I accidentally rode 100 miles today. When the canal went right I went left up into a detour of the French hills. And when I say hills I mean rrrrolling hills.
The riding was just awful. Wind in my face, steep incline after steep incline, cobbled roads, and no shade. Do not take that wrong turn between Paray-Le-Monial and Chalon-Sur-Saône.
Once I realized, however, that my wrong turn would ratchet today’s mileage up from 90 to 100 miles, I felt especially motivated. How many people have ridden a bicycle 100 miles in a single day? A few hundred thousand maybe? Fewer still on a bike weighed down by gear.
Now that I’ve patted myself on the back we can return to the narrative.
During the second third of the ride my knee pain flared up again and I considered taking the train from Blanzy to my destination. But I pedaled on instead and the knee pain vanished. I’m getting more comfortable making changes to the bike and am better at intuiting what needs fixing. Two things I wanted out of this journey.
I’m at a budget hotel on the outskirts of Chalon Sur Saône; it’s nothing to write blog about.
The only open restaurant within walking distance was a kebab place. No veg items on the menu but the cook mercifully made me a wrap filled with some veggies and french fries. Not bad! After 100 miles she could have poured me a bowl of sand and I’d have eaten it.
Onward tomorrow to Dole. At this pace, I might finish the trip in two months instead of the three I’d planned.
