Doing what I love

So, some of you may know that I purchased a road bike recently. I was pretty lucky to have some friends direct me to a place that they thought to be "small, a bit dirty, and cluttered with unfinished bikes." This struck me instantly as my kind of place. Turns out that it's called Roulons à Vélo and just happens to be the only bike co-op in Avignon! Wooo hoo! So yea, I found my way there and instantly made friends with the guys. They're all in their 30s or 40s and obviously have a ton of experience judging by the conversation that we had. John, the younger manager hooked me up with an awesome 1970s French Mercier Special Sport that's obviously been around the block a few times and for only 50e! After a bit of polish, some bar tape, and fresh tubes it was more than ready to ride.

Now that I have this bike, I've been taking the initiative to see as much of Vaucluse, provence, and anywhere in southern France as I can. I started by dipping my toes in the water just to see how the bike handled and to try my hand at navigating the french roadways. We began, Andreas and I, by heading over the bridge, beyond Ile Barthelasse to check out le tour Philippe le Bel in villeneuve. Afterwards, I embarked on my maiden voyage to Beaucaire in order to pay a visit to Sebastien and his family. I had a great time for a couple days just hanging out and catching up with them. That saturday evening, there was a massive garage sale composed of over 300 people... not something you see everyday. My next stop was in Orange, a small town about 30km from Avignon where there is an Arc de Trioumphe and a Roman theatre. Finally, just yesterday I traveled to Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct branching the river Gard, where I met some friends from ERASMUS. Looking back on yesterday, I would say that it was by far the best day I've had in France. The sky was blue, the sun was out in full force, I was able to exercise on my way there/really challenge myself, the water was turquoise and fresh, all of my friends were there and happy to see me, we had a delicious picnic, and everything around me was beautiful. I'm also pretty happy because I killed my time on the way back, cutting it from 1.5 hours to just 65 min. And yea, I know for a fact now that I hit over 78 Kph because the last mountain I descended was a 6 degree decline and had speed postings of 90 Kph..... absolutely insane.... the decent itself was a good 1.5/2 min duration. En sommaire: J'ai traversé 112K cette weekend et 162.8K en total sur mon vélo!

Although I ended up writing most of it anyways, here's an update from the road.

Yea, sorry for touching my face so much....

And a bunch of photos!

Avignon -> Tour Philippe le Bel

My cycling buddy, Andreas.

A view of Avignon from the tower.

Le Palais de Papes 

Andreas standing in front of Fort Saint-André.

Again, Fort Saint-André

Avignon -> Beaucaire 

It's hard to see, but this large boulder was split cleanly down the middle to allow for train access.

Check out these huge bike lanes!

I know that I'm not far from Beaucaire when I start to see some bamboo.

On the boarder of Tarascon and Beaucaire. 

Avignon <-> Orange

It's difficult to see, but there's a small chapel on the peak of the hill.

Passing through Sauveterre

The beautiful town, Four.

Crossing the Rhône. 

Made it!

l'Arc de Triomphe 

The Prince of Orange

The Roman Theatre of Orange

What else to drink in Orange other than an Orangina?
It's like sprite with orange juice, or the best thing in the world...

Passed through roquemaure on the way home. This is a monument for those who died in ww1.

Avignon <-> Pont du Gard

On the top of a small mountain, surrounded by other peaks and wine vineyards.

From the top of the bridge.

My ERASMUS friends: From L -> R: Lucy, ?, Patter, and Hannah 

Le Pont

This, and the following three were taken back in August when I visited le pont with Sebastien and Emilie.

Ok, back to yesterday.... Anais on the left. 

Lucy and Uli... it was super cold.... I mean super super cold.

We took turns jumping off the ledge into the water.

More ERASMUS

Headed home! 

Hope you enjoyed, see you soon!