I'm one of those poeple who cant sleep on planes, and this was no exception. Being an all night flight I'm going on about 30 hours of no sleep and I'm starting to hit the wall as I write this.
I got a pick up from my team director/driver and Franck, one of the older fast guys in Paris ,and I was was greeted with a nice coissont, and a strong cup of espresso. They marvalled how I could fit 2 bikes in one bike bag, and I marvalled at how useless I am at French. Problem.
So it seems that most of the people on my team, and who Ill be living with dont speak english. Dont get me wrong I dont expect to move to France, and have everyone speak English for me. It just means I have to kick start my french skills in a bad way.
The team car is fully legit being a Renault, with sponsor logos all over it. On top there are enough racks to hold a few bikes and about 15 wheels with speakers on the top to yell at riders. Its pretty funny actually. The best part is the "peleton" horn which is the one you hear if you ever watch any PROTOUR bike racing vid.
We crammed all my stuff into the car and made the way into Paris for a quick stop over at a friend of the teams. There we had some wierd french alchohol called Ricard, which you mix with water and tastes like black liquorish. Im pretty sure Andrew told me to stay away from it if I knew what was good for me. Its pretty terrible stuff.
2 days later____________________________________________________
Fast foreward a couple days as I am now settled and have internet at my host house. I went for a couple rides with the team and it turns out the team is one of the biggest in the area with about 12 riders. We did a couple 80+ km days and the terrain is surprisingly hilly. Its a lot like PEI with rolling hills. The guys are pretty fast as some of them have a lot of kms in their legs. The first day I felt fine but the second I was cooked by the end of the 100km mark. I was expecting that with the cold,being the first few rides of the year and the guys drilling it on the climbs.
The scenery is exactly what you would picture rural France to be. Any view is like out of a Europe calendar. You ride through hilly spots through fields with a ton of churches. The roads are super narrow and every now and then you pop into a town that has 15 buildings from 1200AD. Old guys come out smoking and watch you go by. Its really funny how steriotypical it is.
Ill go into more detail about things in later posts but here are things I have noticed.
-Apparently taking your shoes off to go into a house is a Canadian only thing as everyone doesnt do it here and in parts of america I've noticed.
-People kiss on the cheek to say hello, women get it on both cheeks, kids only on their right.
-No one drinks real coffee. Its a power like making hot chocolate. They drink 15 cups a day, but its the mix. I went looking for a steriotypical cafe today in Centreville Flers and there was nothing to be had. Bummer.
-Everything is little, cars, meals, houses espeically. The house I"m staying in some of the stairways are just as wide as my shoulders. The cars are smaller than a bike length and height ways.
-French keyboards are annoying.
These are some other things I have noticed and I'll keep more coming. Its bizzare here, very bizzare. Its much more difficult than what I imagined. The language is of course, but just that everything is slightly differant from Canada. I'm not complaining, its just difficult to get use to. My french is comming along quickly actually. It sounds terrible but at least I can get by now.
With that I'm off to bed, more pictures tomorrow.
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