. On my way I met Chris and we rode together for a little bit while. Since Andy wasn't with him I started to worry, since they left together (at 7.30 , I'm really impressed they can get up this early) and I thought Andy might have taken the van again. He told me that they had split up right in the beginning, because Andy wanted to take the nicer, original route and Chris the shorter route, taking the national road, just as everybody else. I reached Dijon in less than 2 and a half hours, averaging above 24. I got lost in Dijon and found the hotel around 11.55. I really felt like taking a shower, but since nobody was there and I didn't want to take all the keys I decided to strech until Connie and Dana would show up. They got there around 12.30. Wow, that was a feeling. I bet the support crew! More than an hour after me Chris showed up and then we (Chris, Connie, Dana and I) went out for lunch. John got to Dijon pretty soon after we were done and he, Chris and I walked around. When we got back the others were already there (except for Andy, but, he's got his reasons and they are good!). Well, they were gone for food, but their stuff was there and unpacked. I laid down on the bed with my feet up on the wall to relax and fell asleep. I was woken up when Tanya and Tammy came back, telling me they would have decided to use the single bed for our stuff and the double bed for us. It was ok with me (what could I have said). No, seriously, good idea. The night was pretty funny. Tammy somehow managed it to take half of the bed and Tanya and I were trying not to fall off.

Day 10, Dijon to Tournus
I got up really early, at like 7 and left with Aaron around 8. The first couple k were really hard. I got the feeling that I didn’t warm up too good the last day and felt sore. Not saddle sore, but muscle sore in my legs. I had doubts about this day and didn’t know where it would get me, especially since I haven’t had real breakfast (I drank 2 yogurts). Luckily I was riding with Aaron, so I had somebody who would not take any breaks and set a good pace, so I never really got a chance to think about giving up or dismounting frequently. In the next bigger city, after about 30km, we found a grocery store and stopped there for 20 to 30 minutes.We had breakfast and I streched, which felt really good. After we got back on our unis the pain was totally gone; it felt so much better. In the next town we bought a map at a bookstore and talked to the assistant about the tour. When we came out of the store we saw Scot riding by, Andy and Chris a couple meters in front of him. They had left at 7.30 and somehow we had managed it to pass them. They told us that they would have taken the original route which gave them a couple extra k, but a nicer ride on a not that busy street. We had a quick lunch together and then rode back part of the way to get out of town, with the new map and the instructions of the lady in the shop helping us. She was nice and helpful. We called the group of Elijah, Tanya and Tammy to tell them how to handle the round-about. Just a couple minutes later we had lost the others already, but met them again pretty soon when the support vehicle showed up. Javier was with them, with his new CamelBak (the backpack he has always been carying around obvioulsy wasn’t the best idea) and willing to wait for the others to show up so he could ride the rest of the day. Aaron and I then took off and got to the office de tourism in Tournus around 3.45 where we got good directions to the hotel. We arrived there by 4, finishing the day with 101.36 km, but had to find out that the hotel wouldn’t open until 5. So we streched and rode back downtown (no idea how many k, since I disconnected my computer) to have a couple Nutella crepes and croissants. We got back to the hotel at 5 and had the owner telling us we couldn’t get in until 7 and that we would need John Stone to check in. And since he started really late this morning we thought it may be 7 until he’d get in. So, back downtown to have another crepes. We also decided to buy flowers for Dana and Connie, who gave us a call short after we had bought roses and the four of us met for dinner, having salads. They had managed it to check in. When Elijah, Javier, Tammy and Tanya arrived it was almost dark and it started to rain a little bit. A short while after everybody was in the hotel it started to rain heavily and a thunderstom came up. The rooms were pretty nice and it was pretty cool with the rain hitting the windows.

Day 11, Tournus to Lyon
Today was the day with the worst weather so far. When we got up it was raining and when we were about to start it got even worse. We left at 8.30 and when we were almost off the hotel’s yard the support phone received a call from Andy, Chris and Scot, who had left around 7. They got on a train in Marcan, and at the train station in Lyon Chris’ Camelbak was stolen. Well, when we got out for the first time I was only wearing a sweatshirt, but seeing Aaron and his poncho I decided to get my rain jacket out and wear it. Then we, Aaron, Elijah, Javier, Tammy, Tanya (they were the only ones without rain gear, but bought stuff in Marcan) and I left, riding thru the rain. My plan was it to stay together as a group until we’d find the first grocery store, but soon Aaron took off and I went with him. At the grocery store in Marcan we left our Cokers on the side of the road, visible for the others. We were so cold and wet, but I never thought about giving up, I have been closer yesterday and was even more afraid that Aaron would consider it and I had to ride on my own, nobody to talk to. Today was one of the days I wanted somebody to talk to. Asking him he told me he wouldn’t and I felt better. In a grocery store itself we found Connie (actually she did find us). They saw the unis and wanted to know if we were doing ok. Then they left and soon we took off. Only a couple k later Aaron hit a pathole in the middle of a puddle and he fell pretty badly. Two cars pulled over and a woman had her first aid kit with her. Every single bloody spot on his body (knee, hip, underneith his armpit, ellbow) got a bandaid and she wouldn’t let him go without them. After 50 or 60 k we stopped for lunch at a pizza place. They didn’t want us to eat inside tho, so we had to go outside. It was raining slightly, we were cold, and then we saw this phone booth… We ate in there and when we were done we got a second pizza to share and we chose the same place to eat it. After 80km it stopped raining, we took our rain gear off and continued the ride in warmer, dry weather. When we hit the edge of Lyon we weren’t sure which way to go, so we looked at the bus map and followed a route. Later we asked a guy, who wanted us to take a bus, because we had to get to the river and it would be too far. Then there were these annoying kids who said it would be too far. You should have seen their faces when I showed them my computer with over 100k on it already. They tried to get onto Aaron’s Coker and after a while of trying to talk to them (French meets English) we left. Then we asked a taxi driver who gave us really good directions. The only problem left were the train tracks. We broke another law (it’s not all about blowing lights), taking a bus only, pedestrians and bikes forbitten (actually I couldn’t find a sign with a unicycle on it) road. We crossed the tracks and it wasn’t hard to find the train station “Perrage” to which our hotel was pretty close. But then… we wandered around, but didn’t really know where to go. We called Connie, who told us to go to the north entrance and the fountain there. We walked around, asked people and just couldn’t find that entrance. By the time we got there we had been in Lyon for 2 hours, 20 minutes of these at the station, and had ridden 112.93k. The hotel gave us a garage for our Cokers, then we met Olivier and took a shower. We went out for (a first) dinner afterwards. The others arrived at the restaurant two hours later and I got a second dinner with them; pizza and ice cream.

