Anne and Reece spent nearly a month in Paris, taking in at least 13 operas, a ballet, a burlesque show, many museums, and a brief train trip to Germany to visit friends.
We couldn’t afford, in terms of the money or the time, such a luxury, so made our last dinner count at a fancy restaurant, complete with wine pairing. Verjus didn’t have a table until 10 PM, so we didn’t stumble home until 1AM, and spent a restless night in a hotel with no AC.
Were on the road even later than usual, with 80+ kilometers before us. Grabbed some snacks and started beating our way out of Paris. We hit intermittent cycling paths, but nothing so slick as our canal entry into the city, so the first 20KM went by slowly and anxiously through constant intersections and interactions with traffic.
Pulled over at a grocery store at around 30KM to buy some veg for lunch, and found a brief bit of nature to enjoy a picnic. Some cold watermelon revived us long enough to remember we were hot and it was late, so we compared maps and found some more direct routes to Fontainebleau (our earlier plan had been optimized for dedicated bike paths).
We made it to Melun on a mix of bike lanes and (safe!) lane sharing, but by then I was in the mood for some shade and wanted to redeem some of the highway riding, so persuaded Philipp to finish the ride on our original plan along the Seine.
For me this achieved it’s aim – some pretty riding every day – so we aren’t out here grinding out some route for the sake of saying we did. Philipp fared worse but I know deep down he appreciated the cycling infrastructure and the additional kilometers we snuck in today [Philipp: I did appreciate it, but was quite ready to be done at the time].
We are staying the night with my former professor, who is living for the year in Fontainebleau. She bought her first bike while I was in grad school, and smoked me on my first century only a few years later. She and her husband may join us for some of the way tomorrow – wish us luck.
Total distance/elevation to date: 2234km/13’151m
Rest days: 7
Day 28 Route and Stats
The 1948 Tour 
Leave a comment