Stage 4 of 60, Day 4 of 71: 144 km, 1807m, 5:47, 310 shifts, ave speed 22.9, max speed 63.0

I woke up before my alarm at 5:15. We packed up and ate breakfast in the dark at 6. I skipped the muesli maybe for the first time ever due to so many other yummy options. After a tiny headset adjustment we started riding together at 7:10 but after 1 minute everyone turned left whereas Wytze and I took the more direct right turn. The track didn’t start at the camp so there was some confusion.

In a few minutes the sun rose and the two of us were out in the countryside. There was mist and it was quite cool for the first time.

We took it easy and after 20 km when I offered to take the lead, Superman said no worries. We stopped in a gorgeous town just past 50 km and looked for a café. We met some more riders and Daniel spotted a bakery. It was amazing, just perfect. We had all kinds of things, shared, and relaxed.

It was only 25 km more to lunch – Ype had a great spot. It was already warm out so sitting in the shade and eating and drinking lots was great.

After a while, we hit the road. The whole morning was mostly level with a little up. At 90 km the first real climb started, but it wasn’t steep and soon we were on the col (pass), about 850m. We had a good rest, drank, then blasted down the other side. Around 110 km, the second big climb started, a little steeper. As I was cresting the top, about 950m, I could see a big jet of water: Wytze spraying Jan and everyone else. I rode right to him and got soaked instantly.

We headed down another wonderful, fast, shaded descent in a big group. Four of us got ahead and in the town below found a café. Wytze immediately got us an orangina and a Perrier each. We ate some bars then each had a nice Belgian beer on draft.

Finally it was almost 4pm and maybe a degree cooler. So we headed off, up one last climb 165m to our campground. The firetruck had suffered and was not working and it had our tents and pads, as well as all the food and the kitchen. We hung out and soon the luggage truck came with all our gear except the kitchen stuff. Showers were had, some went swimming and we had lots of food. At 6:40, we started walking on the shortcut to town for dinner. It was a 40 min walk down through a farmer’s field, on dirt roads, etc. Soon we were in Olliergues at a nice outdoor restaurant, seemingly the only place in town. We had beers, wine, dinner, dessert, cognac and more dessert. The temp had dropped while we ate so hiking back up in the dark was not so bad. Shirtless was best. Back in camp Rob and the firetruck were there, so all was well. It was almost 11pm when I set the alarm for 5:30, to do it all again tomorrow. Good night!

Stage 3 of 60, Day 3 of 71: 136.6 km, 1855m, 5:47, 402 shifts, ave speed 23.5, max speed 60.9

I didn’t sleep as well but with the afternoon nap it was enough. Breakfast was the usual plus pancakes with jam and some yummy brie with avocado and tomato on bread. We packed up nearly dry tents, and left at 8:40.

It was rolling, more up than down, and not too hot yet. I broke my rule and took a 12 km pull at the front next to Andrew, just like old times! Then back to relax more. We found a café at 50 km and wow, sitting in the shade was so nice. I broke another of my rules and had a coke. I felt a little hyper right after but it died quickly as we restarted. Lunch was just 8 more uphill km, slightly hidden and a couple of people missed it.

I tried to overdo it on pickles, cocktail onions, peanuts, pesto etc and also had lots of bread, veggies and cheese. And especially drinks. With an electrolyte tablet for dessert. Fortified, we took off, climbing for a while to the highpoint of the day about 800m. The last 2-3 km was all shaded, awesome 👍👍 I added my white arm protectors which seemed to work well.

The descent was great, something like 30 km with short uphills but mostly fast, glorious downhill. At 99 km, Andrew and I exited the route slightly to get drinks, a very good move. Orangina with free chilled water from a very nice café owner will cure a lot.

Then it was back at it for a final 35 km, at the hottest time of the day. I didn’t overheat and we basically cruised to Bourbon-Lancy relatively easily. The track ended prematurely but with assistance from Google we made it to camp. The rumors we’re true: it had a functional swimming pool!! I went in first thing, then ate two massive bowls of spicy soup with salty snacks, set up my tent, shower, laundry, charging etc.

