Check in Day

Saturday at PBP is the day for bike inspection and check-in/registration. The bike inspection was pretty minimal. Basically, all they wanted to see was that I had 2 separate headlights that turned on and at least one working tailight. The whole inspection took less than 15 seconds, and I am pretty sure my inspector was getting razzed by another inspector for taking so long. (at least thats what it sounded like to a non-French speaker).

We also got to spend the day with some other Wisconsin folks. Mostly with Bob and Michele from Madison. Greg Silver, who is the third member of the Wisconsin group showed up this afternoon. Myself, Bob, and Greg posed near the hotel for the group photo of all Wisconsin PBPer's.

I spent the rest of the day getting my bike ready and packing my drop bags. Those are the bags that our travel agent/tour guide will take out to designated spots on the route for us to access. I will have access to a bag at Loudeac going each way and at Villaines on the way back to Paris.

The town has changed completely in the few days we have been here. Early in the week, there were a few Americans interspersed with the French locals. Now the place is crawling from cyclists from all over the world. We've seen riders from Italy, Denmark, England, Australia, England, Canada, and Japan to name a few. There is a lot of nervous energy around the hotel. The topic of conversation has now changed to the weather. It looks like Monday and Tuesday have a pretty good chance of rain, although it does look like there is a chance of favorable winds.

Tomorrow should be a long, restless day around the hotel. I should start somewhere between 6 and 8 Sunday night Paris time. I would guess closer to 8. (Paris is 7 hours ahead of Wisconsin).

The businesses in town are definitely catering to the PBP crowd. Here's a sample menu from a restaurant next to the hotel.