The outward journey

Day 1 : The hangover stage

Sunday morning, July 26th it was finally time again, Bart and I (Bram) would go on another cycling vacation. The journey actually started the Friday before, though. I couldn't use my racing bike for the next couple of weeks, so I went for a last and challenging ride. The following day I had to wake up at 6:45 to work from 8:00 to 22:00 in the local supermarket. Afterward, my colleagues asked if I 'briefly' wanted to go out for a few drinks with them. It was pretty quiet at the local bar, so we decided to cycle elsewhere. Eventually, it was around 3:30 at night before I got home. After racing my bike on Friday, I had thus worked 14 hours, cycled 35 km, and went out until 3:30. After sleeping for four and a half hours, Bart arrived so we could leave. Fortunately, I hardly had a hangover because I was still drunk. After being laughed at a lot, I managed to climb on my bike and around 9:30 Bart and I left for France.
 

After 50 kilometers, we took a break so I could wake up. Bart had brought three bags of raisin buns, two liters of water, three cookies, and a bottle of Fanta. I had planned to buy food along the way. Then Bart reminded me that it was Sunday, so all stores were closed. We continued over the same roads we had cycled two years ago, on our way to the Mediterranean sea. There again was way too much sun and a strong headwind. After 70 km, I got very hungry and thirsty and developed a nice sunburn. That was a good start for the rest of the trip.

After 120 km, I was already tired and dehydrated even though we had just reached the toughest part of the Ardennes, a hilly area in Belgium. Fortunately, we found a tap with some pear trees nearby. I was so hungry I tried to eat those while Bart was laughing at me. Unfortunately, the pears weren't ripe yet, so I was still hungry, but at least my thirst was quenched.