I called Katie before dinner, then we ate long and hard, salmon, and lots more, with more wine than we could drink and more dessert than we could eat! Rob’s briefing for tomorrow said we would eat at 6am instead of the normal 7:30. So maybe the heat will be better. Alarm is set for 5:30, good night!

Stage 2 of 60, Day 2 of 71: 114.5 km, 922m, 4:39, 196 shifts, ave speed 24.5, max speed 57.6

The second day started out a bit later. I slept until 7am then had 30 minutes to pack. Breakfast was the standard Bike Dreams fare: hot chocolate, muesli with bananas and yogurt and milk, bread, optional eggs. After eating I finished packing and was impressed that I remembered the trick to twisting the wet tent into it’s bag first try.

We left in a big group at 8:40 and it was blissfully cool, nice cruising, up and down, all on country roads with little traffic. It was really beautiful and I was taking it as easy as possible, never leading, always in the back half of a peloton of 10-20 people. We were under orders not to get to lunch too early so stopped at 50 km for a nice break at a café, 40 minutes relaxing, chatting and drinking. From there it was only another 13 km to lunch, a repeat of yesterday. But this time I made sure to eat more and drink as much as possible. I made sure to have lots of salty foods like olives and pickles and peanuts along with a LOT of cheese, bread and veggies.

After lunch, we only had 50 km to go and at first it went really well. We were riding smoothly and pretty fast. Towards the end, it got steeper and much hotter. My power dropped again and I was struggling a bit. The last section to the town of Vezelay was in full sun, kind of steep (felt super steep) and slow. Finally, in town I found the fast guys trying to decide where to have a beer. Unfortunately Wytze spied a nice place on the map at the top of the town, so we did an extra 40m climb up a very steep street, in the sun, ending at a closed café but a beautiful church. We went back to the bottom of town and had beers and shared 2 liters of bubbly water. That was great but just sitting outside in the shade was the best. I felt rejuvenated. Maybe tomorrow, which is longer and has double the climbing, I will use this strategy again.

We felt better and cruised the last kilometer to the campground. I was really sweaty and wanted a shower but knew soup should be first. It was a delicious spicy pea soup; I had two giant bowls and some bread and lots of water. Then a shower, warm unfortunately, again with no temperature control. I set the laundry to dry, set up my tent, and worked on the blog.

The internet died so it was time for a nap. In a few seconds I woke up and it was almost dinner time. Rice, several kinds of veggies, salad, plenty of wine, then apple torte with cream for dessert. This time I had seconds on dinner, two big plates full. What more do you want?

Stage 1 of 60, Day 1 of 71: 143 km, 717m, 6:20, 208 shifts, ave speed 22.5, max speed 53.4

Andrew and I woke up at 6am sharp and packed up. Breakfast was as you’d expect for a luxury hotel: massive, varied and great. After that I put everything onto my bike (Garmin, tools, name tag, energy bars, water) and dropped off my bags at the truck.

We gathered out back and finally at 8:20, set off. There were two tracks for today: first, 12 km to the Eiffel Tower for the ceremonial start of the tour, then an additional 131 km to the first campsite in Courtenay. We rode through Paris, lots of parks and a few dirt paths, and suddenly we saw the Eiffel Tower, very large, dead ahead.

We stopped at a perfect spot where it was lit by the sun and took some photos. It was really exciting and fun, and to top it off, Beau walked up! We only got to see each other for a few minutes but he got to meet more of my riding buddies, guys I’ve been through so many crazy things with in South America. Sadly, we didn’t have time for a photo. It was emotional for me, so great to see him there at that point in time.

Too soon, we headed out – it was a long stage and everyone was excited to start. It seemed like it took forever to get out of Paris – we rode by the Seine, along bike paths, busy streets, but finally after maybe 20-30 km, we were kind of out of the city. Soon we were jetting through the countryside. In retrospect, we went too fast, at least for me. We had to walk our bikes through a tiny street jammed with a Sunday market and seemingly every local from miles around. Bagpipes in the church, so many amazing sights. What a scene.

