Friday, May 8, 2009

A few pictures

Today marks an interesting day, not only my third day here living 'la belle vie', but also my first pre-race day. Tomorrow, barring any issues acquiring my new license, I will be lining up for a Cat.2 race in Antrechaux. And if I feel well, Sunday will mark race #2 in Nice.

As a side note, I forgot a little story. Mildly embarrassing at the time really. On my first ride here, Ed (from the UK) and Matt took me out for a little spin. 1.5 hours real easy we said. Coming down the hill into Grasse after about an 1:15, I applied the brakes in advance of a turn. Suddenly I was skidding out of control. I knocked into Ed (very gingerly) and toppled over at .5km/h. "*#^%!" saide I. A little red in the face towards my new teamates, I attempted to explain, but there was no explanation. So I tried to ride away. Nothing. It would appear the lovely folks at Air Canada had smoked my rear wheel at some point and it basically gave out under me. Spoke tension was all over and the wheel was jambed into my frame. I tried an old mountain biking trick of wacking it on the curb, but only managed to get confused looks from some locals. So Matt had to ride the 15 min home to get the team car to pick me up. Even more fun is getting the turn around from the local Air Canada office who are generally either on brake or giving me new phone numbers to call. Either way, Yannick has lent me a new rear wheel and I'm rolling again.

Yesterday was an awesome day, as Ed drove us down to the coast to meet up with a couple of ladies from Moose Jaw, friend's of Matts. Matt and Ed dropped Chels and I off in Antibes to explore while they went to Nice to find the ladies. Chels and I spent a while driking coffee, and exploring the old town and port before heading on a little hike with the rest of the group out the Cape d'Antibes with our new friends. We then headed down the coast to Juan-Les-Pins and finally spent the afternoon lounging on the beach in Cannes with some cheese to work on our cycling tans. A great way to take in the sights and recover at the same time!



Me & big Ed working our tans by the Med. Chels on our little walk out the Cape d'Antibes.


The fresh market in Antibes, great stuff! Chez nous en France. Actually, just behind this.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It always comes back to Moose Jaw:)