So what happened on the glorious 16th of June 2010? Who knows? I cycled all day.
I'm on an 8 day trip with some friends from London to Zurich and I must admit, one does lose a bit of perspective when you're stuck on 2 wheels for 10 hours a day. Not that I'm not interested into Kyrgystan, the World Cup or the Belgian elections, to name a few important events. To the contrary.But really, today was about micro-experiences. About the direction of the wind (head on for most of the day). About the knee of the guy in the right of the picture. Will it hold up or not? (probaby not - looks like he'll be quitting tomorrow which is a big shame). About where we would find lunch (nowhere - no restaurant, no shop, not even a bakery - and remember, we're in France). Part of me misses being glued to a laptop screen, using Google Maps to plan our trip or the buzz of the constant input of bits and stories and things. (Yep, I work in the field of online communication stuff.) But today's little micro-dramas showed that the Twitter feed becomes a bit more relative in the context of hunger and a sore ass. Sure, it's barely hunter-gatherer stuff, but they were constant signs of humanity that I often find lacking in my line of work. And having a local kid in a little town swing by on a bike when you're exhaustedly looking at a map and ask "je peux vous aider?" is a pretty impressive moment. (She cycled faster than us, by the way.) So what happened today? Lots of lovely little things. And now off to bed. Tomorrow is Day Six of the trip and we're hitting some mountains. Hopefully I find the time to check in on Foursquare every now and again. Take a look at our route._______________________________________________
About the author: You can find Gerrie Smits on Twitter at @grrRAAK.
Comments (3)
My love for Belgian beer is too big to be South African. ;-)
I have friends who love to bike; occasionally they rope me into going with them. Mostly I prefer to walk. I can't imagine going through the mountains on a bike...
What was the reason for your trip?
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