Day 12, Lyon – Day off
I woke up in Tanya’s and John’s room. I had been there the night before, we had a lot of fun and, instead of walking up all those stairs (two floors) late at night (I don’t know how late it was, but it was really late), we just decided I should stay there. I didn’t wake up until John’s friends from the UK came into the room at 10.30. It felt really good to sleep in. Actually I didn’t sleep that much because the street the room’s windows were facing was really busy and the bed was so small that you always had to be afraid of falling off. In the early morning I finally fell asleep without waking up again (not even when Dana came into the room, what John thought was quite amusing, because I was lying upside down, my feet on the pillow and my head on the footend) and slept. It was really good. The day before I thought about leaving with Scot, who took a train back to Marcan to ride the rest of yesterday, but I just couldn’t motivate myself at that point. So, without doing anything than brushing our teeth, Tanya and I changed and hurried downstairs to the lobby where we wanted to meet Olivier at 11 for a tour in Lyon. John wanted to do something with his friends, but since Olivier didn’t show up until they got down they just went with us. We went to a big church, located on a hill. A couple of us walked up, the rest took a train. The walking path gave us a cool view on Lyon, it was worth it. The street going up, a really steep and long one, would have been perfect for a ride. Even Connie would have let me. She said that I’d be looking so much better now and would have gotten into really good shape, so she would have no concern. The only problem was that somebody from the hotel had taken the garage keys and we couldn’t get them back until the next day. But, back to the church. From the point where the path ended you could see the alps (oh boy, Scot missed a lot) and we talked about a ride there. Andy told Richard and Naomi (John’s friend) about me, that I would not have had any major problem so far and called me “animal,” what they continued to call me. I felt a little bit proud. After seeing the church, which looked more like a cathedral to me and was really, really cool we went to two amphitheaters and then got lunch; crepes and ice cream. Now we found out that the garage was locked, when we wanted to get the Cokers out to work on them and ride afterwards (that was only me, actually). Because we couldn’t do that, Aaron and I took a train to go to an internet café downtown. When we got back we went to a Chinese restaurant with the group. That white styrofoam crackers made me feel sick after just one bite. Andy and I, sharing meals for variety, ordered the food and I went outside, sitting down on a bench in a park nearby. When the food came Tanya came out to tell me and ask me whether I was alright. I didn’t feel too good and a whole lot of water didn’t help me, except for a couple more bathroom visits. After dinner I went outside again to get some fresh air and soon Andy, Dana, Chris and Tanya showed up. Andy gave me the advice to somehow lose my food, but luckily I didn’t, since I felt a lot better after walking around for a long while with a couple people and getting some ice cream. I was sure I would be fine the next day. Talking this night we learned a lot about John and I got to bed around 2.

Day 13, Lyon to Valence
I started pretty late this day. Andy borrowed a bike from Olivier, because he was obviously feeling really bad. Even tho he didn’t like it, it seemed to be the best solution because I saw him laughing a lot for the first day in a while. So, he fixed his bike and then we started. I was going with him because I knew he could go faster now and I like to go fast. Catching up to the others was really cool. We hit many hills that were steep and long. On top of one of the hills we met Elijah, Javier, Tammy and Tanya. Going down the same hill I tried to keep up with Andy and reached 47kph! That felt so fast, and when I looked down to my computer and saw the first digit, a 4, I immediately slowed down. Then I checked my max speed and it was a 47! Wow. Down that hill, a long and steep one (since we just had to climb the other side) we met John and Chris. John had just bailed and he seemed to have hurt himself badly, especially his ribs. Then the others came down and Tammy had a blody knee. That hill was a killer! I thought that I had been pretty lucky making it without bailing at almost 50kph. Short after this point we split up; I took the road that was supposed to be hillier, the others the one that was not. But, it wasn’t worth taking it, since the traffic was really bad most of the time (National road, many trucks and fast cars) and there were only two “real” hills. One of them had 16 or 17% (according to the signs, one side had 16, the other one 17. I don’t remember which one I took up and which one down) and was about one k long, the other hill had 12%, I think, and was about 2 or 3 km long. I was the first one at the hotel at 4.30pm and after 105km. Since the hotel was closed until 6, Connie, Dana and I decided to drive back to the others to give them water and food. We called them and they told us that they would be fine, so they let me out of the van, close to the hotel and I rode to the place where they had dinner. On the way there I met Andy and we talked about another ride. He said that it may be an idea for him to take a bike with our stuff (his and mine) and then we could just ride how much we wanted to ride a day, could stop, take days off here and there… I should think about where I would like to go. I like this idea. Maybe it could work one day. Then he gave me 1 ½ powerbars, some powergel and rode to the hotel. When I met the others at the restaurant they were all applauding and smiling, and it was a cool feeling. I was kind of starving and since they were ready to leave I went into the nearby bakery, got a chocolate cake and a baguette, which I ate on the way back to the hotel. We got there a while later and now it was time to decide. My computer was at 145km, I had never been that close to riding 100miles in one day and knew that it wouldn’t happen again too soon. The others said I should just go for it, but I wasn’t sure, because I had no food left. Andy told me to do it if I felt good and, since the others gave me fruit, powerbars, bread, I decided to do it. Scot and Aaron still weren’t in town and they were at the same town where I had met the others. I wanted to go there and lead them back into town. Somewhere on my way I met Scot. Aaron had still been at the restaurant, fixing his seat. Since I had ridden more than 164km, felt really tired, hungry and it got dark and I didn’t want to get to the point where you die, I called Connie who was with Aaron and Dana and asked them whether it would be ok to ride back with Scot. They were like “ok” and so I rode with Scot. When it was really dark there were all those bugs on the side of the road, who got into our eyes, noses and mouths. We couldn’t use our sunglasses because it was too dark and so we had a little problem. The support vehicle showed up later on. Dana asked if I still wanted to ride back to the hotel, because Scot would have directions and I had already been there twice, so I had finished the day. I wanted to (I really appreciate their concerns, really), and so they gave us tissue similar clothes, tied them in our necks covering mouth and nose and we could breathe again! At lit parts we could put our sunglasses on, so we were fine now. We continued the ride and when we got to the hotel everybody was gone for dinner. I had 3 bottles of Isosource and waited in Connie’s, Dana’s and Aaron’s room for somebody Connie called to bring the key. Elijah had it and Tanya came with it, and I could finally take a shower. I felt really tired for the first time and Dana’s massage just felt great, even better than great. The rooms we had at this hotel were great. They consisted of two parts, one downstairs and one upstairs. Downstairs there was a single bed, a matress, a kitchen, bathroom (a really nice one) and the living room, upstairs there was a king size bed. There was a whole lot of stuff in our room, since they had already unpacked (I was sharing with John and TNT) When I came out of the shower everybody was back from dinner (I had my dinner on the road, but I am not sure whether I have had enough. At least I feel weird). Getting to bed and a second massage just felt great this night. We were up kinda late, but I didn’t make it longer than 1, maybe not even.

