It’s funny how travelers sometimes end up in the same places for no reason. Yesterday on the road to Metz, I met the same German hitchhiker at two different gas stations more than a hundred km away. The second time I just had to talk to him, he was just hitchhiking his way back to Germany and needed to be there at the latest on Wednesday. It sounds to me like something from the Middle Ages to think that one could travel at that pace and with that (lack of) urgency. Then again, it’s just what I’m about to do, albeit a bit faster.
Yesterday was a pretty nice day, after all the things I had to do in the « morning », I set off quite late but finally vaccinated against yellow fever, typhoid fever and difteria, tetanus, polio. Yes, I had left that for the last moment, that’s just me and my just in time planning. Since I was so late and didn’t want to reach Metz after dark, I decided to take the toll highway. Not the best « roadseeing » (road sightseeing, I’ve just made that word up) option but I really didn’t want to ride for 6 to 7 hours because I was already thinking of taking a nap. And that’s what I did.
I had my first roadside nap 100km before Metz. I had been dreaming of a roadside nap since my trip to ski in March when the elements (all of them) didn’t let me have a nap. It was just a technical stop, lay on the curb and close my eyes. It was sunny, naps in the sun are the best, you wake up completely recharged and ready to take on the rest of the road.
When I arrived to Metz, I was greeted by my good friends Boris and Tzveti who provided me with a couch and a nice dinner and of course some rakia. I was so tired that it completely knocked me out, although the wine may have contributed to the TKO.
Today was Metz visit day and working on the bike day. See, I have this Scottoiler that I had bought off the internet and that I still hadn’t installed. So, after noon I went out for a stroll and next to a city map I ran into this George guy, he’s a tattoo artist and he is traveling by bicycle, from Leeds in the UK to Portugal via Rome, from one tattoo parlor to the next one. Haha, yes, via Rome, that’s what he said. We talked for a while about the road and how he was managing on his 2-gear bike and then I took him to the street he was looking for, a little advantage I still have while I’m in France: 3G.
Now it’s the end of the day, the Scottoiler is installed and seems to be working alright, I’m finally going to bed. We’ll see tomorrow when I start riding if it works as good as it looks :). I was scared of doing the installation because I had to cut a pipe, an engine vacuum pipe in order to install it. It’s done now.
Going to bed
Going to b…
Going t…
Goi…
G…
PS: I had to go to Castorama during the installation because as it turns out, I didn’t have any tool allowing me to remove the rear wheel. Good one…
Un siesta a un lado de la carretera…esto prueba que los gallegos/españoles colonizaron todo lo que queda al oeste del Rio Paraguay 😉
So far so good…
y que buena siesta fue!
Hola Nacho!
Metz ma ville natale, pas folichon, mais j’espère que les « Messins » t’auront bien accueilli!
Oui !!
Mes 2 messins préférés (d’adoption) m’ont très bien accueilli et j’ai trouvé les gens très sympa en général. Quand tu rentres dans un magasin on te dit toujours bonjour et au revoir quand tu sors 😀
Bien joué l’installation du kit scottoiler « on the go » 🙂
N’oublie pas de vérifier le débit d’huile après un millier de km, histoire d’ajuster le réglage et de pas vider le petit réservoir trop vite…
Et checke aussi le support du tuyau du dispenser sur le bras oscillant, il paraît qu’il peut se décoller avec l’eau de la route.
Bonne route!
Bonne idée, j’ai déjà remarqué que ça partait un peu vite et je l’ai baissé d’un cran. Si en arrivant à Prague tout le reservoir est partie, je le mettrai au minimum et qu’il se débrouille.
Dans mon cas, le dispenser est vissé dans l’axe de la roue, s’il se dévisse ou décolle, je me casse la gueule…
Merci !