Biking down the Loire

It's been two months since I last complained in this my blog about being afflicted by the one-two punch of  tendinitis in my left Achilles tendon and arthritis in my right knee.  Don't assume that my silence means that these afflictions have gone away like magic.  Or that I'm no longer suffering from all the disruption to my favorite activities that they cause.

Actually, the tendinitis is considerably improved, and I have hopes that the tendon and related muscles are gradually healing.  The arthritis, however, .... well, arthritis doesn't really "get better," so far as I know.  Most sources say that the best you can do is to slow down the degeneration until you either pass on to a better and less painful world, or pay for an artificial knee.  I'm nowhere ready for the latter, and hopefully am not looking at a near approach of the former.

These problems, taken together, kept me from taking part in a pre-paid  hike with friends in Scotland last August.  But, as reported to you, I nevertheless joined the group and traveled by baggage van each day, joining the hikers when they arrived at each day's target town.  

Except for two days, when I stayed with the group on a bicycle.  A bicycle.

I found that bike riding bothered neither my tendinitis nor my arthritis.  Unfortunately, the remaining days of the hike were over terrain too rough -- at least in my estimation -- to make for comfortable biking.

But now we come to 2024.  Same fellow hikers.  But this year we are planning to be fellow bikers.  My university friend Jim is an untiring biker, and has taken part in weeks-long group rides throughout the U.S.A. -- including one ride from the east coast to the west coast.  

So Jim has organized a bike ride through the chateau-infested Loire Valley in France, two and a half months from now in May.   As with our past hikes in Britain, he is working through an organization that arranges each night's accommodations, as well as provides maps and tour descriptions.  They also arrange for bike rentals.

We will be a group of seven.  Two of us -- Jim and his brother John -- are purists who will ride conventional road bikes.  The rest of us will ride e-bikes.  The entire group will ride from Orléans to Tours.  After a day's rest in Tours, the two hardy brothers will continue on to Nantes near the coast, and then south to La Rochelle.  The rest of us will return to Paris from Tours, and then home.

The ride as far as Tours is rated as "Easy."  We will be biking six days on mainly level terrain, with daily miles ranging from eight to 29 miles, averaging out to about 21 miles per day.

We plan to spend four days before the ride in Paris, training for the ride by consuming ample provisions of truffles, cassoulet, bouillabaisse, and coq au vin -- washed down with hearty French wines. 

 Getting to bed by 1 a.m.

Should be great. Wish me luck!