10 km later we came upon the lunch van and it was like no time had passed since last fall in Greece. Ype served up the same great food! We sat in the shade and ate lots. After lunch, we still had 64 km to go. It got quite hot and the headwinds kicked up. Suddenly it wasn’t so fun. I got dropped by the fast group – my leg power dropped to a fraction of normal. Around 115 km, I caught them at one of the few cafes open (Sunday afternoon is not the happening time in France it seems). I was so used up. We drank Perrier and lemon and I ate all the food in my bag (2 bars plus fly biscuits). Then my legs started cramping up uncontrollably just sitting there. A couple friendly riders donated electrolyte powder/tablets, but my legs were bad. After a white I texted Ype to see if he could pick me up as there was no way I could ride 28 km more with headwinds and uphill. He said yes which was great.

I hung out another half hour though, chatting with other riders who arrived, and suddenly didn’t feel so bad. I guess the electrolytes and water kicked in. In the end I told Ype I would cycle and set off with Harry and Liz to try and make it. We did pretty well, and were within 5 km of camp, when the cramps returned. I thought I would have to walk, looked back and there was Harry, walking. So we ascended the next hill by walking and coasted down together. This continued until we made it. What a relief! I had lots of hot soup, electrolytes and other snacks, drank a couple bottles of water, then felt a bit better after a cold shower. There is only one temperature, luckily it was perfect for the conditions.

I found my tent and pad which had spent the last year in the Bike Dreams storage facility in Holland. I set everything up, ate more, and got ready for dinner. We’re a really large group, it seems around 40 people, with the tables lined up end to end, it was long. Dinner was great, relaxing with wine and lots of talk. I found out many others had had cramping trouble and were not able to ride the final hills. Later, I heard that even the iron man Wytze had cramps in the night when he got out of his tent. After melon for dessert, I went straight to bed and other than two brief pee breaks, slept like a log until 7am. What a day! What a life!

The final easy rest day before the riding starts was really fun. I had breakfast of pastries and quiche with Beau, then packed up and took a taxi over to the Bike Dreams hotel. It’s probably my last car ride in quite a while and it was a Tesla Model Y, just like mine.

I assembled my bike outside with a bunch of riders, then eventually my room was ready and I could check in. It’s a luxury hotel, very fancy.

I did some packing then at 5 walked over to the briefing for the trip. It was a fun party with cold beer and snacks and we heard all about what we are up against.

Around 7, I walked over to a restaurant Liz had found called Paris Dakar – how fitting. We had giant beers from Cameroon and delicious fish. It was super fun reconnecting with old friends and meeting new riders.

We walked home and I helped Jan with his Garmin then Andrew and I went to sleep with the alarm set for 6. Big day tomorrow!!

Beau had the day off work so we planned to do some walking and see more of the city. We went out for breakfast in the morning, then watched a little of the Disc Golf World Championships that are on now in Vermont.

Just after 11, we took the tram and metro into Paris. Our first target was a craft beer place called La Binouze. We marveled at the amazing selection of hundreds of fine beers from all over. On draft they even had one of our favorites, King Sue DDH by Toppling Goliath. We both went with new-to-us hazies and enjoyed sipping fine beer watching Paris outside.

Fortified, we headed down to a restaurant for lunch, another great meal. Life seems so good here!

Then we had a longer walk to “downtown” – we walked toward the Louvre, and stopped in a park to just relax and enjoy the day. Then along the Seine, quite a way. Lots of people were out enjoying but it was never crowded. We stopped for a round of foosball at a free foosball place under a bridge – the US should have these.

We kept going, headed for Coulee Verte Rene Dumont, a promenade made by converting an old, elevated railway. What an amazing concept – thanks Tom Holub for the recommendation. It was nice walking along, but soon, it was time to head off to the Catacombs, where we had a reservation for 5:45.

