SRO - Solo Rides Only

It's Sunday morning, John wants an article for the club newsletter tomorrow and I have no ideas. I glimpse something on TV about Alberto Anguzza, an Italian who became an internet phenom on his balcony by playing The Circle of Life on his trumpet during Covid. The next thing you know, Italians are on their balconies everywhere during the lockdown singing opera and the dolphins have returned to the canals of Venice. What was I doing while all this was happening?

Well, I'd been writing articles for Around The Villages at John's behest and I created Two Tired Tales, a blog, so they wouldn't be lost. And it was a period for me of SROs - Solo Rides Only.

I particularly remember one Sunday solo around Lake Harris to Tavares notable for an almost complete lack of traffic which made the misery miles of Hwy 27 and 441 almost a pleasure to ride. Everything was closed including the Yalaha Bakery. There wasn't a single car on the bridge across Little Lake Harris lake - imagine! I had lunch on a bench at the deserted Tavares train station - Gatorade and the PB&J sandwich I'd thought to take with me.

Another Sunday I rode to Treasure Island and the Haines Creek lock where there is a mobile home park close by called Bonfire Mobile Village - wrap your imagination around that!

Not too bad for someone who can't play trumpet or sing but I'm a great fan of opera and dolphins.

Route info

Postcards from France

Annonay - Les Freres Montgolfier

Last Wednesday (9/27) I rode about 20 miles north from Tain l'Hermitage on the Rhone, where we stay, mainly uphill to the town of Annonay in the Ardèche. This was the home of the aviation pioneer Montgolfier brothers and I specifically wanted to see their statue and the town square where on June 4th 1783 they first demonstrated their invention, the hot air balloon.

Interestingly, their balloon was not inflated as I had expected but had a fixed shape and was constructed of four linen sections with paper pasted inside to provide the form and make it airtight. The sections were joined together with 1,800 buttons and the exterior reinforced with a cord net.

The First Balloon

In order to heat the air for the balloon it was tethered over a smoldering fire and when eventually released it shot up to about 5000 feet and covered about 1.5 miles before the air inside cooled and it landed with little damage. Scientists and artists were on hand from the Paris Academies to document and illustrate the occasion.

The launch site today - Wednesday is market day!

Within 6 months the brothers had constructed a new much larger balloon with its own charcoal heat source and capable of carrying two passengers in a gallery around the bottom. Following tethered testing, on November 21st in its first free flight the brilliantly decorated balloon flew 5 miles over Paris at about 3000 feet. It had carried enough fuel to go four times this distance but when the pilots were obliged to use their jackets to quell flames from the burning fabric they decided they'd travelled far enough and landed after 25 minutes.

The Brilliantly decorated first free flight piloted balloon

After a coffee and "pain au chocolat" in a cafe overlooking the town square the ride back was relatively easy - a long downhill to the Rhone and a flat stretch along the ViaRhona bike path to Tain.

Allan Broadribb

Ride Details

P.S. There is a hot air balloon festival in Annonay held annually in June.

Postcards from France

Last year I told John I'd write a couple of articles under the banner Postcards from France but he seemed to think that might be a bit spicy - too bad - we're back in France and it's what you're getting anyway.

If you're riding a bike in France and the traffic light turns red then ride around the cars to the light because there's a 5 meter zone for bicycles at the front and you get your own traffic light low on the pole so you don't get a crick in your neck looking up at the big one. Stops bikes getting stuck between cars all over the place and cars will actually move over to make it easy for you to get to the front!

In urban areas the postman delivers your mail on an official yellow LaPoste electric bike which is really cool. Good way for the postman to stay in shape too,

On the French roads there are two highway signs that may cause you some confusion "Toutes  Directions" and "Autres Directions" which basically translate as "Somewhere" and "Elsewhere". Ask anyone and they will tell you clearly what is meant but don't ask anyone else or the clarity will fade. These signs have been a source of much amusement for natives and tourists alike and many differing opinions have been published. Unfortunately GPS navigation systems have made them meaningless - as if they weren't already - but fear not they still exist and remain a great conversation starter. Or, you can talk to your cars' navigation system but it's not as much fun. 