Day 14, Valence to Pierrelate
We all gathered in the backyard pretty early, around 8.30 or 9, and then Andy and I rode to a bikeshop. He wanted to get new tires for the bike and I wanted to rotate my tire, because some parts were really worn. It took us a while to find a bikeshop, but when we found one it got even better. The guy there helped us changing tires and rotating cranks (instead of the tire). It was 11.30 once we got out of town. We stopped at a grocery store to get food and then we were on our way. The first couple km weren’t the best, because I felt a little bit saddlesore but somehow that dissapeared really soon. About one or two hours later we stopped at a bakery to get bread. Since I wasn’t going as fast as usual (I still averaged 21 somehow, probably because I started to feel better the longer the day got), Andy took off to catch up to the others, but he never got to them. We met when he was sitting on the side of the road, close to the road and looking for me. Somehow he managed it not to see me. Then we got a melon and called the others to find out where they were. They had stopped in one of the cities we had already passed and they were about 30km behind us. We waited for Aaron and gave him a quarter of the melon, which was really good. The break was a 45 minute one and today was the first day I didn’t regret taking longer breaks. A couple k later we hit a restaurant called “Quick” and we wanted to try it. It was fast food, but really bad fast food. The good thing was that they refilled our Camelbaks with really good and cold water. We then went to a grocery store right next to it and bought some food for the road. At an intersection we split up and Andy and I took the hillier route. And it was a really nice hill, more than two km long and really steep, I guess around 15%. Wow, fun! On our way down we could still see the nuclear power plant that had to be about 40 km away. Soon we got to the hotel (80.03km) and everybody was already there. But, today was the first day longer breaks felt good.

Day 15, Pierrelate to Nimes
Before we really left town we rode to the crocodile farm a couple km outside of Pierrelate. It was really cool. They had so many crocodiles in there and a person told us a lot about them. From a cave with a transparent ceiling you could see one of the crocs belly’s. This is how I got my nickname “Croc”, because those people with their strange belly buttons pointing inwards think I wouldn’t have one either. Isn’t it common to have it almost flat? Oh yea, and I got it because this woman told us they would have ten female crocodiles per male and in nature a male had four, I said “I wanna be a crocodile”(I was just kidding). Then we started the actual ride and it didn’t take too long until Andy and I took off (I was almost back at full speed), with the others catching up at every grocery store and bakery. A couple km after the last bakery we met Scot and Aaron at a restaurant. They were almost done with lunch and Andy and I just kept on riding. From here it was only very few km until I had the worst fall ever (probably because falls from 20’s and 24’s aren’t as bad). I wasn’t going really fast, but the uneven road and my lack of concentration gave it the rest. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t concentrating at all and then it happened. Andy said I would have just fallen down, not even the smallest sign of me trying to roll out of it. And so I hit the road, straight down. At first I only looked on my palms, because they hurt and so I didn’t realize it, but then I saw it: blood on my right knee, my ellbow, both my palms and my shoulder (I guess a shirt would have been helpful here). And my thumb and ellbow hurt. There was a restaurant on the other side of the street, and we decided to sit down there for a moment. The owner didn’t speak any English and we didn’t know a lot of French (actually nothing). The others then started to ride by in small groups and Andy and then those who came in yelled to let them know where we were and they came. We asked the guy to use his bathroom but he wouldn’t let me. Then he gave me some water to drink and said “ambulance coming”. I started to feel turning pale and had to sit down again, after I stood up to drink (he was pouring the water into my mouth, because my hands hurt and were bloody). I said: “He called the ambulance,” with Scot responding “You don’t need an ambulance”. “I know, but he did!” And so I felt being on the edge of tears because all I was able to think about was losing this day and the chance of riding the whole distance. I was really close to crying and I guess my eyes were really red. Andy, who had been standing next to me all the time, then started to calm me down, saying he would go with me and then we would ride the rest. Then the ambulance arrived and I had three guys working on my wounds, which really weren’t that bad. Soon there arrived a police car and I had three cops around me, too. Oh boy… Everybody started to take pictures and it was quite amusing. Then they wanted to take me to hospital, what I really didn’t want. Andy just said “Let’s go, don’t worry” (he really helped me in this situation, going with me) and so I started to walk towards the ambulance, but got pushed back into my chair right away. They got the stretcher out! I tried to tell them it wouldn’t be necessary, but they insisted on it and so I was lying there, as if I was doing really bad (ok, I didn’t feel too good, but I could have walked, even tho bending the knee hurt). After a final photo shooting Andy and I were on our way to the hospital and got there a couple minutes later. John organized a spot for our cycles at the restaurant, so we could get them later. The doctors at the hospital checked my puls, my ellbow, thumb and knee and then cleaned my wounds. Their bandages weren’t the best ones and came almost off when I rode, but it was alright. After checking my puls again after 10 minuted they let me go and the whole deal costed me only 115Franks. (not even $20, really cheap). When we were on our walk back we met the support vehicle. Chris was in it (he had to go to the bank in Valence this morning to pick up his traveller’s checks) and so the seats were full. Dana offered me her’s and she and Andy walked back, while I got driven to the restaurant. There I got new bandaids for my hands, since the hospital’s were already coming off and I also got my gloves out of my bag, which I only wore for the next 20 k. They would have helped me twice so far. But I didn’t learn from my first fall, and not even the second one could convince me to wear them for more than 20k. About 2 hours after the fall we were back on the road and travelled on an easy pace, at about 21kmh. We met the others about 20km later at Point du Guard, a roman aqueduct. When we were riding the path to get there (slowly in order not to hit one of the million tourists) we saw Scot riding our way. He wanted to get a beer, while the others were still at the ancient waterpipe. There we met the others (actually only Tanya, who was watching the Cokers while the others climbed the aqueduct) and I sat down on that wall. That felt good. My bandage was coming off when I rode plus I had to move my knee all the time, and now I could just sit there. Andy went up there, too, and then the first people came down. I got hugs from everybody and I could feel that people cared. It is just the perfect group. Everybody cares about everybody. Then we hit the water there and a couple people went swimming. I would have loved to, since it was really, really hot, but I couldn’t. So me and the other people who didn’t jump in just got our feet wet, which felt nice, too. On the way back we split into two groups, Elijah and Andy and the rest of us. They took the hillier route, but I just wanted to get to the hotel to take a shower today. Aaron, John and me took off pretty soon and then we lost John. As we found out later he was totally out of energy. The bad head wind we had to fight from Point du Guard on probably didn’t help him. We got into Nimes and then we had to find the hotel, which was really hard. We rode around in town for probably about 45 minutes. Nimes is a really dirty town with bad road conditions and not too nice people. When we got to the hotel I took a shower in Dana’s room, because ours hasn’t had one. It hurt and then I tried to clean my knee, because I saw that brownish stuff there. I started to scream a little bit, Dana asking “Are you ok?” a couple times. Then I got an idea and asked Dana “Hey, what’s the color of Iodine?” She gave me the answer and then I knew why it wouldn’t come off. Oh boy. The others arrived and soon we wanted to go and get dinner, but some people disappeared too early. So Aaron, Javier, Tammy, Tanya and me went to get dinner on our own. We found a really nice Italian restaurant and had two dishes each, because we were really hungy from the 92.24km we had ridden. In the hotel we only had 11 beds, so I shared a room with TNT again. Two single beds that were so narrow that it was hard to fit in it on your own, seriously. Since I could only lie on me left and didn’t want to get the bed and Tanya bloody I put new bandaids on, taped them to my body with extra tape and slept facing the wall. Lying there I also realized that the middle joints of the fingers of my left hand hurt.