It was another hour walk there. When the time came, we walked down a spiral staircase, over 100 steps down, into the famous catacombs. We walked through sort of dark and moist passageways, seemingly forever, listening to the audio guide. Centuries ago, they quarried limestone from here to build the big buildings and monuments of Paris. Then they starting having collapses, some disastrous. Someone got the idea of making a macabre display of centuries worth of bones from the cemeteries. We started walking through these galleries, and were blown away. The photos you’ve seen just show one small area, lots of carefully arranged skulls and leg bones. And piles of random bones. But until you walk through it all you have no idea of the scale. It is wild.

I don’t know how far we walked underground, but we came up another 110 stair staircase quite some distance from where we went down. From there it was a short walk over to a restaurant where we had a 7:30 reservation with my Paris Dakar (and Andes Trail) room mate, Andrew. We all wanted an authentic French dining experience and L’Assiette did not disappoint. Some of the reviews said they were snooty to non-French speakers but our waiter and sommelier were both super friendly and really wanted to make sure we had a great dinner. Their famous signature dish is Cassoulet, a stew of white beans and meat. Beau ordered it and when it came, it was comically large, so large he couldn’t quite finish it in the end. Andrew and I had fish dishes, very elegant and tasty, but normal size. We had escargot and some mackerel for appetizers and a fine Bordeaux.

It was over 2 hours of fun, a great evening out and a chance for Beau to get to know Andrew a bit. We walked 3 more km to the tram, then headed home. I crashed immediately as it was 11:30pm and we had been on the go for over 12 hours. No more jetlag though!

I slept pretty well, although there was a comical moment after sleeping super soundly for what felt like all night, I woke up and saw Beau standing up.

N: Oh hi, what time is it?

B: 11:30

N: Oh no, I really overslept!

B: No, 11:30 at night!

I finally did wake up before Beau – he’s gotten used to staying up late for work. We headed out around 9, planning to find a bakery for breakfast. At the train station it took a minute to figure out the tickets, and we had help from a kind local.

We took the train to Saint Lazare which looked similar but cleaner with brighter lights than last time I was there, 41 years ago. We took the Metro a few stops to visit Montmartre. The Metro is the same and different. Cleaner but a lot of the same feel. Now it was breakfast time so we went to our good friend David’s first recommendation: Gilles Marchal, an amazing bakery. I think it’s safe to say you can do no wrong there.

We walked up to the Sacré-Cœur basilica. It’s up on a high hill with a great view. We sat on the steps for breakfast, perfect. We opted out of entering – the line was long. Instead we walked randomly around many streets, through gardens – it’s a lovely neighborhood.

We ended up at another of David’s recommendations, La Traversée, a pretty amazing restaurant. Our reservation was for noon, right at opening time so we had our choice of tables. Beau had filet mignon and I had mussels. In a single simple word it was fantastic. I also had a tomato salad and we shared a fig dessert that was the highlight of a “10” meal. Oh and the cocktails! Wow! Come here. Also check out the origami book sculpture David left on their wall.

After a relaxing lunch we walked back to Gare Saint Lazare. The clean and efficient train got us back to Val d’Or for the short walk home. Beau started his work day while I worked on some Strava coding, then fell into a deep jetlag coma. I slept over an hour, then relaxed while Beau toiled on. We decided on a simple dinner and bought baguette, brie, veggies, hummus, and cider at the grocery store for a simple dinner. The food cost €5 each and was great – quite different from lunch, but it’s good to see you can eat well here without paying a lot. We met a really friendly guy at the store who turned out to be from Morocco and an avid cyclist. He loved hearing that I would soon be riding through his beloved country. When he saw me looking at the local beers, he said, “let me show you the best one of all” … we go over to another fridge where he proudly shows us the Lagunitas IPA, the only American beer for sale there! [They had Bud, but that’s not technically beer]

It was 10 by the time we finished eating and time for Beau to get back to work. I like being on vacation!

