October 6, 2014
East of Lyon, France




A week off the bike has a price. But I think there's more than a drop in conditioning going on. Blaze has a new rear end and I was hopeful we'd be able to sail (or grind) our way over the Alps.

I have to thank Guilluame, my fabulous Warmshowers host in Lyon...and I mean FABULOUS! Especially when a 2-3 night stay turned into a week. He, Isabel, and son Victor were so kind feeding me, giving me a room with a French doors to the backyard, key to the apt, and lots of directions on where to go and what to see. Come to Colorado in a few years and I'll try to do the same for you!

Since Blaze's surgery took longer than expected, I did get away to visit Edelweiss, a PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) hiker I met 4 yrs ago, at her home in Chambery in the Alps for a couple of nights. Delightful family. Quaint town. Amazing mountain cottage. Delicious local food! Great time!






Back to Blaze. So today we cycled out of Lyon. The worst traffic and truck filled roads. But a bike lane helped. Then I pulled onto the hilly farm roads and as I climbed it felt like the rear brake was on but intermittently. I unhooked the brake so it couldn't be the problem and it continued: grind, free, grind, free. Almost the pace of my pedals. My left knee began to throb from having to work so hard. Even slowly trying to roll downhill it would pull to a halt. Yet if I picked it up, the back wheel spins freely as do the front. Perplexed! I'd say it's a hub issue that's affected by the weight. I don't think I can ride the 100 kms to Grenoble. And I know that if it isn't fixed, I won't be crossing the Alps. I can't even push it. It does it then too. And it's not the dereilleur hitting the wheel, which happened in Ireland. I had to quit at 4 o'clock today because I just couldn't continue. I've unloaded Blaze and looked her all over. Nothing obvious. When I have issues like this, I begin to think I'm imaging it, but I know I'm not. Something is seriously wrong.

But I'm on a delightful family's small farm tonight. I saw Nicole taking the trash to the road and stopped her for water. Then feeling the wind whipping around me, sensing a change in the weather, knowing I couldn't go up another hill tonight, and seeing lots of camping spots, I asked about camping. Yes. And now I've been invited to dinner too. That's good because it's too windy to cook:)

I opened my food pannier after a week and realized I had left veggies in there and they're composting! Yuck. Cleaning the pantry just got done.


Livin' the life,

BagLady

Facebook: Kathryn Mossbrook Zimmerman