Day 13 - Friday 24th September, 2010
l'Arbresle > Grigny (and then back to Lyon)
38.8 miles
4:20 moving time, 8.9 mph moving average
During what's already a disappointing breakfast, we see an email about some business matters back in the UK. There's a slim chance we may have to go back in the next couple of days. That's really not ideal to say the least, not now we're so close to the end and we're making good time, so we try and put it out of our mind and ignore it.
It's a grey, cold and rainy morning and it looks a bit bleak for riding. We keep the full wet weather gear on standby, and I switch to Seal Skin socks. Nice and warm too. My hand washed clothes are still damp, and no way to dry them today, so I'm back in old kit which I hope a little spray of antibacterial magic will freshen them up a bit.
View from the hotel
The room doesn't smell any better after breakfast and I'm glad to be packing and out of there. We'll stick to our plan of skirting around Lyon, routing slightly Southwest, but there's still doubt in both of our minds whether that's the best plan or not.
By the time we're out the rain is light, but the clouds thicken up and it doesn't look like it will clear. Forecast says rain on and off for next 3-4 days.
Within ten minutes we're up into a steep climb (now tradition for the morning) and it starts coming down heavily.
Moody skies. Not a god sign.
My rear gears start playing up again and it's extremely irritating that they're jumping on this climb. I get off for a few minutes but after some adjustments and test rides, I can't seem to fix it, and can't really see what the problem is. It's not ideal but I'll have to ride with it, up the hill.
The rain is getting heavier and heavier. We seek a bit of cover in a lay-by, and I switch to waterproof bottoms. They're not proper cycling ones, so they're not as comfortable on the bike and ride up my legs a bit, and it's not easy getting back on the bike in them. I also need an elastic band to gather the hem and keep them out of harms way. All very attractive. Even though he's got Gore-tex trousers in the bag, John says he's sticking to shorts as he's soaked already.
It feels horrible riding wet and in trousers at first, but I soon start to warm up and the breathable material means my shorts might dry out a bit.
This is now pretty miserable riding. We're soaked and the rains heavy. The roads now become busier and busier as we hit the outskirts. It's quite dark, and we get the lights out for safety. We have to start to concentrate hard at this stage. It's our first time riding in heavy rain with loaded bikes and its a shame we're in congested roads near a big city.
It's reasonably hilly, and as usual this is probably because we're not being routed the most efficient way. We can see bigger hills on route, but we might get lucky and be skirting around them, we can't quite tell yet. There are also huge areas of flat in the distance, so we should be in for some easier riding to Grenoble after this section. My bike's making weird noises on the wheel again. Can't quite tell what it is but doesn't sound right, think the front brakes are rubbing but its intermittent. My rear light packs in around this time as well - probably full of water.
After a good half an hour on a really busy multi-lane highway, John is pretty freezing now. Neither of us are feeling that great, and I've got no waterproof hat so am soaked on top. I get a plastic carrier bag out of the pannier and tie it over my hat as a makeshift waterproof. It looks like an abomination , but it works and keeps me a it dryer. I even put in a few air holes for breathability!
As we pass an industrial estate John sees a bike shop. A quick u-turn and we park up and he heads in. A little while later he appears and says they're actually closed today, but since they're stock-taking and we're caught out, they'll let us in to get supplies. Now that's very decent!
We bring the bikes in and soak the place. It's a huge, well stocked shop, and the staff run around helping us. John gets waterproof overshoes, and new socks. He then switches to full waterproof bottoms as well. I get a new rear light, but they're out of gore-tex rain hats (or any rain hats). Damn - carrier bag it is then. My brakes have felt a bit loose today so I take a look. In just one morning of hills, rain and grit, the stock brake blocks on my bike are totally worn down. There's very little left on them so I get a full new set to put on later. While I'm checking the brakes, I lift my bike up and the front wheel practically falls off. Ooops. So that's what the rubbing was, the wheel's just loose in the forks! It must have worked loose in the rain. (I also notice later that it's on the wrong way round, so swap it over).
I feel lucky that nothing happened to the bike while I was on it, and especially lucky since we're on a huge road in bad weather. I've been checking the nuts and bolts and everything as we go, but I make a special note to check the wheels more often.
With new gear, John's feeling much better, and since we both hate this road, we hit some back lanes instead. Once again, it's steep. But it's quiet and more picturesque. We're getting hungry now too.
