No Blue in France.

This week is an easier week for me here in France. Easy weeks are dangerous buisness, as there is the potential to go stir crazy. Im not one that likes waking up and having nothing to accomplish throughout the course of the day, so this leads me to have to fill my time with something when the bike demands only a few hours a day.

Ive been having a hard time sleeping as of late. Wether this is from too much on my mind, or too much time at the coffee shop I dont know. Most likely its a combination of both.

As mentioned, in France they dont have coffee shops per se....just bars that happen to serve coffee. I have carved a spot in a couple of small bars here in Flers, and each has its own unique characteristics and benefits.

One is the 'happin' spot in town I guess you could say. Its right in the center of town and it draws a lot of the youth of the town. the atmosphere is good, and the coffee ok. I always feel at odds with the manager though. In realilty, I only go for coffee and the odd beer which doesnt amount to much money spent at once. The fact I dont speak French seems to make it difficult for everyone and sometimes it seems like Im the odd ball of the place.

(The Old Man Bar)

The other place I know as the 'Old Man Bar'. Its a small place tucked away in the corner of Flers. I call it the old man bar as there is only old men and sketchy Turks that go there. The bartender is a solid guy. Ive never been able to have a real conversation with him obviously, but I noticed one day his hands were that of a working mans hands in a former life. This guy would have no use for something as silly as a pair of oven mits. In my mind I picture him tending a farm or being a mechanic and giving it all up one day to open up HIS bar, accomlishing his dream after a lifetime of manual labour.

The coffee is cheap and the beer is good here.

Of course the hip bar seems to draw in the few attractive women that Flers has. Its nice to sit and simply hear people talk who are your age. So here is the draw back, Do I go to the place with the cute gals and the sketchy Turks, or the place with the unreal bartender with the old men and the sketchy Turks?

Either way I cant talk with anyone, so in reality it doesnt matter. I guess varition is the spice of life when it comes down to it. A bar to suit your mood when the mood strikes. When you only know how to order one type of coffee and one type of beer, consistant change in scenery becomes very important.

Clear Days

I raced in the beer league this weekend. There was a higher end race that the team also went to but there was only so many riders they could send. Since Ive been sucking as of late I got to race in the beer league.

Keep in mind, a beer league race in Canada means that some of the riders have beer guts....but in France they are old pros and upcomming strong guys. Since people have a 'relaxed' work schedule in France, everyone has a ton of time to train aswell. Beer league also brings out about 100 guys at least, even with another big race going on.

About 85% of the races that Ive raced in France, the break has always gone within the first 20km or so. Keeping this in mind for this race I had a good warm up and tried to get in everything that moved. I had some great attacks, and managed to be at the front and got in about 3-4 good breaks but they didnt stick and only lasted about 10 minutes or so.

I rode my ass off until the 50km mark and I thought to myself "Well Ryan, maybe it'll come down to a bigger group today." The course was pretty flat so it was probable. After 5 km of sitting in the pack I looked up and saw the pack split. It was one of those breaks where you knew it was the break of the day.

I thought to myself why me...and moved to the front again and attacked to try to bridge up. I was in no mans land for a good 5-8 minutes when a couple other guys bridged up. We worked for about 20km to try to bridge up but we couldnt find the last bit of juice to get up there. Even in France it seems there are guys who want to bridge up and guys who just want to look cool for their friends, and we had a couple of these guys which didnt make life easy. It was in this group that I finished. I rolled in about 35th or something.

This time of year co-incides with allergy season, and today was quite the show. There wasnt a time when my nose felt clear. Most people wouldnt know, but the farmers blow(close one side of your nose with your finger, and blow) is a constant action among all us cyclists. Usually by the end of the race your covered in both your own and other peoples spit and snot. Its not uncommon for someones snot to get carried by the wind into your face. Its funny, because at the time you dont really think about it, as its just something that happens, but if it happened to me on the street I would be pretty disgusted.

I caught myself walking down the street in Flers and had the urge to clear my nose. I had a finger on one side of my nose to blow...when I caught myself and realized that this is something not to do in normal life. hah.

During the ride with Arnault(Bens brother) last week he came around me and I didnt see him as he pased. Just as he passed I spit out a pretty solid piece of spit...and caught him right in the hip..dead on. A big "ahhhhhh' was let out by both of us and I sincerly appologised in my best French as it was an accident. He relaized this and I whipped my loogie off of him with my hand and rubbed it on my shorts...again appologising.

When was the last time you spit on a FDJ rider?

Lucky 300th

This is the 300th post on The Fine Grind!

I had a great training week this week, a good hard 3 hour ride with a chill 4 hour ride yesterday. Benoits brother decided to hop in with us. He's an unreal guy who you can sence would never think a negative thing toward anyone. He has absolutely no conceided head on him. This for someone who dabbles between the French National team, and FDJ Protour team. Good Company.

