Day 2 - Sunday Sept 1st, 2013 -- 74 miles

Our first riding day went well.  We were told we will start riding every day at 9 am.  The French don't get up early, breakfast in the hotels isn't even available until 8 am.  I am learning that food is a big deal with the French.

The weather is cool here, 58* in the morning around 8 am and it warmed up to 80* in the afternoon.  We actually didn't start today's ride till 9:45 am because of the first day snags and getting our group picture 

As you can see, we have twelve riders, six men and
six women. Our two leaders are Hannah and Jo - both ladies

 

The best I can tell is that one lady is from Canada, my friend Richard is from Trinidad, me - the only one from the US and everyone else is from England.

 

 

 

Here is Richard Arrindell and I.

 



 



The 74 mile ride went well.  We were done at 4 pm.  Five hours of riding at an average speed of 14.3 mph.  We had almost two hours of stopping during the day.  This kind of riding is almost harder for me, I would rather ride long and fast with few stops.  Socializing isn't my strong suite.

 

FYI:  I did get the first flat tire - just my luck. The tire blew like a gun shot.  I had to replace the entire tire, not just the tube.

 

Here are some pretty cool pictures of the day.  France is beautiful, what I have seen of it so far.

 



Yes, I am picking black berries on the side of the road.  They were good and sweet.

 

 

So, that was our ride, but that ain't all!  Let me tell you about our dinner.  We don't even eat until 7:30 pm.  So we all dutifully gathered at 7:30.  I didn't have a clue what was about to hit me.

 

 

As I said before, the French think their food is to die for.  I thought I would die of old age.  The meal lasted 2 hours 45 minutes!!  We got to dinner, the first thing served was water and drinks - just water for me. 

 

About 35 minutes later they bring a salad.

 

Then about 40 minutes later they bring something else, I am not sure what this is:

 

Asparagus and other stuff.

 

The funny thing is whenever another course came out, it was accompanied by oohs and ahhs from everyone around the table, except for me and maybe one or two other guys - the women were definitely digging this whole scene. 

 

Oh yes, did I mention every course was served with paired wine?  Another really impressive big deal!

 

Mercifully the main course arrived 25 minutes later.

 

 

 

  White fish is what it is but in French it has a fancy name.

 

By this time I am literally falling asleep at the table.  I just couldn't yuck it up any more.  So, I was the first to leave.  I didn't wait for desert or coffee.  We settled up on the dinner meal in the morning - don't even ask.

 

So I went to bed at 10:30 after just eating such a grand meal.

 

That is why this blog is late.

 

Tomorrow is another day.

 Ps. 118:24