2009 Euro Tour -- Ride Day 14 — 7 July 2009 — 21850 St-Apollinaire (Dijon) -- Circle

We decided to extend two more nights in Dijon so we had a great ride to the area north of the city.  Fortunately, despite the glowing weather report, we took along our coats and rain booties since we ended up getting rained on some.  Nothing like the drenching we had earlier this trip, but enough to get us pretty wet.<br /> <br />Along this route, the long 9 km climb up D996 of about 300 M to 554 M was definitely a good training section.<br /> <br />On the way back, we were able to use our knowledge gained from getting lost yesterday to find the Carrefour easily.  That allowed us to easily buy food for dinner and the next few days.  Last night, we’d had a somewhat sparse dinner in the room consuming all the food we’d had left.  As we arrived pretty late after all the time spent pedaling around Dijon, we hadn’t had time to get to a store for anything.<br /><br />Background:<br /> <br />My wife and I have been doing self-supported tours in Western Europe (a majority in France) since 1993.  This series of rides covers our 2009 4.5 month route through parts of France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and then back to France.  Our beginning and ending point is near Chadurie (south of Angouleme) where our friends have a farm with Gites and Chambres d'Hotes.<br /><br />We rode our Dawes touring bicycles purchased in 1993 heavily loaded with 700Cx32 tires.  All of our riding was on paved roads, mostly with very little traffic.  Pretty much the only unpaved sections were some bicycle paths in Germany and Austria. Sadly, that wasn't so great as Helen fell a number of times on the unpaved paths.  Fortunately, though, no serious injury.<br /><br />If any questions, feel free to email me at jeffkadet@netdiving.com<br /><br />Jeff<br />