The people here in France have treated us Canadians so well during our stay. I could not ask for anything more and the hospitality has been simply unreal. To take someone you have never met, accept them into your home, feed them for months, and never ask for anything in return is humbling.

One of the things that has been hard on me living in France is that my french is not good enough to actually communicate with these people. I can sence the quality of these people and I know under differant circumstances many of these guys would be my best friends. Because we cant speak, my relationships stop at simple greatful gestures and smiles. It really is a damn shame. Its something I know Ill regret, but not something that I cant really remedy.

The weather has been holding out, and we have a nice day again. I got a tubular flat on the weekend. Because you have to replace the tire this is usually a huge pain in the ass and can be very expensive($30-$120) so its not something you want to do often.

You know cycling is ingrained in the culture when you can buy Vittoria tubulars at the grocery store. No Joke!

Rough Stuff

The weather has been great here. The boys and I are all rocking pretty good sun-burns/tans and I might spend some time in the sun today to chase away the Casper appearance.

Traning went great this week, the races however did not. We started out Tuesday as Zack and I had a great interval session during a three hour ride. The next day I was pretty stiff and didnt feel particularily perky but we did put in a good 4 hours regardless. Im ashamed to say I bonked a little bit toward th end, but thats how it goes. Either way I felt I recovered well, and was set for the the races this weekend.

The DN1 race on Saturday was pretty bad. For some reason on the first climb I felt I didnt have any power and just lost contact with the main group going into the windy section. It was wierd because my climbing legs this year arent great, but they werent that bad.

I honestly set it aside as a mental barrier. Saything that it probably wasnt my legs but just my head, and that I may have went into the race not full mentally focused as I should have been.

The next morning the questions were answered as I woke up sick. Having another race that day I didnt feel great about it. I suited up and rode the first 40 km, but pulled out after that feeling pretty shitty.

This season has been like that. When ever you think the match get lit, it quickly gets blown out. I still have plenty of matches left in reserve, but its just frustrating to have the good legs one day and bad ones the next.

In other news(or lack there of) We now have four English channels in Chez Benoit. They are CNN, France 24, Sky news and Russia news TV. CNN is the staple here and I find myself watching hte same programs at least 3 times before they get replaced. Its great to see actually. Simply having English tv in the background is kind of comforting.

From what Ive gathered there is nothing going on in the world other than the Volcano errupting in Iceland. Its on about 23 hours a day. As most of you know most of Europe is grounded and France is no exception. Here in Normandy the air was definatley bizzare for a couple days last week. Zack and I figured it was from the Volcano.

I bought a killer coffee grinder in a flea market here. Its made in Holland and is pretty sick if you ask me. I havent used it yet because surprisingly its very difficult to find decent whole beans in France. It makes you earn your coffee.

In the Mind

I had a decent race on the weekend. It wasnt a crazy high-end one, just a regional France race but it was the first time this year where I felt really great. Honestly, I felt like myself for the first time in a couple years. I didnt get any crazy results but I felt I had decent power and managed to get a top 20 or so.

I missed the winning break but toward the end of the race Zack put out an attack and only a couple of us went with him so we finished in the second group a few minutes back. The course was great being a true roulier course with a ton of wind thrown in.

Yesterday Ben, Zack, Franck and I went to the Normandy beaches to see where the European continent was taken back from the Germans during WW2. It was a team effort with Canadian, English, and American soldiers. Being a history buff it was bizzare to see the places that Ive watched in history documentaries over the years.

All of France gives you the feel that the war is still in recent memory. It wasnt long ago the WW2 happened here. 60-70 years is a blink of an eye in France when you consider a lot of the houses and buildings are over 200 years old.

The beaches and area itself is an interesting place. I got the impression that it was(and still is) a tourist destination as the beaches are similar in beauty to that of PEI or tropical locations. It was difficult to picture the sight of them with the water being red for many days after the landings.

In for the long haul

Race again this weekend. I feel better going into the race this week compared to last. We've had some great rides this week and the household is very positive.

(Ben crashed last weekend)

As mentioned Im living with team-mate Benoit, a 24 year old Butcher and Zack Garland from Newfoundland. Honestly this has probably been the best living situation Ive ever been in for cycling. Every night we usually make dinner together, we share all of our food, and cleaning duties seem to get done without anything said.

(Thats a load-bearing poster)

We all seem to have differant strengths in the kitchen and the meals have all been great. On top of that becuase Ben is a butcher meat is cheeeeeap!

Ive been thinking about the Biking for Breakfast Challenge on PEI this summer. I've never done it, but Id love to on the Bartali. Hopefully I can get that rig rolling by then. I would hope to do it on that old bike, along with a vintage jersey I bought here in France. It would be sweet to rock out for the 300km in full vintage style. Ideally Id like to do it only with red wine to drink, and a baguette strapped to the top-tube for food.