It might be the outskirts, it might be the rain, it might be that we're tired and over-hungry, but nowhere we pass looks like a nice place to stop or eat. We revert back to our old ways and press on. And on. We end up buying a few slices of pizza, cakes and sandwiches at a bakery, and then cycle on to find somewhere 'nice' to stop - somewhere a bit off the road.
It never comes and before long we've bonked, and are standing on the pavement at the edge of a village, and we eat standing up we're so hungry we don't care anymore.
It's here the rain lets up for a few seconds and we deal with a few calls.
Not what we were hoping for.
We need to go back to the UK for our work.
After a lot of umming and arring, and much deliberation, we give in to it. There's no way round it. We're heading home early.
We can possibly delay it a few days, but right now we're close to Lyon, and it would be an easy place to get back from, so, with much regret we switch the GPS's direct to Lyon, turn 180 degrees, and get pedalling.
We're a little way Southwest, but it's pretty much follow the river all the way back, over it, and then into the city.
As it turns out it's a busy but reasonable journey in, and it ends up being quite pretty along the river. At first glance it looks like a nice place, so maybe we should have come this way in the first place. Oh well, we're seeing it now. A bit of a landslide means a road's closed, but we decide to haul our bikes over the barriers and continue. The joy of bikes.
He hit Lyon train station and get a coffee. John checks out trains and times and bike rules. We're not prepared as we weren't planning to head back from here, so we start trying to gather together all the info we need.
It's now bucketing it down outside so we ride it out in the station and get on the web. Whatever we do it looks like we'll stay here the night in a hotel and then head back the next day once we've got ourselves organised as it's getting a bit late.
We start the mad hotel run, trying to find a place that's good and cheap, and after a few bum leads from TripAdvisor and a dodgy GPS signal, we end up in the dark and still nowhere to stagy. As it turns out good and cheap don't exist in Lyon (not that have any vacancies anyway). A wet, rounded kerb takes John off his bike but thankfully he's just a bit bruised, is OK and we carry on. It seems cycle friendly here apart from the slightly raised kerbs on cycle lanes.
We finally find somewhere and they'll lock our bikes in the bin area, so we clean up and head for food to discuss plans for tomorrow.
A hotel
It's only just dawning on us that the trip's over. We're sort of in a bit of a daze really.
For me, it's been an emotional week, and that makes it even more upsetting to finally have to call it a day after I'd recovered from my weird physical ailment a few days ago. I feel really good now, and although still worried about the wedding timing, I feel I could get over the Alps and to the end. I'm fitter than I've ever been. For John, the disappointment's also huge. The Alps and getting to Cannes were his main reasons for doing it, and he thought he was nearly there.
We also feel really bad since we've used the ride as a way to raise money for charity, and quite a lot of people are following the trip and a few people have already donated. We don't want them to feel cheated about it, but there's not much we can do.
Our street
So the evening is a mixture of excitement, reflection, happiness and sadness all in one. We both make a pledge to come back and complete the trip, or start it again.
After much wine and food and wandering the city, we head back to the hotel. We see that there are loads more bikes in the bin area - about nine road bikes with various designs and types of things bolted on for carrying small bags. Just like we took to Paris on our previous trip. We then meet a crowd of German guys, who are also touring. They are cycling from St Petersburg to Lisbon in Portugal. They started the trip about eight years ago, and every year they tackle a stage - two weeks at a time - so as to fit around family and work commitments. They've made it as far as Lyon and it's from here they'll start again next year.
It leaves us with even more ideas for next time…….
So as far as the journal goes, this is pretty much where it ends.
As it turns out the journey home won't be as straightforward as we'd hope, involving expensive cab rides to Decathlon, taking our bikes to bits, and switching to a plane rather than a train. But we don't know that yet, that's tomorrow. Tonight we really just have to enjoy the fact that we made it this far, enjoy what turns out to be the beautiful city of Lyon, and celebrate the achievement.
Google Earth Track
It's been an amazing adventure for both of us. Thirteen days and 575.6 miles.
At times it's been exhilarating, and amazing, and at times exhausting, gruelling and even painful. We've (mostly!) enjoyed each others company, and although our feelings about camping have been mixed from this trip, it's opened up new possibilities. We've seen a huge amount of the French countryside and it's cities, towns and villages, and met some lovely people along the way. Apart from a few little scrapes and near misses, we've had a safe trip and we've learnt a lot about cycle touring. I for one have learnt that I'm probably not a solo tourer, for me it would be too lonely. I've also learnt that the scenery and weather is as important, or more important, than the cycling itself. And that maybe just a bit of training beforehand, as well as some nutrition planning, might be a good idea.
We're already planning another big journey.
Until next time!
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