Gravel is trending

Today we got a good taste of what all the kids are crazy about now, gravel riding. I have always held that gravel riding just meant that you were off course, but in this situation we were dutifully following both our map and the prescribed French cycling route. Two different multiple mile stretches definitely were a test for bikes and riders. There is some trepidation in that there is a five mile stretch tomorrow that shows on the map as unpaved. We shall see, though, because there have been many parts previously that were shown to be unpaved but which were actually paved when we got there. Smooth dirt is also an entirely different animal than loose gravel, so our hope is for that at least.

After our series of deep forays into the boulangerie counters, we resolved today to be more controlled. We waited the longest ever for us, 14 whole miles, before stopping for second breakfast. We had our own cheese and vegetables and would make ourselves some simple sandwiches beside the road, needing only a little bread.

We didn't realize they made loaves that big, but were quite happy to buy one when we saw it. Ok, so we also got the family sized brownie to go with it.

Being relatively close to Le Mans in both location and time I was pleased to see that there was a classic event going on today in one of the villages we passed through.

A fun thing to see before we began what turned out to be most similar to our English hill climbing experiences, very steep but not particularly long. All of our gravel riding had succeeded in loosening a bolt which keeps the chain from shifting past the gears, which meant that the Tandem got to come to an abrupt halt in the middle. A greasy repair followed by a mid road adjustment and we got to tackle it again from the middle. Good times.

In the fun accomplishment category, would be catching our cumulative distance at the right moment-

Important milepost.

We are again in a nice municipal campground, this time in Vaas, and have two days before we arrive in Saumur, our spot to rejoin the Loire river, and where we departed it 4 years ago. We look forward to that more heavily traveled route while also enjoying our more sparsely populated backwoods time.

We can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Thanks, Dave