Recon

The second day is dedicated to general preparation and recon. After breakfast, however, the first thing we do is play tourists and take in the atmosphere of the place. Pau is a great little town, amazingly green, with a remarkable Chateau where Henry IV was born. As the legend goes, his father right after birth touched his lips with garlic, which made him grimace, then with a drop of the Jurançon, the local, sweet wine, which made him smile. A true king was born. I would have liked more the garlic perhaps roasted on a tartine and accompanied by some red St. Emilion, but on the other hand I'm definitely not that in favor of monarchy.

After lunch I pedaled to the Pau Hippodrome, which hosted the Welcome Village for the Etape. A welcome made of music, blinding sun, and lots of extremely expensive bike accessories: definitely a step up in quality and three steps up in price from any US cycling event. It's hot and humid, and this makes the 50 kilometers recon that follows not entirely pleasant, making me worry about riding in the heat for day of the Etape. Following the advice of local cyclists I explored the first few crowded miles of the course, including the surprise turn and climb at Rébénacq, notorious for claiming unsuspecting victims in group rides. Aside from the heat and humidity, nothing seems out of the ordinary, and I can't wait to ride all this without the obnoxious traffic and diesel exhausts that accompany all my ride.

In Pau

One remarkable thing about the Etape experience has been meeting lots of great people along the way. Yesterday, I spent my first hours in France reassembling Aida out of the Trico Sports Iron case that miraculously brought her intact all the way to Pau. While assembling the bike in a Euro-size hotel room was easier than I imagined, I definitely wanted an expert to take a look at the result. I took a quick tour of the city, also to find a decent pump to bring the tires to the correct running pressure, and to work out the jet-lag with some pedal-pumping.

I stopped by chance at CYCLES DANIEL PLANAS (un pro à votre service: 41, Rue Castetnau, Pau, 05 59 27 50 42). A former pro and all-around nice guy, Daniel kindly checked my bike and fixed the play in the fork my hasty assembly of the headset had left. I ended up spending more than an hour in the store, meeting local cyclists, chatting and learning more about the Etape, its pièges, tricks and tips for the ride. One ocean and some away from home, it was very nice to feel so welcome and to meet other cyclists ready to take on the mountains.

And the cyclists are coming in droves: yesterday, the small plane that took us from Paris to Pau was full of them. All looked like your average Joe, until the baggage carousel started unloading a dozen bicycle cases for rouleurs of all ages and fitness level. Cycling is in the air here, even our chubby cabbie wen on about the Etape, the roads and expectations for Sunday's event as well as the imminent start of the Tour de France.

Les jeux sont faits

This is it!

Yesterday I pedaled today my last 100 or so kilometers. Wednesday I finally leave for France. There is not much left to say: I'm packing my things, starting with bike and accessories, hoping it won't suffer too much on the trip.

Whatever happens, it was totally worth it. Training for the Etape was a great, rewarding experience in itself: the sense of achievement, the pure pleasure of feeling one's body starting to perform better and better, and pain and fatigue subsiding to the pure pleasure of the ride.

A big thank you to Gio, Jiro, Charles, Elke, Bob, everyone else I rode with these months, and of course Laura, who kept me very well fed: without her, none of this would have been more than a fleeting fantasy.