Day 16, Nimes to Sete
We started late this day. Andy (back on his uni) and Chris had left rather early and Scot stayed in Nimes for a while, having breakfast at a cafe. The others of us went to the Colloseum first (where they wouldn’t let us in) and then we had to get breakfast because it wasn’t included at the hotel. We had some trouble finding a grocery store and after breakfast it was already 11am. It didn’t take us long to get out of town and soon Aaron, John and I took off. Then I hit something lying on the road (John said it was like a big plastic cup) and had to true my wheel after being thrown off. At this point the others caught up and it was the last time we saw them for the rest of the day. Getting closer to the point where we wanted to switch onto the canal I hit the right crank with my heel and sent my uni flying, off thru the air. Landing on its pedal the crank bent and we called support, so they would wait for us somewhere. About 5 km later we got to the canal, with a path right next to it. You were in the middle of water, the Mediterranean on one side, the canal on the other side. It took us a while to get there because we went the wrong direction and got on a crowded tourist street. We called SV again and they told us exactly where to go. While Aaron, Dana and John took a break on the wall right next to the canal, Connie and I went to the van to get a replacement crank and tools. After it was replaced I took off, because Aaron and John wanted to stay in town to get some food and take a break. I rode along the canal, but got sick of it after a while. It was a dirt/mud/whatever bike path and only a couple km after its beginning it was full of potholes and I was really afraid of falling into the water. When I got the first chance I rode onto a street and followed the signs to Sete, because I really didn’t feel like staying on that path. Once I got into Sete I had to cross two more canals they had built thru the city. Then I rode downtown, located on the foot of the only hill you could see and asked people for the youthhostel. They sent me right up the hill! It was a long one and had a final ascent of 17%. It wasn’t easy because it was narrow with many cars so you couldn’t move to the left or right to make it less steep and it wasn’t a constant gradient and in the middle of the part where it got really steep (about ¾ up the street) I had to dismount. I walked up the rest and then many stairs and found Andy, Chris, Connie, Dana and Peter Philip (a unicyclist from the UK, now living in Montpellier, France) sitting there after they got in only a couple minutes ago. I ate some food, had a Powergel, got rid of my Camelbak and then went down the hill again, to make it. And I made it, all the way up that steep hill! A lot of work, but worth it. We had dinner at the hostel, which really sucked because it looked bad and didn’t taste too good, either. Then the others called and I got back onto my uni to lead them into town. By the time I got down they had already been at the bottom of the hill and so it was just a short one to get back to the hostel. I finished the day with 85.36km. When we went to bed I couldn’t sleep and so I went into the other room, sitting there, talking to Connie, Scot and Peter.

Day 17, Day off in Sete
We got up around quarter to nine to get breakfast at the hostel, but not too much was left, since it had started at 8. Then Chris, Elijah, Javier, John, Tammy, Tanya and I walked around, heading towards the beach. On our way we got to some cliffs and saw people jumping. Elijah and Chris wanted to do it and then they asked us to go with them. I climbed over to the safest spot with them, where I couldn’t see any huge rocks in the water underneith me. Then it took me probably 10 or 15 minutes to finally decide to do it. And it was fun. The water hurt a little bit in my wounds and after the third jump the scabs were all gone, but it didn’t matter. (Ok, it did later that day because it hurt again, but it was a lot of fun). Everybody except for John jumped and then we went back to the hostel, without John who made it to the beach. Some of us then took a nap, and Chris and I went to an internet café, checking our email and the guestbook of the website. Nice how many people wrote stuff. And I also checked the counter. Wow, we had more than 150 hits per day on a couple days! Then we went back to the hostel, where we met with Peter at seven to go out for dinner. Some wanted to go for Chinese food and the rest of us wanted to get Mexican, but Elijah, Chris, TNT and I ended up with Spanish. Afterwards we got crepes and I got the best Nutella crepes I have ever had in my life! Since I and Aaron ran out of toothpaste the other day, he got two kinds and we had a toothpaste testing party later this night, short before going to bed.