The flight went well I guess. There was a miraculous empty seat next to my window seat until after the door was closed but in the end, a friendly but very smelly, squirmy guy sat down. Meals were had, movies were watched. I had a Tom Hanks double feature: A Man Called Otto and The Da Vinci Code. Time passed and suddenly after 9 1/2 hours, we landed on time, at 10:45am in Paris.

I’ve never flown to Paris and not had a connecting flight to somewhere and was surprised at how far the walk is. The official things were quick and efficient but getting my bike and backpack took over an hour. I had arranged to meet Beau arriving from Norway. He landed 90 minutes later. Together we took a nice large taxi to our hotel in Suresnes, not far out of Paris. We got the WiFi figured out so he could work and I left him to his video calls while I walked around the historic 1901 St. Cloud Hippodrome and past the hotel I’ll move to in a few days. People seemed really friendly and walking fast felt great. The air was a beautiful 19-20C.

I did a little shopping, then took a nap until he was ready for a dinner break. We looked around the neighborhood with lots of interesting places, very local. It appeared we were the only tourists. And the only adults with a sub-100 word vocabulary. We settled on an Italian restaurant and had Aperol/Limoncello Spritzes and shared a pizza and truffle pasta dish. It’s hard to believe this is day 1 of 79 for me. We had a great time, then Beau went back to work. His company, Vimeo, is mostly on US East Coast time, 6 hours behind. He is truly a digital nomad.

Packing for this trip was relatively easy since I started with my 2019 Andes Trail packing list and made a few adjustments. I really recommend using a packing list you create beforehand. My final check found a couple of important items I had forgotten (like my vaccination card – supposedly needed to be allowed to enter Mauritania!) It was nice to have a final weekend plus a full day without work to pack everything.

Katie drove me to the airport for a sad-but-exciting good-bye. THANKS Katie❤️. This seems like such a giant adventure, and that I’ll be gone forever but I’ve done bigger and we can stay in contact pretty easily in this world of phones that work in over 200 countries. It was the easiest check-in ever; Air France for the win so far.

It’s been fun the last few days chatting with fellow riders, some of whom are already in Paris. I can’t wait to meet everyone this weekend and set out on our first ride from the Eiffel Tower next Monday. In the meantime I get to spend some time in Paris with my son Beau which makes this whole thing even better!

Back in January 2019, before my first Bike Dreams trip started, I found out there was a semi-legendary race Bike Dreams had run three times before 2010, riding over 7000 km from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal. The idea came from the famous Dakar Rally which started in 1979. By 2019, politics in Mauritania had finally improved so it was on again after being impossible for a decade. This time it would be a tour rather than a race. I immediately signed up and was on the waiting list for almost a year. I was in Patagonia, close to completing the Andes Trail, when I got the good news I had a place in the 2020 Paris Dakar.

Due to Covid, it was rescheduled for 2021, then rescheduled for 2022 and finally cancelled completely. It was a surprise in December 2022 when we heard it was on again. That day, I sent in my deposit and secured a spot.

I will fly to Paris on August 29 and will start riding on September 3. We’ll cross through Andorra into Spain a couple of weeks later and take a ferry from the bottom of Spain to Morocco on October 2. We’ll ride the length of Morocco and enter Western Sahara three weeks later. From there, it’s mostly rough camping in the desert, 9 days in Western Sahara, 6 days in Mauritania and a final 3 days in Senegal to Dakar, arriving on November 12. I plan to be home on the 15th.

Paris – Dakar will be physically demanding as the distance ridden averages 120 km per day. And there are several days over 170 km. Also I hear it can be hot in the Sahara.

My trusty Salsa Cutthroat, ridden over 30,000 km these last few years, is no more. The frame was damaged and it can’t be ridden. My favorite bike shop, Spokesman Bicycles of Santa Cruz, has built up a brand new 2023 version which I’ve ridden a few times. Even though it was out of warranty, Salsa stepped up and gave me a significant discount on this bike. And I am reusing the wheels, seat-post and handlebars. So far it feels just great, quite different without the front shock.