Nothing Toulose

I showed up in Tolouse last night dusty and grimy from an aproximately 100km ride in on a 'piste cyclable' along the canal that turned out to only be moderately cyclable. The girl from Couchsurfing.com who I was going to stay with's cel phone had run out of juice, and I was stuck, wanting a bed and shower pretty bad. Thankfully my account on warmshowers.net (like couchsurfing, but specifically for touring cyclists) had started to work again, and so I took a chance and phoned someone (rather rudly) at 9:30 asking for a place to stay - I had nothing to lose.

Thankfully Remi turned out to be a really cool guy. He was just about to go out with some friends but came and met me and gave me a few minutes to shower before taking me out with them to see a bit of the town. He's off to Ireland for a 3 week bike trip this thursday and i wish him good luck.

So what have I been up to for the last week or so? Riding through easily the most beautiful part of France I've yet seen. Cantal and Le Lot, two departments that are within the massive central were my running ground, and they reminded me (to the point of homesickness at times) of British Columbia. Rushing rivers, raw rock faces, lonely traintracks along the side of empty, winding, tree lined highways; it was like the BC of my youth and imagination. There are a lot of hours for thinking when you alone on the bike and riding through this area reminded me very strongly that I need to explore my home province in detail some more when I get back. I began to feel very nostalgic for the place that I remember and that I fear won't exist in the sqme way for much longer. 80s era brown painted log ranger cabins and BC parks: home. Ah nostalgia. Of course, there were some things in this region I've never seen befgore - like the volcanic peaks of the regional Parc Des Volcans. I made it my goal to conquer one of these beasts, and so I spent a morning huffing it up one of the most beautiful roads I've ever seen surrounded by green rolling ridges and valleys to a 1588 M pass, 200meters shy of the Puy de Mary, which was only accessible by foot. I don't really knoz how to describe what I saw save to say that it was like the photos I've seen of Hawaii, but stretching for miles in every direction and with cattle and cute little European villages scattered about. Perhaps a little like I imagine Argentina to be. I sat there listening to american tourist girls complain about how they didn't like thier sandwiches before piling back into their tourbus. Had a shot of whiskey while feeling superior for earning my view, then dropping back down to a reasonable altiude to make a 95 km day. If I ever come back to france it will be to this region to spend some serious time looking around; to anyone coming this way by bike, look at my Gmap for day 2/3, and ENSURE that you hit those routes. Its non negotiable.

I'm going to stay an extra day in Tolouse here to look around a bit and because all the bike shops are closed (yay sunday) - I need a shorter stem (persistant hand numbness is worrying me) and while my brakes have improved enough to be safe in normal conditions, I think I'm willing to pay a bit more to try and get them tip-top before taking on the pyrenees. Tomorrow I'll ride south to try and pass through the Col de Portillion, and then down through catalonia to Barcelona. Probably no email until then, so you'll have to wait for more updates.

Oh yeay, PS - NEW PHOTOS UP!
(like this one of the Brakes 2007 world tour)