Day 18, Sete to Port La Nouvelle
We started really early this morning, at 8! And we got in at 5.30, as a whole group, all day long. It was Andy, Chris, Elijah, Tammy, Tanya and me. It was quite the day to get lost, so I decided to stay with our navigator, Andy. And it was fun. Parts of the ride, especially the fields on our sides, reminded me on Northern France, but you could still notice a difference. Different kinds of trees and fruit, different streets, actually the air smelled different. We took a couple interesting shortcuts, leading us directly thru the fields (well, not directly, but on small paths in between them) and met support after 70k. More than half of the 102.79km. They had luch for us from the hostel in Sete. We got it because we skipped yesterday’s dinner there and asked them for a lunch packet instead. It was a nice one, chicken, couscous with vegetables, bread, chips and orange juice, probably a lot better than the dinner we could have gotten. We had a lot of fun when Tammy used a rock to cover her, when going to the bathroom, because that rock reached slightly above her knees and you could see her, well, back. Then we took off and soon reached a triple-arrow (means like “bad one”) hill right next to the road we had to take. Elijah and I rode up, while the others waited for us. It wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be (actually there were two-arrowed ones that were harder to climb) and you could ride the 2.02km to the top pretty fast. Then we continued our ride and soon reached the next canal-path we had to take. We stayed on it for the next 20km, since it led us into Port La Nouvelle. The path was really nice this time, gravel but smooth, no potholes, just like a bike path. The only thing we had to fight this time were bad winds, really strong sidewinds most of the way. Once we reached Port La Nouvelle we got off and headed to the Office de Tourism, where Andy got a map, and then we rode to our hotel. It was a pretty nice one, and only the road seperated us from the beach. Checking in (nobody had been there so far) a woman came up to us and said “I put my stuff in one of your rooms”. Andy must have realized it, but I was really confused. A strange woman, speaking English, having her stuff in our room? So I asked Andy quietly “Who is it?” “Desiree,” he said. She is Scot’s girlfriend and obviously saw my confusion, since she smiled and said: ”Sorry, I should have introduced myself.” It was quite embarassing, but we could laugh about it. Then we got into our rooms, now 13 people and ten beds. Since we haven’t had our bags yet, we wanted to go to the beach. At the same moment we walked out of the hotel Connie and Dana got there. We helped them to unload the van and then hit the beach. The sand was the softest I have ever seen (felt), but the water was really cold. And since my knee was looking pretty nasty I decided to just stay out of the water. After the others cooled down a bit we walked along the beach and then got back to the hotel to take a shower. Tanya went first, I second and Tammy last. She has been the last one for most of the time, I guess. She is just that kind of person that can take showers for hours and hours, probably forgetting about others waiting to take one, too, and when they can go in, the water is cold. Then we went out for dinner, Italian food, and John, TNT and me went to get ice cream afterwards. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a crepery and I got another really good Nutella crepes. Then we went back to our hotel and upstairs into our room on 2nd floor. At about five to midnight we suddenly saw Javier and Scot riding by. Since the balcony’s door was open we shouted their names and so they found the hotel after having a great adventure riding along the canal, which wasn’t lighted. Their story is great. It didn’t take us too long then to go to bed.

Day 19, Port La Nouvelle to Collioure
We rode with the same group as yesterday, plus John for the first part. I felt bad about riding with them, because Andy made kind of a tired impression on me, and he was using his headphones and I didn’t wanna get in trouble with him. I think I also got a little bit cranky today, because I got defensive, trying to stay away from the people who looked tired, to avoid conflicts. That’s how I handle my fatigue. We had breakfast at the hotel and then went outside, where Elijah had to replace his tube. Then we started and stopped at a grocery store for water and bread before we got out of town and then at a fruitstand after about 15km. The first couple k were along the sea and then we left it.We hit the next grocery store, got more food, water, milk and the standard bottle of YOP!. We also met the support vehicle here and then continued the ride. We were supposed to meet in Perpignan around 1.45, because we were supposed to have a picnic with the mayor or so. So, once we found out we would be there too early we stopped at another grocery store to have lunch. We bought way to much food and couldn’t finish it all. The strangest stuff sitting around was the muesli Andy had bought. A couple of us tried to find a bathroom and we ended up to use the one of a surfshop half a block away. Then we mounted and left the grocery store, getting to Perpignan at about 1.30. We surprisingly met everybody there, and we didn’t even have to go to the Office de Tourism, what we had planned. Some people wanted to get stuff out of the van and so a couple of us (I think it were Elijah, John, TnT and me) ended up watching the unis, because we have had enough food and water. John got us some Fanta and we waited in the sun. When the others came back we made our way to the castle to be told that the mayor wasn’t there. So two guides led us around and we had the picnic on our own afterwards. We got cookies and juice. Then we climbed the tower from where you could see the Pyrenees, what a great view! When we continued the ride you were able to see the mountainrange coming closer with every revolution. That was really impressive. It soon started to become a little bit hilly and when we got really close to Collioure we had to climb cool hills. They were fun! Then, getting into Collioure we asked people for the hotel and already missed it, because it looked barn-like from the outside. We had ridden 85.52km today. After taking a shower we went to a grocery store right next to the hotel, because it was a saturday and we didn’t want to get into the Pyrenees without food or water. Elijah, Tammy, Tanya and I bought a lot of stuff and left a lot in the van to get it whenever we would meet the vehicle in the hills. Scot and Javier didn’t hear us talking about Collioure the other day and so they rode to the next town, which was scheduled. They were a little bit upset, but not too bad. Then the riders gathered and on the way out we heard that people wanted to go swimming first. Elijah, Tanya and I just wanted to get food and so we went to a restaurant instead of the beach, having spaghetti carbonara for the 6 time or so on the trip. While the others got food then, we went to the beach with Aaron, just walking around and then we got crepes.

