Mountaineater

I'm in Claremont right now, and upon logging in I've just realized the last post I wrote (the one below) didn't publish for some reason. Put it up now.

Since Bourges things have gotten better - I'm back in the riding rythm and basically covered the entire distance from just outside montlucon to just shy of claremont in one day - thats a solid 80k, loaded, all in the mountains. I felt pretty badass putting in a day like that and stopping early-ish with enough time to find a good spot, cook, and set up camp all while it was still light. I Got up this morning with the intention of riding to the top of the puy de dome, a 1400M volcano, but when I got there they told me bikes were only alowed on fro, 7-9 am, while it was closed to cars. Lame. Istead I dropped into CLaremont which was about 15 km all at a 10 percent grade. Thrilling and a bit scary, as I'm still having a bit of brake trouble - CLaremont is a large enough city so after this I'm off to seek out a decent mechanic. My route next takes me southwest through more volcano territory. Should be good training for the legs and spectacular scenery.

The people int he mountains up here seem to think I am completely insane - I think it is beyond a lot of their comprehension that someone could arrive here on a bicycle - one loaded with gear to boot. This is a bit funny to me, since the title 'massif central' seems to speak more to the french tendency towards self agrandizement than a description of the mountain range. 'Rolling foothils central' would perhaps be more apropriate. Don't get me wrong, it IS hard work pushing throuh here, but comming from BC I would hesitate to call it 'massive.' For a little perspective: the Puy de Dome - one of the tallest mountains in the area is 1400 M. The Lions, part of the coast mountain range that overlook vancouer are 1600 M. Blackcomb Mountain is somewhere in the range of 2200 M. Again, don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming I could (or would even want to) ride up blackcomb - I'm just saying 'masive' is perhaps a relative term.

Anyway, HERE is my last two days, if you are curious. More details down the road, maybe when I get to Tolouse (havent decided on a route yet).

(ps, I'm at a total of 1058km, not counting the day rex got stolen which I havent Gmapped - I suspect it is an aditional 50-60km)

(edited for accuracy - my original statement regarding blackcombs hight was overly large, owing to a confusion between feet and meters. There are no 7000 meter mountains in Canada...)