Random memories from when I rode it (or the first half of it). Not much use to anyone, but here you are:
- very very hot (high 30s at least) which was probably my undoing
- some very vivid hallucinations
- some very lumpy bits and questionable road surfaces
- small field, which gave it an intimate feel (more like Herentals than PBP or the modern LEL)
- just before reaching a secret control (on Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol - see today's TdF route) being greeted with cries of "Allez John" from a couple sitting on a wall at who had nothing to do with the ride. They had driven up there and asked the controller what was going on. Andreas from Mannheim had just arrived and told them that I would be next.
- meeting a local rider on the descent who guided me through Aurillac. Very helpful.
- 2 of us going into a cafe for a coffee and a stamp - the owner seemed reluctant but later came over to us with a fridge-magnet thermometer souvenir each. I've still got mine somewhere.
- bumping into Mr and Mrs Valkyrie a couple of days before the ride - they just happened to be at the same place in the same town at the same time as me
- after abandoning, riding back to Aurillac and spending a night in a hotel, I got the train back to Tours. By coincidence another passenger was a rider who had packed. Passengers were complaining to the exasperated ticket inspector that the AC wasn't working, to which he replied that it was, but couldn't cope with such high temperatures
-meeting the Chabriands at the finish
