Marika's Tour de France

Stage 12 - Tonnerre to Vatan (211.5km)

Stats: 211.70km 9hr 43min

Average Speed 21.77 Max speed 55.60

June 19th, 2009

Somewhat refreshed from our rest day we left at 7.30 which I thought was really good for us. A day that again was about distance and not hills we felt comfortable with this profile. Only five cat fours and a cat three. Easy.

The start of the day had us going through green forest so dense that it felt like it was an overcast day, then we’d emerge into a clearing and it was bright blue skies. We tried drafting off John to see what it was like but it didn’t really work so we settled into our normal pattern and I worked hard at the back trying to keep up. It was obvious though that the council in charge of this road didn’t take the tour going through lightly and the road was immaculate. I never ever thought I would be someone who appreciates a smooth road so much.

We found that if we stretched our break stops out a bit more it would make the day after lunch seem shorter. At 61km we found a gorgeous town that had a canal running through it and we pulled into the car park and had morning tea there. A French lady was intrigued with our paraphernalia and stopped for a chat. She spoke French, Nance spoke Italian and between the two of them some sort of communication was had. She told us she was 76 and used to ride a bike when she was younger. She also said bravo to me when she found out what we were doing. She was such a character and so cheery I wanted to put her in the support car.


Refreshed from food and conversation we got back on and rode towards the next mars bar. The terrain changed quite a bit and it seemed like we were in a different country compared to this mornings ride. The guys had broken away and Nance had gone ahead so I was bringing up the rear. I noticed that something wasn’t feeling right with my bike so I pulled over to put my bike mechanic course to the test. I found a driveway that lead to a paddock and turned Piaf upside down. Then I gave her a great big look. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I turned the front wheel, that still went. I turned the back wheel, that still went. Beats me. I turned her back up the right way and kept riding trying to chase down Nance and the boys, ignoring the soft thud I could feel.

By the time we reached our lunch stop I couldn’t notice the thud anymore and forgot about it. We found a nice quaint little spot in the car park of brick factory and used the brick piles as tables and chairs. We ate, drank, topped up our sunscreen, I tried to stall a bit longer but eventually we were on our way. Almost. I underestimated the grade of the driveway out and found myself unable to unclip in time. Just before I hit the deck still mounted on my bike I screamed to let everyone know to look at me. I have to work on that habit.

Dusting myself off and pretending I thought it was funny too we gave my bike the once over to make sure I hadn’t done any damage. I hadn’t but I found the cause of my soft thud. An egg had appeared on my tire. Not wanting to hold anyone up I decided to ride on, thank god John stepped in and told me that he wouldn’t let me go on with a tire like that. Damian said “alright, good luck with that. We’ll see you tonight.” I think John saw the panic on my face. I really hadn’t paid enough attention in the bike mechanic course and wasn’t quite sure how to change a tire. John helped me change the tire over (did the whole thing) and we started up again, bucks commenting on my new Punky Brewster wheels. It was 2.30 and we had 90k’s to go.

The rest of the afternoon was undulating and took us through some gorgeous little towns. They were all getting excited about the tour and were decorating their towns accordingly which got us excited about what we were doing.

After a quick defluid and refuel at a petrol station we kept going. Our last climb of the day found us at the top of the hill without John who’d gone to get some groceries. We didn’t have the maps or GPS with us and there was a fork in the road without signposts to let us know which way to go. Fortunately this fork was in the middle of a smallish town so we asked a local that was sitting on a step. I was a bit hesitant to ask as this very local had burst out laughing as we’d passed her, and she was still pretty keen to giggle her way through the conversation but eventually we got out of her which was the correct way.

100m down the road we realized that it was just a traffic island with buildings on it and they both met up with each other. Which I was pretty happy about, now I put her laughing down to our confusion rather than our looks.

It was only an extra 30k’s till we reached out hotel. I honestly couldn’t have ridden an extra 500m when we did eventually make it. I’d completely run out of energy and could feel myself slipping into that very tired state where I want to get off my bike and lie down for a while.

Our hotel, reminiscent of the Amityville horror, was suddenly bombarded with bikes, lycra, and tired people. After a cold shower we headed down to tea at the hotel restaurant.