Day 20, Collioure – L’Escala
Today kicked ass, since we had to cross the Pyrenees. It was really cool. We haven’t had as many hills as we have had on Day 8, but the ones we had today were longer, sometimes close to 10 k uphill and then the same down. It started out really hilly, was hilly during the day and only got flat for the last 25 of the 95.16km. The only thing I didn’t like about today (I’m not blaming the group for it!!!) was that we waited on top of every hill and at the bottom. But it was ok, since I could have taken off. We started pretty early this day, while I started a little bit later because I wasn’t ready, this time not on purpose. It didn’t take too long to catch up tho and after a while almost the whole group was there. When we hit the last village before the border we stopped at a grocery store to get food and water. Standing in front of the store, refilling the CamelBaks and eating, a dog started to lick grapes in front of the store, then ate a couple. He then walked away, but came back to pee! We had a really good laugh and when the dog’s owner came out of the store we told him about it, but he just shruked his shoulders. Then we continued the ride up a long, kinda steep hill toward the border. I gave the others a head start again, just as I did it on every up and downhill today, to have fun racing them. So, climbing to the border. My goal was to take off here. I wanted to have a group picture at a sign saying “Espana” and then wanted to get away. I just felt too bad riding with Andy. He was looking so tired and I know we would be going on his nerves always asking for directions. And since I wanted to keep the danger of getting into an argument as low as possible I wanted to let him do his own thing. I know others were of the same opinion, but we never made it. We actually did, but later. When I reached the border I stopped and waited for the next one to show up. It was Chris, he stopped and we waited. John and Andy got there together and both me and Chris started to shout: “Wait, border!”. They obviously didn’t understand it and continued their ride, Andy waved and smiled, John just kept on looking for the top. Chris and I then just took pictures of each other and then rode to the others. They said they would not have understood us and John, cranky today, started yelling at us:”You said water!” Chris was like “no, we said border” and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure about my pronunciation. So I said: “Well, maybe I did” and Chris responded: “No, you said border. It was clear, don’t worry” So I just kept my mouth shut, not to get in any trouble now, two days to the end, without any in the past three weeks. We exchanged money up on the hill, about 200 m after the sign and climbed the rest and then rode down. My goal was to take off here. I waited again (and I thought for the last time) at the bottom, then let the others go to have some races again and then I wanted to take off. When I had just passed Chris, one of the best climbers on the tour I would say and always in front when you came from the back, I saw the support vehicle on the switchback underneith the one I was on. I waved, they waved, and soon passed me. They rode next to me for a while and then I saw them again at the top of the hill. When I got to where they were waiting already. Connie then said to me: “It is so much fun to see you climbing. After the climb in Koblenz (day 2) you were looking dead, but now it is just fun!” Then we waited between 5 and 15 minutes for the others to show up and had a great lunch on top of a hill with a great view, eating yogurts, fruit and bread we had purchased the night before. A couple people from the UK joined us and asked a couple questions about the tour. That was pretty nice. Everybody took off and I started to refill my CamelBak and water bottle I carried electrolytes in. Then I left, with SV behind me and the British family behind them. Support passed me soon and then I waited for the black British van to pass, but it took a couple more switchbacks and minutes. They just stayed behind me, with cars behind them. They must have really had fun, cruising down the hill with me at a speed between 27 and 30km/h today. That was my usual pace down hills, sometimes riding more than 30, but not today. I was just too afraid of falling, because that could have meant death. It was just too scary. Then, after the next hill I thought I would have gotten rid of the others. But as I was standing at an intersection, waiting for green lights (just too busy to blow it) after checking my map to find out that I had to turn left Scot showed up, then Chris and so on. They were aiming to go straight, they said. So we checked the maps again, and I was right! I knew where to go, using a map. New feeling. Everybody showed up except for Andy. Me and Tanya, who also thought that he would need a break from us, were somehow glad that he wasn’t there and so we continued the ride, me in the group again. Having tons of fun. But soon we met Andy again, because we missed a turn and came riding towards us. He was looking different, happy. We then took a turn which didn’t look like the right one and since a couple of us were wondering I decided to ask Andy. He said: “I’m pretty sure, but you can go back and check a different way. Oh, and it’s not my fault if we are wrong.” I already regretted it to have asked, not thinking Andy’s reaction was wrong, but my question. He usually knew where to go and I knew he was tired, so I shouldn’t have asked. Well, we were right and after climbing the next hill we stopped at a restaurant located on top of that one (weird location), getting cold drinks and fresh water. Then we continued the ride and soon reached the last hill. Here I met a biker and he said “Lance did it on two wheels”. That made me feel proud somehow, together with the fact that my average was at 20.2kmh (20.6 after the today’s last hill) while the others averaged around 15. On the flat stretch between the hill and the hotel we took a shortcut on gravel thru fields. That was pretty much the only thing that happened. The tourism office was located just outside L’Escala, so we got a map and made our way to the hostal. It was kind of a mixture of a hostel and a hotel and right next to Roman ruins and about 50 meter away from the water. We went to the beach and then took showers. Two days ago, in Perpignan, Chris’ and Javier’s bags were stolen out of the van, thru a window. That morning we were working on unicycles and I opened the window to get the pump out. I didn’t know it before and now I was in Connie’s room, because we wanted to go for dinner and so she told me about it, also telling me that it wasn’t my fault. It would have been open before and they wouldn’t have checked it. But I couldn’t help it. Standing there I dropped my wallet and started to cry, falling down onto Connie’s bed and into her lap, lying there like a child or a dog, whimpering. I felt so bad. Connie was like “it’s ok” and then she started to talk to me, still lying there. She was saying things like: “Your way to be happy makes all of us happy. Don’t stop it now,” “It’s not your fault,” and stuff like that. It helped, but I couldn’t stop. When people got out they stroke my hair, touched my face, said nice things. I was probably there for another 30 or 40 minutes, hardly moving, just crying. Then Dana took me and said she would go down with me to get food, because I was really starving. We walked down and when I could see everybody sitting outside in the restaurant I couldn’t move. I just couldn’t face the group. We decided to go for a walk on the beach and then just sat down on a wall somewhere. Tanya came and said that they would have ordered one chicken too much and if we wanted to have it we could. After sitting there for a couple more minutes we walked back, but I couldn’t move. I stood there, but couldn’t go to their tables. Connie and Scot came, saying things like “It’s not your fault that there are bad people. You have to eat” but I couldn’t. Connie took me to her room and Dana got the chicken for me and I ate in their room. I felt a lot better and decided to go downstairs to the group. I managed it, but then I saw Chris and Javier and had to stand up. The hotel and it’s restaurant were on a terrace, so I walked down the stairs that led to it, walked to the corner and set down there, breaking back into tears. A short while later Javier came from my back (I guess Scot had sent him) and talked to me. He said he wouldn’t care about money, because he would have changed his life. He quit his job and wanted to live on what he has. He wouldn’t care about the money in his bag, only about his passport, and he could replace it. He would be really thankful that I had invited him, because that made it possible for him to go to the UK before and Japan and Australia afterwards. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done it. He said he wouldn’t be mad and that I had a friend there. It would be ok. And then he gave me a hug and I really felt better. Then I walked with him to his, Scot’s and Desiree’s table and had another dinner. I felt better and then people started talking to me, because I couldn’t start the conversation and obviously they weren’t mad. We moved the unicycles from the hotel’s garage (which couldn’t be locked) into the van and Tanya and I started to walk around, just because I didn’t feel like going back into the hotel and wanted to talk to get over it. We first walked to the beach, thru the flat water and climbed a rock there. It wasn’t comfortable at all and so we decided to go somewhere else, ending up at the ruins. They were already closed and we sat down on a ruin in front of a gate blocking the way to one of the old houses. We watched the sky with its many stars, which was just great and talked. The only problem was that we had somehow managed it to get close to a parking lot and so there were cars pulling in and out pretty often. We got up and moved on to a log that was on a little hill right between beach and path and in the middle of a couple trees. From there you could see the stars even better. I don’t know how long we have been sitting there, but it was quite a while and when we got back to the hostal it was almost midnight. Tanya has had the key all the time and so Tammy couldn’t get into our room. She slept with Andy, their room was already locked and so Tanya and I had a whole room, just for us. I got a nice massage and we talked a little longer, until we finally fell asleep. Today we also met Rocket, a guy from England who surprised us by coming. Nobody knew he would.

