Today's webpage brought to you by Tammy Marsh
The impossible has happened! The actual distance for the day was less than what was predicted, by 10 km. The 70 km day was greatly appreciated. Because we were in a hotel last night with a later checkout time in the morning, we all got lazy and woke up late, spent time fixing our unicycles and packing up and visiting a grocery store. Most of us didn't get rolling until after 11:00. We lunched at a cute roadside cafe where they served us "American" sandwiches. These sandwiches had hamburger meat (hope we don't get mad cow disease!) on French bread with French fries inside the sandwich. I guess that's American! We arrived in Langres in the early evening and went for Italian food in the town. Andy joined the support staff today instead of riding. It's always an encouraging sight to see the support van cruising down the road with everything from fruit to cool water to fill up our CamelBaks. Our youth hostel for the evening was on the top of a 4 km long hill. At least Christian was happy! The day was full of hills for the whole ride. As an exhausted Scot said to Christian, "Today must have been heaven for you." Most of us can definitely feel it in our knees and legs, but you can guess who doesn't.
Throughout the day, we get a variety of reactions and comments that we find amusing:
John's wacky stories and funny facial expressions add a lot of life to this group. Not only does he unicycle, play the piano, and do a great impression of Otto von Otto, he speaks fluent French! Hence, he is very handy to have in France. Known as the Group Translator for this leg of the trip, John says he doesn't mind the perpetual questions - he has fun with it. We are always bugging him about what menus say and getting him to communicate with people when we need it. Thanks, John! He has been speaking French since age 8 when he began attending a French immersion school in New York, where he resides to this day.
He is one of the faster riders on the trip. He maxed out at 34 kph today, right before bailing. "It was the fastest I've ever gone before jumping off," he said. He doesn't have a break - most of the time it doesn't scare him, but he has to remind himself to maintain control down hills. "Five times downhill I've prayed for a brake on this trip," he said. And did he get it? "No." Hills are his least favorite part of the tour, but his favorite parts are "the four Cs: Coker, Countryside, Camelbak, Commeradery!" He is learning lots of new things on the trip, such as using the handle bar on his extension and picking up new expressions like "frying a CamelBak," and reading a map. "Yesterday was the first day I looked at a map and became self-sufficient. Finally, I became a man. It was my reverse Bat Mitzvah at age 31, not 13."
John's exciting tale of the day includes his most embarrassing moment from the trip thus far. "Taking a break lying down in the shade, I woke up with an army of red ants on my legs. One bite on the back of my knee made it too painful to ride and then too numb to ride for 40 minutes." And the REAL embarrassing part? "I was in the middle of the highway and ants were in my spandex, and I had to pull them down to my ankles, cars whizzing by. Very embarrassing."
When he rides, he hears music in his head as he would play it on a piano. "I'm going through the entire works of Bach in my mind as I ride."
Average Speed: 17 kph - "It was rediculously hilly for me."
Little-Known Fact: He doesn't mind girls with hairy armpits. "I dig it," says he.
Distance for the Day: 75 km
"Hitting yourself with a bottle is like unicycling.... It feels good when you stop." - Aaron