Au-revoir

Allan Broadribb 

Check out my favorite ride in France 

or my cycling blog Two Tired Tales

Sears Craftsman Homes

Time check - it's 100 years ago, 1923. The biggest community in the area, Leesburg (pop: 2500), next Wildwood (pop: 800). Other communities like Lady Lake, Fruitland Park, Oxford and Weirsdale were smaller but all had railroad depots and a post office.

People also had Sears catalogues to order stuff shipped by post or rail. Probably not as quick as Amazon but interestingly, in addition to run of the mill household items, you could also buy your house from Sears (pow! - take that Amazon) in kit form and it would arrive on a railroad flat car complete with assembly instructions (shades of Ikea).

Craftsman Homes in Coleman and Wildwood

The Sears Craftsman Ready-Cut House package, first offered about 1912, included plans, specifications, and detailed assembly instructions, along with pre-cut and factory-fitted lumber which was stamped with the Sears name and numbered on the ends to correspond to the floor plans. One order included everything - nails and screws, paint and roof shingles, windows and doors, woodwork, staircases, mantelpieces and even the kitchen sink. Sears also provided finance making it easy for over 75000 American families to buy a home.

A popular small home you could buy for less than $1,000 was "The Crafton" Like The Villages they gave their many designs different names.

As you ride your bike around the older areas of our local communities it is easy to recognize Sears Craftsman homes if they haven't been overly modified. The architecture is typified by a front porch with a roof supported by heavy wooden tapered columns on brick piers.

Tour de France - go see it.

So, a few years ago in France - 2018 to be precise - we're in Tain l'Hermitage. I lean my bike against the wall of the bike store across the street from our apartment and wander in to borrow a pump. Coming out I see a wiry old (probably my age!) guy looking at my bike, he's seen the "I support Lance Armstrong" sticker and says he kinda liked him too. I tell him I'm thinking of riding Alpe d'Huez and Croix de Fer for a 3,000m day. He said that would be hard but the toughest climb he'd ever had was the Col de la Bonnette in the Tour. "In the Tour?", I say. He tells me he rode in the TDF twice in the 1970's which was before teams had luxury buses and only the stars stayed in hotels while the rest showered and slept on cots in school gyms. I enjoy our chat, return the pump and the store owner tells me the guy still rides and like me they enjoy his stories. I haven't seen him since, wish I could remember his name, I'd like to hear more and maybe he'd ride with me.

Well the Tour is on TV right now if you want to see the race. But there's so much more that you won't see.

YOU WON'T SEE THE CARAVAN

It is one of the biggest parts of the Tour. Before every stage the caravan of sponsors floats will drive the course from start to finish. On a long stage it'll stretch more than 10 kilometers and by the end of the Tour they'll have thrown over 15 million items to the roadside fans - hats, t-shirts, musettes, key chains, cakes, water, candy, you name it. I still wear my Festina hat from 2015 while riding.

YOU WON'T SEE THE TEAMS ARRIVE FOR THE START

This'll happen after the caravan has passed. The start town center is closed off. There's tent studios set up for the media, journalists with their cameras and vans, a band thumping out music, souvenir stands, food trucks and thousands of fans but no riders. Then close to a mile of 22 team buses each followed by 6 cars covered with bicycles will arrive. Amazingly the buses are parked so the public can see the riders sign in and prepare for the days racing. Many riders will stop for selfies with fans on their way to the start area - so cool.

Jocelyne and I were fortunate enough to see the Tour in 2015 and it was fantastic. We went with Pyrenees Multisport. Ian and Julie Wright, two Brits, will transport you to and from Toulouse airport and you'll stay in their large house where they'll serve you cyclist sized meals for breakfast and supper every day. You'll have seven days of great cycling in the Pyrenees and experience the Tour de France. It'll cost you about $1600 including a carbon bike - just take your clothes and Garmin.

IF YOU DON'T GO YOU WON'T STAND ON A MOUNTAIN eating hamburgers and hotdogs and know that the riders are coming because you can hear and see the helicopters below you!

Of course there are other tours you can take. I'm not paid to promote Pyrenees Multisport and they have had no input or knowledge of this article. It's just one reasonably priced option which we thoroughly enjoyed.