Inspection day (Start -1)
Today is when the first official event, bike inspection and registration, occurred. It had a distinctly different character than the previous few days.
While the last few days were relaxed and most of the people around me were from the US or Canada, the true international feel of PBP started to shine. Today is Sunday so most of the local stores are closed. Lorah and I went to lunch at what seemed to be the only restaurant open nearby. It was filled with cyclists of all nationalities enjoying a huge plate of pasta.
While until today I had overheard conversations mostly in English, French, or Hebrew (many of the 8 Israeli randonneurs were staying at our hotel) now it included German, Japanese, Italian, and a slew of other languages I didn’t recognize.
After eating I changed and rode to the gymnasium to have my bike inspected and receive my rider packet. I found out as I was leaving that they weren’t actually inspecting bikes due to rain, but that they’d still enforce proper lighting at the ride start.
As I neared the gymnasium I was greeted by some very cheerful older Frenchmen who directed me toward the underground tunnel that bypassed the large roundabout. These guys were clearly having a good time and even though we couldn’t understand each other we enjoyed a short conversation about my heart rate monitor that involved mostly each of us clapping our hands on our hearts saying “ba-bump! ba-bump!”.
As I rolled through the tunnel I ran into another Frenchman who lived nearby and he immediately asked me where I was from. When I told him he said he loves the US and San Francisco and is going to spend 5 weeks vacation wandering through the western national parks. If only people in the US could do the same!
Inside the first thing that struck me was the enormous sign that listed all the registered nationalities and where they should go for their packets. I think this is one of the most telling indicators of the worldwide flavor of PBP, and one of the great things that brings people here.
It took me a few minutes to find my table, and when I did I was greeted by a very friendly German woman who spoke very good English. She handed me my packet which included the very important Brevet booklet and my mag stripe card. I could lose everything else I carried, but without those two items, I’d never get credit for the event. She cautioned me to keep very good care of them, and I promised to return them safely before Friday.
I then picked up my jerseys and water bottle, bought a tshirt, and headed back outside to check out the neat bikes that were all over the field.
Randonneurs are a creative bunch and they come up with great inventions all the time, most of them involving creative way to mount their lights or other equipment. For example, I saw two bikes with Campy Carbon Record Groupos ($3k, not including the frame or wheels) that had cool homemade light mounts attached to their bars. It’s clear that these randonneurs know what’s important, which is both having a great high end bicycle setup, but also having it be functional for their own needs.
Of course, some people also feel the need to have something fun on their bikes. I saw more than one mascot as well.
As I left, the skies opened up and I found myself in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. I threw on my jacket and headed back to the hotel, of course it only lasted about 5 minutes and was over just as quickly as it started.
It’s probably going to be a wet PBP, but with the wet qualifiers this spring I’m not worried. At least here the rainstorms only last a few minutes, rather than hours or days in Northern CA.
Off to dinner now. I might post something else before the ride starts, but if not, bonne route!
More pictures are at
http://img.stimpy.net/pics/bike/pbp2007/inspection/