Day 21, L’Escala, Day off
We got up around 9 and had breakfast at the hotel, which wasn’t too bad. Then we walked downtown with the group to buy stuff like my Spanish bell, ice cream, stuff like that. I still wasn’t over yesterday. Andy must have recognized it and said “I know you beat yourself up on it, but don’t” That also helped me. It is just great to have friends in every situation. Tammy had seen a Champion supermarket sign somewhere, saying “5min” and since the one the others were in was pretty crowded, she, Tanya and I walked there. It was about a 25min walk and then it took another 30 minutes until we got out. We walked back and when we got to the hotel everybody was already eating. We got a nice barbecue with salads, desserts, potatoes… It took them a while to get us the food, but it was worth it. Others had already been waiting for more than an hour. Wow. The chicken was good tho and the dessert was wonderful. Afterwards we went to the beach and Andy rent a pedal boat, which we have had a lot of fun with. We went back to the hotel and took showers. Rocket had been back and with him his 20” wheel with these long cranks and nasty pedals with metal pins on them. Scot rode it and said it would be so weird. I got on it and managed to do a couple tricks, but it felt strange. Then I wanted to go for a 180 unispin. It isn’t too hard and I have managed to sucessfully spin my uni for 450° and land back on it so far. I didn’t make it the first time and was going for another attempt. People started talking to me, “are you sure? You’re only wearing sandals.” I said: “It’s just a simple 180” and then it happened. I hit my shin, ripping it open in 5 spots, pretty deep wholes in two. Wow, bloody and pain. Simple 180, huh? It was already pretty late, we got dinner and then went to our rooms. This night we were joined by Andy and Tammy, because we had lost a room and now had to handle this situation. It wasn’t hard to figure out how.

Day 22, L’Escala to Tossa De Mar
We started as a big group and at one point we really made it to ride as a group of 10! The roads today were busy and we heard ambulances, police cars or fire engines. I really didn’t like these roads, they were dirty and there was so much traffic. Early this morning, when we stopped at a bakery, the support van pulled over and told us that Perpignon’s police had called to tell that they found Javier’s bag. Then, back on road, Javier rode up to me and told me how happy he was and that made me feel a little better again. I still don’t feel great, but things like this make it a little better. Soon we saw somebody standing on the side of the road, wearing kind of a head scarf and shouting. The first one of the group was Andy, followed by Chris and then it was me. They didn’t realize it was Scot and so I was the first one to pull over. He had just stopped and now he rode with us. We lost him really soon, but it was the first time for the whole tour that we rode with the whole group. Wow! We didn’t even make it the first day since Javier and I left about 5 minutes later than everybody else and by the time we caught up the group had already split up. And now, today… Then we hit the last part of today’s ride. Only a few cars were left here. It became hilly, really hilly, just as Andy predicted it from looking on the map, seeing those serious switchbacks we were in now. At the bottom of the first hill I took off, riding at my own pace, which wasn’t slow. I just had too much fun, but was scared sometimes. Between the hills there were small rivers, meaning that there were bridges (only a couple feet long tho) after every second downhill or so. And the rails were so low, maybe two feet high! It was really scary, especially when you came close, cruising down the hill at more than 30kph. Otherwise the hills were just great. Whenever you looked over to another hill, maybe 20 to 30m in front of you, you could see the road way up there and then the road made another bend and you were on your way up. Another nice part were those parking lots they had sometimes. I didn’t take a break for these last 20 or 25km, but people were standing there, next to their cars, cheering you up, making you climb even faster and stopped you feeling any kind of pain. I mean, not real pain, but tender muscles which you could feel. It wasn’t a real pain, but if you concentrated on it you could feel your legs work hard. I got into town and on the way there was the tourism office, where I got a map and made my way to the hotel. Support wasn’t there and I didn’t want to check in, so I left a message for Connie, Dana and Desiree and rode back into the hills to tell the others about the location of the hotel, which was really nice. I met Chris first, showed him the map and then rode on. A short time later, on my way down, I fell at about 30. I could run out of it, but it hurt my knees, which luckily stopped later the same night. So I rode back with Aaron and Andy, who I met soon and finished the day with 81.90km, of which about 30k were hills. At the hotel we met the others and then went to the beach and rode the banana boat. The first sharp turn was really cool. Everybody but the unicyclists fell off, which was pretty funny. When we started to play around, standing up, going one- and no-handed, the guys in the boat started yelling at us. Then we went to a really nice, medieval restaurant and many of us got chicken, really good chicken. Connie told us she would need something from the van and I said I’d go back. Tanya joined me and so we walked there after dinner, Tanya asking for directions once in a while (luckily she speaks Spanish). It was really nice to walk those streets, it was warm and I really enjoyed it. Back at the hotel it didn’t take us too long to go to bed (Tammy, Andy, Tanya and I slept in this double bed, because we have only had 10 beds again) but I couldn’t sleep, as I couldn’t for a couple times now. I guess I wasn’t tired enough and the loud street gave it the rest. So I stepped out onto the balcony and watched the artists and the people walking by. At about 1.30 I guess (no watch) everybody started to pack and only a couple minutes later this little square right in front of the hotel was empty. I went back to bed around 2 and wasn’t sure if I could sleep, since I still didn’t feel tired. But I fell asleep pretty quickly.

