Cannes to Frejus

August 16, 2009 Cannes to Frejus
Since our room in Cannes had AC, we took advantage and stayed their until about 10:30. After packing up, we stepped out into the heat. The one saving grace is that it is getting less humid. The landscape, except for the Med. Sea, almost looks like Arizona. It is all scrubby firs, cedar, and very little grass. The rocks have taken on a very reddish hue. Ever since Monaco, we have seen cruise ships in most of the cities along the Cote d'Azur. Since we got started so late, we lowered our mileage sites and headed for Saint-Raphael. After aboujt two or three hours of fairly hard biking, we stopped at a cute road-side restaurant. Their specialty was salads and omelettes. Jordan had the former and I had the latter. We were even able to get ice (glace) with our water! I don't know if I have mentioned before how hard it has been to get ice in Europe. I have yet to see it in the grocery stores. When we buy wine at the store, we always have to scrounge to get ice. One time I got it dry ice that the grocery store was using to keep their fish cold.
Just after lunch, I heard the familiar PING of a broken spoke..l. another one on my cassette side of my rear wheel. We kept on riding to Saint-Raphael where I was hoping to find an open bike store. Upon arriving, we discovered that August 15th was some big holiday in France and none of the stores would be open, other than restaurants and bars. We checked with the local tourist office to see if their were any rooms available and there were not. This is the height of holiday season and a Saturday. She was able to give me a list of local campgrounds and it looked like there was a nice one outside of Frejus, about 9 clicks away. By this time we were broiling and Jordan had a pounding headache.
Frejus is located a little inland from the beach. Spotting a good-looking fruit stand, we pulled over for some refreshments. There is something about biking that makes me crave fruit. Jordan feels the same way. We bought nectarines, a pear, a cantolope, and some huge grapes. We ate the grapes immediately, since they would be hard to pack. Each one exploded in our mouths.
We took off from the fruit stand and were only about half a click from the campsite. The road had no bike path at that point, but just ahead was a three foot high stone wall that separated the road from a biking/walking path. Jordan was 20 yards behind me so I thought she would see it without me mentioning anything. I turned slightly to the right upon approaching the dividing wall to get on the bike path. About two or three seconds later I heard a huge crash. I whipped around to see that Jordan had run right into the dividing wall and got thrown to the ground. I got off my bike and ran back to help her. She seemed like she was in shock. I grabbed her arm and led her off the road and onto the bike path, then I grabbed her bike. Instead of comforting her, I started screaming at her... "What the hell are you doing? You are going to kill yourself!" I then brought up all the clumsy moves she has been making of late, and she snapped! She called me every name in the book, and I deserved it. I am not sure why I reacted like I did. I was so scared when I heard the crash. I should have hugged her instead of screaming at her.
The lesson I am learning is that I can not push her as hard as I have been. It seems that the afternoons after a hard morning of riding, are really tough on her. She lost her concentration for just a second and it was almost disasterous. As Sergeant Barnes said in "Platoon"... "If you don't keep your sh!t wired tight, I goddamn guarantee you a trip out of the bush... IN A BODY BAG!" As my brother Jeff has shown me, everything you need to know about life is in the movie "Platoon".
We arrived at the campground without further mishap and set up the tent. We decided to go our separate ways for an hour or two to cool down. I swam, showered, then got a half liter of horrible white wine at the campground restaurant. Jordan came by and we had a nice dinner. The food ended up being much better than the wine. We have decided to spend another day here since the pool is nice and the bike shops are closed. I don't want to risk breaking another spoke. We may ride the short distance back to Saint Raphael to get on the Internet and buy food at a grocery store. I could also use another book, since I just finished "Quite Ugly One Morning". Excellent book! Very Carl Hiassen-like.
I have talked with Jordan about altering our itinerary a bit, not like we haven't altered it already! I suggested to her that once we get to Aixe-on-Provence, we take a train up to somewhere in the Loire Valley. My sister, Jane, said it was her favorite part of her trip biking through Europe. It may be a little cooler up that way, and we will be closer to Munchen (Munich) when we finish riding. She agrees as long as there are no mountains!