Martigny 28/08/06

After Strasbourg I reached Basel in 2 days. During the first af these day I broke a front tooth while eating an apple. No pain, but I lost a great deal of my good looks. I have decided to stop smiling, which is pretty easy since the weather is mostly cloudy and rainy. I have had some nice days though, but my trip could have been a lot nicer. After Basel the first thing I had to do is having my shoe fixed. One of the soles had become loose for half the lenght. In a little village I found a repair shop, small and full of leather and its smell, very nice actually. The guy fixed it and I was outside withtin 10 minutes. Then cam the real test: can I cross the Alps. Test succesful, conclusion negative. I had to pass the Jura mountain range via a pass of alt. 850 mtrs. There wwere some very steep parts and I couldn’t ride the bike up. Here and there I had to push and that even was very hard. I got over it of course, but until now I have the idea that my legs haven’t recovered properly. I continued towards the Geneva lake, which I reached yesterday evening. From there it was only 80 kms to where I am now, Martigny, exactly 1200 kms away from the door of my bike shed at home. This afternoon it started raining again and the thermometer showed just over 14 C. The whole trip until now took me 13 days. Tomorrow morning at 0813 I’ll board a bus towards the monastry on the Grand Saint Bernard pass. From there I will make my own descend towards Aosta, after which I hope to reach Torino on Wednesday evening.

Reacties

Martigny 28/08/06 — 2 reacties

  1. Dear Frans,
    My greatest compliments. Very good on schedule with an average of 100 km a day. I think Gino has to spoil you now, after all these depravations.
    Note: But Gino, beware, no hard things, or Frans might loose his other teeth 🙁 Some mushed patatoes and carottes might do fine 😉 And for sure no alcohol or he’ll have acidification of his legs again.
    Frans, good luck with the last kilometers to Torino and give my regards to Gino and family.
    And once again my compliments for this achievement. You’re a champion!

  2. Finally some news… Only short text messages were not enough to locate your position exactly, Frans!
    The champion (oops, the Champion, now we all have to be respectful towards such hero) has made it and he is making all of us feel like fleshy boneless people… in Italian we would say “pappemolli”, meaning “loose soups”, or extremely lazy guys!
    Shall I reveal that I offered our hero the option of driving all the way to Martigny to pick him up, put his bike on my bike carrier and push the hero onto the seat, it would have been nice to pass the Alps together… but guess what? the hero rejected the idea! It would have been too weak a solution for Frans, spoiling his undertake…
    So, Frans, enjoy the Monastery and the fantastic views from the Pass of Grand Saint Bernard tomorrow, I hope the weather is fine (mind the monks and the famous dogs!) and enjoy your descent all the way to Torino. Not much more to go… roughly less than 150 kms, most of them downslope or flat. The great part has been done!
    Tonite Davide, Anna and I went to a nice restaurant (we are testing and tasting around new restaurants, so that Peer does not find it annoying the next trip to Torino…) celebrating my birthday and we were commenting on the undertake of Frans, which commands respect and admiration.
    We all look forward to your arrival next Wed and we are already organizing a social programme. I am not sure we will be able to stand by Peer’s advice!
    Congratulations, you have made it, Frans! But watch out and keep off from the Italian drivers! You are now entering Southern Europe!
    Gino