Adorable Puppy and Kitten Photos (Day 9 - Brighton to Barcelona - 115km)

What's after a red card violation

First, sorry about the title of this blog - there are no animal photos here.   I really just wanted you to read this one, as I am proud of myself for overcoming a crippling fear, and I want to call out some pretty exceptional achievements of others.

Today we went hungry.   The hotel breakfast was a 'riddle of the sphinx' head-scratcher - despite the absence of food or drinks, it was still overcrowded   (Seeing Gary with his wife and daughter, who came for a brief visit, was sustaining enough.) Our next best chance to eat was a group stop at a Bellanger for fresh pastries. Still, John, Roland, and I missed the meet-up, and predictably, this place turned out to be the most excellent gastronomic venue in France, Europe or elsewhere in the observable universe.  We then missed lunch by a long shot.  Worry not; it all works out.

As is the norm, we break up into cycling groups of 2-6, typically based on expected speed, nationality, support needs, familial obligations and/or random luck.  It just works - people are amazingly adaptable when the conditions are right, and our collected group gets along like family [Interpretive Note: "Family" = a family that gets along.] There isn't a person here that I couldn't happily spend the day cycling with (though road noise and language barriers can sometimes help a bit.)

Today, we aim for Lyon, a city I have long wanted to visit.  Since we are a purpose-built group, our usual route avoids cities, with their trucks, congestion and convenient travel alternatives.  But on this day, we head to town to see the sites.  Some in our group (including me) really enjoy seeing the grand Cathedrals of old, and Lyon has a great one.

At this point, and as a special treat, I am aided by the speedy and delightful Caroline Broekman to detail some of today's events:

Today was an interesting and great day. We had lots to deal with; it was VERY hot, there was a tunnel to find (which some of us missed), some of us wanted to mooch around central Lyon, there was a section of completely closed cycle path and it was another long day.

The back marker group decided to spend some extra time in Lyon. This meant that we missed the tunnel and had a day of very strange food stops but we did see the Cathedral, climbed up the hill to the Basilica (Steve I and Paul B even managing to cycle the crazy steep cobbled streets) [NOTE: THIS IS THE THING THAT I WANTED TO GET TO.  SEE DETAILS BELOW] and also went down to dip our toes and bike wheels into the confluence of the Rhône and Saone rivers. After that it was a speedy ride along the fantastic cycle tracks along the Rhine river all the way to our destination at Chanas

This hill was steep.  I won't over-dramatize it, but walking up it for 100 feet, much less over a kilometre long, would have been a chore.  It also has extra cobbly cobblestone, and stairs were built into the road to make it scalable on foot.  [For those in Toronto, think '100-section stairs in the Rogers Centre.'] I was terrified of suffering a falling injury, as I knew that at very low speeds, there could be little time to extract my foot from the deal clips before suffering a disastrous crash.  On sight,  I was sure I couldn't climb this pitch.  Typically, my brain would talk me out of trying, but it didn't today. I may have felt a little shackled by comments I made in the PD community about trying hard and being brave. I decided to do both and just kept going.  This little victory of mine felt great for the remainder of the day.  It still does.  And it feels good to be in the company of Pauk Broekman, who achieved the same climbing feat and then showed incredible speed when, along with his wife Caroline, they stayed glued to John and me when we attempted a sprint race.  [John is powerful.  There will be no rematch.] 

That's my story today.  Others had victories of their own design.  Some had them earlier in the trip; some are still pending.  Make no mistake, the moment anyone of the amazing people in this group clicked "yes" to participate in this pilgrimage, they joined a rarified group of people who go out and do the tough things they need to do, particularly regarding PD management.  When they are back in your communities, include them in your life as much as possible - each is a role model and on a good path, and with something to share.