viola!

SO I went on this massive 30km bike ride.

THE END.



Well..... no. There's a lot more to it.

there's about 2500 budding [french] cyclists joining you and it does feel pretty awesome to be a part of something so massive and yellow (there's a lot of reflective vests).














As much as i recommend this, (whenever you're next traveling around france at this time of the year) please let it be noted that there IS a turret (up the Amboise castle....) and maybe you should actually change your gears BEFORE it. you're funneled in and it's like a bottle neck to the extreme.

And then you're out and it feels very good because your calves hurt from WALKING up hill like that. And you turn around, after nearly getting run over, and Amboise is all lit up and it's so beautiful!

Then you ride. gradually you leave the smooth, nice roads and find yourself in the middle of a paddock. And then you're in the forest and those paddocks look very nice from the pot holes and branches and stinging nettle (and if you stop, make sure you don't stop on and island surrounded by stinging nettle. that, or hold your breathe for about five minutes so you can escape).

When there's an accidant, or a large pottle hole, or everyone's stopped to walk up a hill, everyone shouts out something in french to warn those behind them. it's really nice, in a weird way. and when you stop, everyone shouts 'ça va!' at you and actually waits for a reply.


I gather there's massive amounts of history involved. I mean, it's france, afterall. I'd explain, but i can't. It's all in french.

xx