Ive slowly been buying and stealing momentos from France. Ricard is a harsh drink everyone seems to be in love with here. I enjoy it the odd time, but only the odd time.

I obtained the ashtray with the intention of somehow strapping it to my handlebars for the BFBC to have the odd cigar during the ride.

(pre race meal, always)

The race went terrible. From the gun the pace was hot. We went into a serious climb and the pack split and split again. It was intense. Like war I tell ya. I found myself on the wrong side of the split and as we crested the climb I made a break for it to get into the break, or the remnants of the pack. On the decent I went as hard and as aero as I could. I got about 3seconds to the pack, so close I could feel it, but it was then that they pulled away.

(hurting a few races ago)

I dnf'd the race. Mostly becuase I was disgusted and embarassed. Its tough to explain but I was just fed up with everything. I didnt want to do the remaining 100km with the groupetto and I was just basically annoyed with myself for poor position and not anticipating the hard attack off the line.

Zack rode well getting a 15th place and Guillome netted the win. That guy oozes talent. I could see it from the first training camp.

That means today was a riding day. We went out for a good 3 hours with some good punches thrown in. It was the first nice day this year I think. The temps hovered around 20, and I could ride with bare legs. This alone was enough to make it a great day. Its one thing to have fun training, but its another to have fun riding. Today was a riding day.

I usually take a Vitamin D suppliment everyday(from the sun) to improve my mood, but a little pill would have to work pretty hard to make you happy after a 4 hour ride in the rain and hail. Its pretty sweet to feel the sun on your skin after being hidden for the better part of 6 months.

Life is getting back to normal here in France. I race today for the first time in about 2 weeks so it will be hit or miss I think. The past few rides have gone pretty well but I found myself really tired yesterday.



As I am half way through my stay here in France I moved into a new place with a team mate. Im now in Chez Benoit with fellow Maritimer Zack Garland. Its great to have another Canadian around and someone to speak english with. This place is feeling good and Ben, Zack and I have been sharing cooking, washing and cleaning duties pretty well.



Its hard to believe that im half-way through my stay here. Im not going to lie I miss the Red Dirt. I use to crave the instability in my life that travelling brings. The feeling of always being on edge and that new things are around the corner. I find my mind has been wanting the stability of old PEI. Im still loving racing, but there are definitley hard days here in France, both on the bike and in the mind. Its tough to explain to anyone who hasnt lived this life, but at the same time it needs no explination to someone who has.

The boys and I watched Flanders on the TV!!! yesterday. France TV 4 had a good 2.5 hours of it and we had bets for 10 beers who would win. Of course I bet on Cancellara and won....either way I was comming up on top as Im the only one who drinks! hah.

With that Im off to the races!

On my Feet

Whoa, long time no posts. No, I havnet been slacking, just travelling a bit. Being my first time in Europe and also missing my darling, I decided to take a week off and do some sightseeing. This may be the only time in my life I'm in Europe, so I wanted to make the best of it.

I booked my flights to Dublin (where Mal is living) with RyanAir, which proved to be cheap but ended up being a nightmare. They treated me the worst I have ever been treated by a company ever. Not only did they make me wait 3 hours longer for my flight, they then cancelled it at mid-night. It was then that I had to wait in line for 3 hours in the airport waiting for my new ticket. I was at the ticket counter finally at 3am waiting for my ticket to print off when the printer broke.

I was then told that they wouldnt be paying for a hotel and I had to take a bus at 3am, an hour to Paris, and buy my own hotel(which is against the law in Europe). I didnt get to bed until 5am that morning. The next day at 10pm(over 24 hours lag time) I arrived back at the airport after paying $25 for another bus ride. This flight went ok, but it was still a kick in the face.

Moving on........................

The trip went great. I had fun just being a toursit and looking around Dublin with my lady. I drank much beer, ate a lot of beef stews, and saw all of the sights including the Guiness Brewery. It was great to be able to speak English freely!

From there Mal and I travelled to Paris for a couple days. She has a chill-do-things-as-they-come attitude, while I have a list of things to do, and sights to see attitude. Surprisingly we made it out great, still seeing most of the sights while doing it at a chill pace.

Our rented apartment came with a Saeco espresso machine and we poished off 2lbs of espresso between us in 4 days, it was great.

Of course the highlights were the Eifell tower, Montparnasse, the Catacombs(thanks Bill) Champs Elysee, Momartre(sp?) and a lot of time at churches and simply sitting at coffee shops and going to bakeries.

Traveling through Paris and Dublin was great. Seeing all of the sights and being a tourist is needed to let the mind relaxe, but the best part for me was really just seeing my lady. As a bike racer you spend so much time alone in wierd places not really talking to anyone and living a life that is lightyears away from a normal 23 year old. So because of this, its a huge decompression to see the ones your close to, even for only a few days.