Well, we almost died on our bike tour today, but we pressed
on and made it all 46 km. We biked over
the Alpilles Mountains. That was the
part that almost killed us. We actually
walked up the Alpilles Mountains and rode our bikes down the other side. I think this is considered an easy bike ride
because the hill up over the mountain never got very steep, it wasn’t even ever
as steep as a 45 degrees but it was a long slow incline, that was what was killing
me. I think I could have handled a few
sharper but shorter inclines, but not the long ones. We also biked for a while on a dirt
road. Well it started out as a dirt road
and then became gravel. We could ride
through the dirt, but the gravel was too slippery so we had to get off and walk
through that as well. It was also incredibly
hot today. So all of those things combined together made me think that I might die. All of this happened in the first 20 km of our ride.
But I do have to say that riding down the other side of the mountain was joyous! The last half of our ride was either down hill or flat so it was much better. After we got back down into the valley and were in a little town we found a bench where we stopped to rest for a few minutes and there just happened to be a tap there with cold water! That was a blessing and a bit of a life saver. Also, when we were shopping for food the night before I suggested we buy so me potato chips so that we had something salty. As we were sitting there eating our chips Angela said that I was inspired. We had other things to eat but the chips were tasting really good.
We did see some very lovely scenery! It really is amazing to be here doing this.
I have to confess that as I was sweating to death and walking my bike up the mountain I was wondering if this was such a good idea and if trying to go on an even longer day tomorrow would be possible. But after a shower and a
little nap I no longer felt like I was going to die and could probably attempt
to go 55 km tomorrow if we started earlier, had more water. So we have resolved to start earlier in the
morning. Our goal is 8 AM. And we bought some more water so we should
have plenty of water, but it won’t be frozen or even refrigerated when we leave
in the morning. But hopefully we won’t
be biking during the hottest part of the day like we were today. I am really proud of us
deciding to finish it out.
Angela walking her bike down the dirt road.
Our first view of the valley! We were so excited.
The valley...
By the looks on our faces this has to have been taken before we crossed the mountains...
We had a great French dinner tonight. I would tell you what we had but the menu was
all in French so I am not really sure. But it was fabulous.
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