Best moment on a tour.

[Anthony]

I just remembered another greatest moment of mine.

It was last july during my tour to Mont Ventoux. It was a blistering hot day (high 30's), and at around at around 1pm we were cycling up a steep mountain pass in the Rhone alps heading towards Sault. The grade of the climb was around 10% and it seemed to last forever. I was about as close to getting heat stroke as I have ever been. Stopping for water breaks didn't refresh me as my water was hot like a warm bath.

After some of the most punishing cycling I had ever done I finally reached the top of the climb feeling completely drained. As I cycled round a bend the were a few houses and just beside the road was a water fountain with ice cold spring water coming out of it. But even better than that there was a bath full of the ice cold mounatin spring water, just next to the road also!!!

I immediately jumped in it, with my clothes still on, and it was the most refreshing experience I have ever had. I was so happy that in the middle of nowhere and after the most hot, painful cycle I have had, there was an ice bath to be had. I must have sat in there for half an hour just relaxing and almost laughing at how strange it was I was sitting in a bath at 800m in the middle of some French Alps!



View attachment 5882
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This is the view I had from my mountainside bath.

 

[just jim]

Most refreshing!

 

[rich p]

Will you take ice with it sir?

 

[mike1026]

It started as a lousy day got lost in Amsterdam got lost in Haarlem got lost in Zandvoort, and a head wind. Then found a nice spot out of the wind by a wall but in view of the cycle path. Waited for an hour not a soul about, so although it was still light I put my tent up. Like turning a switch loads of people suddenly appeared. Then another tourer came up to me and asked if he could camp here, I said it did not belong to me and we didn’t stop laughing from then until we crawled into our tents. He was a young Czech guy and had the biggest tent I have ever seen carried by a cycle tourist. While we were chatting I saw on the horizon a line of cloud suddenly light up inside by lightning. He had his back to it so didn’t see it. It happened several times and each time he looked around it was gone. We had a great time discussing the English phrase ‘leg pulling’. He did see the last one and we marvelled at the wonder of our natural world in between bouts of hysterical laughter. It poured down all through the next morning and the head wind was very strong but I was still chuckling.

 

[Yellow7]

My best ‘moment’ to date would certainly be a point of hospitality whist cycling US route 66 in August 2008. I had departed from Williams Arizona, that day after my day off to see the Grand Canyon. I was a typical hot day with temperature of mid 30’s & water bottle water was hot, I was heading toward Kingman, my daily mileage had been achieved & was looking for a spot to free-camp, passing a road side shack / bar with a sign advertising “Cool Drinks” was lured in, temptation being the greatest of all evils!! I sat as the bar knocking back a large cool coke & started talking to a couple, asking if there was a campsite nearby, they said “sure, just down the road at Kingman, 25 miles away” I explained that would be tomorrows tarmac & asked if I could pitch my tent in their back garden “Sure, you more than welcome to stay at ours, our friend Doug from Vegas has the spare room but you can stay on the sofa” I didn’t want to intrude on their space & said the tent would be ok in their garden but they insisted on the sofa, so we went back to theirs & Jan started to prepare a chicken & salad dinner whilst I sat with John & their friend Doug on the patio, drinking gin & tonic watching the sunset over the mountain peak view of their 3 acre garden (the way you do in Arizona), to add to the fine show of hospitality I was handed fresh towels & soap to shower down with. It was like I was family, they were true ambassadors to the state that I had been looking forward to crossing the most. My view on the US changed so much, the real ‘out-back’ Americans are so friendly & helpful, amazing place!

 

[Tedx]

Riding past a village in Northern Spain I saw a small band banging away on their drums and blowing trumpets. The village seemed to be having some kind of small festival. Thinking it was a great photo opportunity I parked my bike against the village fountain and started to snap away. The crowed then turned to look at me while a man with a megaphone approached me (who later turned out to be the mayor) and started to converse with me in Spanish. My Spanish is bad enough speaking to one person but here I was addressing the crowd via a megaphone!. After a few minutes of chat a young lady approached me with a large plate of food in one hand and a plastic cup full of wine in the other. The festival was a yearly event where each resident of each house provides food and wine for the rest of the village. They walk from house to house drinking and eating along the way. They insisted I join in the festivities and seeing I was a bit nervous about leaving the bike promptly took it into one of the houses and told me it will be very safe. I met lots of people that spoke both Spanish and English and had a whale of a time. The food was great and by the end of it I was a little drunk. A wonderful experience. I also met a guy on my travels who was featured in the book “why don’t you fly”. Another great experience. I could go on all day!

 

[jags]

excellent stories lads really enjoying reading this thread.

 

[arallsopp]

Summer 2008, the boys and I are out for our yearly 'bad idea'. This time, its a ride around Normandy. Attitudes in the group vary towards navigation, with buddy and I favouring a long developed 'aim the front wheel towards the most distant bit of horizon'. Buddies 2 and 3 prefer a more structured 'take a map, and GPS, refer to both frequently'. So, we're on the afternoon of day 2, and its all getting a bit rigid. Just after the sun passes over, we're hugging the coast and reach an atrractive harbour town on a big river.
Right, says buddy. Let's split here. Those who want a short day can hang here for a few hours, then follow the valley inland towards the next big town. Buddy and I will cross the river, explore the north bank for a 50 mile loop, then rejoin somewhere upstream. Sounds good. We power off, elated to be away from the constraints of moment by moment navigation for a while. Keep the sea on our left, when we've done an hour and a half, loop back.

A few moments later, we find ourselves in a fractal landscape of bays and coves, each tilting us out towards the sea, terminating with a car park, then looping us back in around the headland. Its hard going with full touring weight onboard, and requires lots of U-turns and repeated roads. "No bother", says buddy, as we arrive at yet another dead end. "What we'll do is pull out *onto* the beach, and nip around the headland at 'sea level'."

Turns out sea level varies with the tide, and that two bikes with loaded panniers don't exactly whip across sand. The high point was probably taking a phone call from 2 and 3 to confirm the hotel, and having to admit that in 13 minutes of glorious independence, we'd managed to get cut off by the sea.

Experimentations with the 'compacted sand near the water level' proved it was not 'surely faster' but infact 'somewhat wetter'.

The added bonus was delivered in surviving the run into the next bay. So lost to giggles were we, ploughing a path up the increasingly loose sand, we lacked the breath to shout warnings at the family of French cyclists, setting off in the direction we'd come from making 'ah! there must be a cycle path down there' type noises.

I like buddy. His plans aren't perfect, but they generate a good narrative.

 

[Domestique]

Coming off the ferry at the Hoek, being waived though to the front of the que
8 hours previous, being left on a very cold dock side car park with the other cyclists at Harwich whilst cars given priority to board first.

 

[Kirstie]

excellent stories lads really enjoying reading this thread.

AHEM!

 

[jags]

sorry kirstie i did mean to say lad's and lassie's oop's.