Category: Uncategorized

(Day 7 – Carcassonne > Toulouse – 6 July 2025 – 109 km, 510 m) One of the many songs that plays in my mind as I go from gravel to concrete to pavement, from castle to city, from meandering river, lush trees and wheat fields to cool steel and graffiti art. “Come gather ’round…

(Day 6 – Béziers > Carcassonne – 5 July 2025 – 106 km, 350 m) I stayed the night in the spare room (at) chez Eric, a musician from a cyclists’ hosting site (yes, vetted/rated) who took me in after my hotel cancelled (one of two last-minute cancellations at the time of posting). Eric is…

(Day 5 – Aigues-Mortes > Béziers – 4 July 2025 – 114 km, 345 m) Someone I love and admire refers to birds as people. Spot on. Birds can be just as skittish, childish, churlish, industrious, conniving, whimsical, creative, loving, hushed and garrulous, handsome and unsightly, social and anti-social as we featherless, wingless, generally land-bound…

(Day 4 – Aix-en-Provence > Aigues-Mortes – 3 July 2025 – 120 km, 365 m) Today, I practice balancing: hearing what foods my body needs and when, how many nuts versus fruits versus licorice junkfood; finding the time of day I remove my sweaty windbreaker or respond to work messages; leaning right or left when…

(Day 2 – La Motte-du-Claire > Aix-en-Provence – 1 July 2025 – 135 km, 690 m) I imagined it would be charming to wander through the pear orchards and lavender fields bordering the rivers, streams and lakes formed by the Alpe ice runoff, so the planned bike routes have me and Liora Bree (my trusty…

(Day 1 – Briançon > La Motte-du-Caire – 30 June 2025 – 119 km, 1141 m) Before I part ways with the boys, (with whom I’ve spent a week going up and down 2 out of a planned 5 mountains), Brody asks me what I am most nervous about. I am still under the weather,…