June 14, 2025
To Millau, France
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Jacinto and I have the same song and dance every evening while we discuss what time to set the alarm. I'm always giving my reasons to get going early. Today's reasons were it's going to be hot, and I'm a slow climber. Jacinto's reasons were we don't have a time we need to be there, and once we finish the first 8.5 miles, the rest of the day will be easy. We were at breakfast at 7:30 when they opened. They had every sweet bread possible. Ham and cheese. Bread. Jacinto reminded me that we could have eggs if we asked. While he was saying that in English, a man next to me perked right up, and replied in English - eggs? He then flagged down the attendant and asked for eggs (I presume). After a time, she came with a cooked vegetable plate for us, similar to what we had yesterday. Then she came back with hardboiled eggs. Nothing for the man. ??? I asked him if he was getting the vegetables, and what were they called. He didn't know the name and hoped he wouldn't be getting any. ??? He didn't want any eggs either. I was confused, as it seemed he was happy about the eggs. I wanted muesli, but didn't see the milk. The fancy coffee machine had a milk button. I used that. It dispensed far more milk than I wanted, and it was hot milk. OK. Lesson learned. Don't get milk from the coffee machine.
We were anticipating a long day. I made two little sandwiches to go. That's the first time I've done that, and felt a little guilty. Jacinto took an orange also. For whatever reason, I don't feel bad about taking a piece of fruit on my way out.
Even though we didn't sit down after breakfast, and kept moving forward, it was still 9:00 when we were loading the bikes. Jacinto brought two panniers so there would be less to take off of the bike. Four would have balanced the load far better. Luckily, the Surly is not a picky bike. Jacinto has so much stuff in the panniers that he can't really fold the tops closed. Since he almost lost his flip flops, he's made sure that pannier gets closed, to contain the flip flops. The other side he puts a big bag of clothes on top, and just buckles the buckle across. I think the load is riding high and heavy. We have a stuff sack he could move things around and carry the stuff sack on his rear rack, but that's not what he wants to do. Who am I to argue with the guy who carries everything but my clothes?
We were supposed to have several miles of level riding before the big climb, but there were still a couple of sharp, short climbs before we got out of town. I like watching the numbers. Today we had 8.5 miles to the top, where the elevation would be 2,451 feet - 2,000 elevation gain in that distance. I was hoping for a reasonable climb. It wasn't to be. I did ride the first short punch of 17% (as identified by my Coros Dura). When I got to the next one, I decided I needed to pace myself. Jacinto was extra happy. He said he started sweating right away, and even sweat on both his computer and phone. That's a new high - sweat all over the dashboard. Yuck - except his smile was huge.
There were two extended, steep climbs. Jacinto said he had to stop and pant like a dog. Then it took three tries to get going again. I estimate I walked about a mile, off and on. My computer was saying 16-20% for extended distances. When it leveled off to 9%, I could ride. Isn't it ironic when 9% looks level?
Jacinto said he was only at the top for 15 minutes when I arrived. There's a grotto right at the top. There were 3-4 vehicles parked on the side of the road. At the very top was a new paved parking lot that said - bus parking. I absolutely can't imagine a bus coming up the road we did. Perhaps one could come up from Millau? As we started descending, at a hiking area, there was a bus parked. Yep, I wouldn't want to meet something that large on this skinny road.
At the top, we shared some orange slices. I asked Jacinto for his extra water bottle to top off mine. I added a Nunn tablet to the Hammer mix that was inside. Jacinto thought it tasted terrible. I had to agree. The point was electrolytes. My entire shirt, front and back, was completely wet with sweat. Jacinto enthusiastically agreed, he said he also had sweat dripping down his back into his shorts. I can't say being so sweaty made me happy. Mostly I was concerned about having enough left in the tank for the 1,000 feet of climbing we had remaining. Very luckily for me, there were no steep climbs left, and we had a strong tailwind. If the wind had been going the opposite direction, I might still be out there!
