JAMIE MUIR

I will be posting my backlog of ride diary entries soon but meanwhile listen to a summery song I heard whilst driving through Tuscan countryside.

Once we passed the mazes of Lyon we managed to reach the rain drenched countryside. As the roads were quite narrow and wet, it lacked opportunity for filming. The unforgiving weather twinned with numerous mechanical issues provided the turbo* group with unpleasant conditions for riding, yet the nature of the ride meant topping was not an option.

One exception was a short coffee break where an old French gentleman with a tracheostomy attempted to communicate. Considering none of the riders speak exceptional French, our conversations were short lived.

Shortly after this we climbed many hills until we reached a small town. We wandered into a cozy restaurant, which before our arrival seemed empty. The onslaught of orders from our cyclists didn’t seem to phase the owner as he continued to hold the smile on his face. He welcomed the business, which I guess isn’t too surprising if you have the stock!

After the flurry of orders the tall gaunt man began to continually bring our plate after plate. The set menu supplied well enough nourishment for the guys, lifting their spirits.

Due to the heavy amount of rain though, I had found it difficult to capture much film. Sad face.

We then arrived at a hostel in Grenoble, which created some confusions with rooms, yet after that we were able to eat the dinner the place provided. We were later welcomed by the Chairman of the French pompe disease association. He gave a little speech about how proud he is of this fund raising event and touched on the research scientists are working on in relation to GSD conditions. He compared our crazy cyclists to the crazy scientists who work hard to find cures!

The rest day wasn’t much of a rest for many of us as one of the Vans had been smashed into by a motorbike! Simon, the driver and leader had been the unfortunate recipient, which gave him and Luca a lot of work to do!

With the Arrival of my dad’s friend Chris, came a welcomed third person to our hotel room. As my father had lots of emailing and arranging to take care of, Chris and I decided to hit the streets on the bikes. The plan was to ride along the river and figure out where they would be going the next day, though due to the horrid weather conditions we had to head back to the room earlier than planned!

As the day faded, the three of us bought a metro ticket and found a way into the center of Lyon for some food. We were greeted with street dancing and a magnificent orange sunset playing off the equally magnificent architecture.  Food was a standard steak and chips, which went down nicely before a well earned sleep! P.s I did a bit of filming…It was my day off mind you!

Due to the previous hassle with Driving, I was allowed to drive alone for the rest of the time we had a certain person in our entourage. Although I thought this would decrease my productivity it actually did the opposite! I shot loads of footage and had a levelly day!

Stress did increase with time though as we entered Lyon. I probably shouldn’t say this online but filming whilst driving may have added some difficulty to my task. It was mainly the rush hour traffic and tricky maneuvers that allowed for a hectic hour or two finding our lodgings. When a cyclists decides they have taken a wrong turn in the center of a busy `city it is pretty easy for them to turn around and go back the other way, for me on the other hand in a large van; it is not!

This was unfortunately an awful day. The scenery wasn’t great and my driving instructor… oh I mean passenger had more trouble with his ailments, which meant I had to drive basically the whole day! I was fine with doing this I hasten to add as it meant I could stop whenever I wanted to take pictures and film. Though there was a dark side to Victor and his backseat driving. Being a Bus driver and instructor in the past (don’t ask me how as his driving was appalling not to mention dangerous!) Vic, decided to teach me his wisdom throughout the day which involved ways of overtaking at high speeds, stopping instantly, cutting other divers up, having no care for cyclists, oh and I will never forget to look in mirrors again. He seemed for some reason think I didn’t look in my mirrors enough even though I had had no problems or near crashes so far. In fact the cyclists had repeatedly commended my driving. The irony of it all was that I was being taught how to be a safer driver by a man that though having a car crash makes you a safer driver! Statistically I’d say he’s wrong or may be insurance companies have got it all wrong and should employ this Vic.

Unlike the riders, my word of the day was Vineyards. I was able to capture lots of footage as I had the new camera and some amazingly picturesque views whilst rolling by France at 20mph behind 20 cyclists.

Unfortunately this is where Vic the driver started to complain about his arthritis and told me I would have to drive also, thus relieving his pain and swelling. This also allowed him to smoke more often, which would in turn allow me to inhale more smoke. BONUS. When driving I slowly became tuned to the car and found it relatively easy, fun even to drive. The only issue was that was a bugg*r to turn around due to its length.

The day was pretty much good bar a few rants from ol’ Victor who had more negativity to ensue. 

Five days in and my camera decided to break, therefore the only option was to either fix the camera or replace it. In the morning, I broke away from the riders with Simon (the leader) to find a camera shop alongside fixing some bikes. After walking around the beautiful city albeit a little lost, I came upon two photographic shops. The first was most helpful, explaining in French that they had no way of fixing my camera or replacing it but did kindly direct me to the next shop. After a short walk across many tramlines and through a few patisseries I managed to locate a modern looking camera/electrical shop. And though they spoke perfect English, they were utterly unhelpful, not to mention had no knowledge of cameras. I then wandered some more and found my way to where Simon had dropped me off and there I hailed him down once he had finished fixing bikes. We then quickly caught up with the cyclists for a day filled with stunning green vistas of French countryside and farmland.

Once arriving at what I can honestly say was a completely identical F1 hotel to the previous, I swiftly looked up local electrical camera shops and to my surprise found one only a short distance away. Vic, my father and I went along to pick the camera out and….well buy it. Vic obviously came for cigarettes, just so he could puff a bit more smoke in our faces. When arriving at the Darty* I darted to the camera aisle and found the canon 7D. The laborious process involving paperwork and credit cards followed. But after that I had a working camera…FINALLY!

The day then ended with a superb BBQ cooked up by Luca. I filmed it of course.

Peace out!

Jamie

*A majorly overpriced French electronic store apparently!

Unfortunately adapting to the arduous days of filming, photographing and driving alongside 20 cyclists slightly delayed my blogging. I am utterly exhausted! It may seem like nothing compared to cycling 1500 miles but it isn’t easy constantly moving all day in a van. Filming so far has gone relatively well but I have mainly recorded the rear ends of the cyclists and not much else! I am going to strive to capture more expressions and close-ups of their legs peddling away!

The first day decided to give us terrible weather conditions and little sunshine. The second day wasn’t much different but the ferry crossing from Dover to Calais provided some entertainment and rest! Once on the other end walkie talkies were in full use as phoning had become too expensive. This therefore gave us a few difficulties herding the cyclists and vans. Simon the leader of the expedition is great even though he has been put in the deep end with less than a weeks notice and despite a few hiccups we with navigating we met all the targets getting to those excellent F1 Hotels. (Note sarcasm).

On the third day we saw some rain and chilly weather cruising through some small French towns until we reached Arras and yet another F1! If you are unfamiliar with these types of Hotel, think prison without a toilet or free food. In fairness it has been fine so far and today whilst having a shower I started to hear an opera, which was coming out of a small speaker above the shower head!? Weird yet it did make the experience slightly more pleasant.

And finally today riding/driving towards Reims, I had the pleasure of being added to one of the Van’s insurance policy, meaning I was made to drive quite far on French roads to relieve Vic the 76 year old driver. It was a day filled with Sunshine and stress as the new driving experience wasn’t that great and my camera decided to break suddenly this morning meaning I couldn’t film anything! We are going to either get it fixed or replace it tomorrow morning. Oh joy!