Day 23, Tossa De Mar to Barcelona
The last day! We had to ride 88.84km until we ended the trip at the Columbus statue in Barcelona. While everybody started around 8.30 this morning I didn’t start before 9.00, because the first 10 k were really hilly and I wanted to have some fun, cruising along without brakes. There was only one problem: it was hilly immediately, without any time to warm up. So my legs started to feel heavy, but it was still fun. The first 5 km were uphill, the next 5km downhill. Then thru a city, and another hill. This one was shorter and on the way down it happened. I have been joking about it as the way I could imagine my third accident to be like, but I have only been kidding. Now this truck passed me and pulled over about 10m in front of me. On my way down hills I rode at about 30+kmh the last couple days, and I guess that’s what I was riding at that moment. It is pretty much impossible to slow a Coker down within this distance and so it was inevitable. I got as slow as possible and right before the impact I pulled my forearms up and only hit it with my wheel and my arms. Luckily. A couple minutes later I met the group, which was waiting for me. We rode together, stopped at bakeries and then at a restaurant to use the bathroom. They wouldn’t let us unless you purchased something, so I just did it a couple k later on the side of the road. We met support in front of the restaurant and on the way from the entrance to the van Chris ran into an old lady. A short while later John and I took off (actually it was John and I didn’t wanna let him go aloneJ), cruising along at a speed of about 25kmh. We then hit the town of Montgad, where we wanted to meet with the whole group to ride into Barcelona. We went to a restaurant and had a really nice dinner. Tanya, Tammy and I waited for Javier to finish (he arrived later) while everybody else was outside. And here I got sore for the very first time, because of the dry air. It was a weird spot, not one that would get sore from riding. Aaron had the same problem and so we had this problem for the last 15km, which we rode after a 2-hour break. Riding into Barcelona was really interesting. We couldn’t just blow any light with a group this large and rode slowly; it took us more than one hour. Then another while to find the statue. We rode along the beach, on wooden paths. Scot was leading here, going not too slow. When we reached the statue we were so happy, shared hugs and stuff. We had a long photo shooting in front of good old Chris Columbus, the riders, the riders with support, support only, everybody on his/her own… Then we rode to the hostel, not too far, but I don’t know exactly. I had disconnected my computer to only have the trip on it, and since it just ended… We went to the hostal (hotel/hostel mixture) and then went out for dinner. We hit the best pizza place I have ever been to. It was awesome! Then John, TNT and me (I’m not sure if Aaron was with us) went out for some ice cream hopping, while the others went to a bar. I won with 10 or 11 scubes. We had a hot room, really hot, and so we decided to pull our matress out onto the floor. Also because the bed above was so close that you could have hurt your head pretty badly.

Day 24
I woke up around 10 to five last night, to find John and Tammy sitting on John’s bed, still working on the website. I asked them about the time and could hardly believe it. Then I stumbled to the bathroom, what they found quite funny. And then Tanya used the whole bed! They were still laughing about me the next morning, asking:”Tanya, could you please move? Tanya,” standing in front of it, desperately. I couldn’t remember it, but they thought it was funny. Elijah, Javier, TNT and me spent most of the day walking to the trainstation to find out about a train for Elijah, who had to leave to Geneva this night. We took a train back to the hostal, it took us about 10minutes by subway and more than 1 ½ hours to walk. Elijah packed and then Tanya and I went back to the trainstation with him, because it would have been too hard for him to handle a huge bag, a smaller one and a Coker on his own. At the subway station Tanya’s wallet was stolen. A woman who saw it told us about it and Tanya and I immediately ran after the guy, who was already close to the exit. He gave her the wallet without the money. Luckily Tanya realized it and asked him for it. He gave it to her, but we weren’t sure whether it was all of it. So Elijah and I walked with him, yelling at him. He was really frightened and looked weak. Whenever we used the word “police” he was even more scared. He was really afraid, a new experience for me. I have never had somebody being afraid of me and looking even weaker. Then, when he reached the exit, he started to run and Elijah and I did the same. Somehow we were in shape and got him soon. He told us that he wouldn’t have any more money for a several dozen times and then, finally, somebody stopped him after he tried to run away. They talked and then the huge gorilla who had just stopped him told us he wouldn’t have any money. And since we had to get to the station we went back. The woman selling tickets let us in for free and we took the next train. Tanya didn’t miss any money, even better. At the train station a guy asked us about the Cokers. He was a unicyclist himself, Patrick from S.F. It was good to know that Elijah wasn’t alone and they started to talk right when they got on the train. Tanya and I got back and then we went to a restaurant where I got chicken with potatoes. We went for some more ice cream and when I stopped to get more everybody else was gone. Connie said I’d catch up, but I didn’t. So I walked around and finally got lost. I bought ice cream wherever possible and got into really dark streets. I then found a taxi driver who told me where I had to go and found the hostal more than 1 1/2hours after I lost the others. Some were already there and wondering where I have been.

Day 25
I woke up when Connie knocked on the door to get her laptop back. She came back a short while later, we said goodbye and she left. We had a really nice conversation. She said it would be so good to know me. I’d be such a fun and funny person to have around. She’s one of the persons I do really trust. Then Javier, TNT and I went to the Gaudi church we couldn’t go to yesterday. Javier wanted to see if he could get in, but we didn’t want to wait in line. So we walked around, using our subway day tickets and found a photo booth. That was a lot of fun! Once we got back to the hostal I left for a bikeshop together with John, Javier and Tammy in order to get boxes for Cokers and bikeshirts. When we got back I went to a laundromat with Aaron and Tanya and we had fun there. Then we wanted to see the Picasso museum, but it was already closed. On the way back we walked past a crowd in front of a building that looked important, which turned out to be a demonstration. We then went to dinner, the same pizza place as two days ago. On the way there Scot came to say good bye. We talked a while, then, when he walked to the hostal for the others, I walked back to him because it was a really tough one. I cried for the first time when saying good bye for a couple years, the first time since 98 or so. He was like my brother. He said I’d remind him on his little brother and, even if it would have sounded as if he was kidding all the time, he meant what he said. I knew it, and I meant it, too. He and Desiree appeared at the restaurant later and we talked a while. Then he sent me back to my food and they left. It was really good to have Tanya around here, because she obviously realized the whole thing and she made me laugh again. I don’t know how, but she somehow managed it. Then Javier, John, Tammy, Tanya and I took a subway to the beach, at about 11pm or so. We wanted to jump in naked. Everybody put their feet in, except for me. I knew that, if it was cold, I wouldn’t go. So I undressed up to my boxers and waited. They came back and we went for it, throwing our clothes away at “3”. So we lined up and as soon as I heard “3” I started to run and dropped my boxers. They got caught at my ankles and I flew off, hitting the sand with my face not getting my hands up to stop me. It didn’t hurt, and it was a lot of fun and when we ran out Tammy ran towards another group, not realizing it until Javier said “over here.” That was so funny for us and embarrassing for her. We got back to the hostal at about 1.15. I packed my bag and took a quick shower. Then we said good bye to the others and took off. Luckily we were in a rush, so I couldn’t find time to cry here. We had found a perfect end for EUT, which was just way to great to put in words.