2009 Euro Tour -- Ride Day 26 — 24 July 2009 — 51500 Taissy (Reims) 55000 Bar-le-Duc

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Great ride that felt pretty easy.  Although the profile has a few bumps, it felt like virtually all was flat with the only resistance being the headwind when we were riding more toward the south.  When heading east, we had a slight tail wind.  Overall, nice weather, especially considering yesterday’s constant rain.</span> <div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <div class="MsoNormal"> <div><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Going through Revigny-sur-Ornain, we passed a statue of Maginot that I’d thought we’d seen before during our 2001 trip.<span> </span>My memory (clearly not reliable) is that we’d seen that statue in Verdun.<span> </span>However, since Verdun is relatively close by, perhaps I remember it from this town and not Verdun.<span> </span>Definitely deja vu.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Before finding the hotel, we found and stopped at an Auchan to stock up on our seriously dwindling food supplies.<span> </span>Waiting in line, we had a nice chat with a local family that recommended that we bicycle to St-Dizier to ride 25 kilometers around a lake there.<span> </span>We didn’t try to cycle there.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div> </div> <div class="MsoNormal">During the day, we passed from the Marne Department in the Champagne-Ardenne Region to the Meuse Department in the Lorraine Region.</div> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;">Background:<span style="font-family: Arial;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div> </span></div>

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.

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.

If any questions, feel free to email me at jeffkadet@netdiving.com

Jeff