We were on D Roads the entire day. The definition is loose. The first D road was extra narrow. I again mentally measure the road with my eight foot long bike. It would just fit. We turned from D151 to D809. That started as a quiet two lane road, but the closer we got to Millau, it turned into four lanes of fast traffic. Then it narrowed down to two lanes of 6% downhill. Cars were polite. We stopped at the viewpoint for the viaduct. I was thankful we weren’t climbing up that grade with so much traffic. Just as I was giving my mental thanks, there was a couple on the other side. They looked like road bike riders out for a day ride.
As careful as we were to have all paved routing today, we were almost to town when we were supposed to get on a side road. We looked at the road conditions and noped out of that. We were on the downhill, and staying on the D Road would give us a little extra distance, before the side road hooked up. Sure enough, I looked over when my computer prompted me we were back on route. Yep, that would have been a steep downhill hike a bike. Score one for the big road.
We saw a big grocery on the edge of town. I sat on a bench in the shade watching the bikes while Jacinto went shopping. His prize purchase was pickles. We ate almost the entire jar sitting there! He also bought a cold juice and a couple of raisin buns. We agreed that was probably a fast 1,000 calories.
We were perhaps a mile from the hotel. But we got a little lost getting there. We are at the Hotel La Capelle. It's a modern, upscale hotel. They have a covered seating area in the entry. I was happy to wait in the shade while Jacinto registered. We agreed we hadn't been hot until after the grocery store. I was fortunate to not be overhot on the climb.
Our bikes went downstairs to the basement. My bike took both of us to carry. There were 4-6 other bicycles downstairs. There's an organized event tomorrow.
We walked down to L'aloko Restaurant, and ate outside. The server spoke excellent English. Jacinto ordered Ropa Vieja, which sounded Mexican. He was extra pleased that they had homemade habanero hot sauce. He asked for a second cup and the waiter told him he was a strong man. We also had guacamole. Jacinto speculated in advance we would be disappointed. I've never had guacamole with curry before. We finished it, but I can't say curry was a good addition.
Tomorrow has a rain forecast for the afternoon and 15 degrees cooler. I'm hopeful if we get going, we can beat the rain. I'd sure like to see the gorge. I hope we can ride it in clear weather.
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Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 344 miles (554 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 8 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 5 |
1 month ago
I made up the numbers, but you get the idea, right?
1 month ago
Can you comment on the food - are gizzards popular all over? I've never had gizzards on salad before - tried them, didn't like them so much.
Is there a reason duck is often served? Instead of chicken. Bird flu? We've had duck legs. They were fine. But I don't think I've ever seen duck served in the USA at all . . . frog legs were a choice last night. We see them occasionally in the USA. Maybe more in the south?
These are the questions of a newbie to France, as you can tell!
1 month ago
Here’s what I know: France has a history of eating pretty much every part of every animal. You’ll find gizzards (chicken and duck and probably other birds) on the menu pretty often. Not always. But often on salads.
Duck is a big thing down here in the south. Most of the duck comes from southwest France, I think. If you like the taste of beef, you might really like Magret de Canard. It’s just a roasted duck breast with no sauce. They like to serve it pretty raw, so be sure to order it “bien cuit” (bieen quee) if you don’t want it to be red inside. “Au point” (o pwon) is like medium rare. Don’t get anything else - it will be basically raw.
Yeah, frog legs. I don’t see them often in restaurants. It’s kind of old-school, I think, to eat them. So I associate them with grandma-style cooking.
I’m mystified by the rarity of chicken on the menu in restaurants, too. I don’t know why you don’t see it very often. It was that way before bird flu, so I think it’s based on French taste buds or something.
If you get a chance to buy one of those rotisserie chickens, though, they make a great lunch or dinner on a park bench. That’s the way I think most French people eat chicken. Either that way or in Chicken McNuggets…
Other more experienced residents may have other opinions, so take this with a grain of salt. I really like Magret de Canard, though. :)
1 month ago
We had ten fat drops of rain, enough to zip my handlebar bag closed. That’s the kind of rain I like!
1 month ago