Still in St. Jean-de-Luz

Today is a low key day here, as was entirely expected.  My jet lag has been mild, at the most, mercifully enough.  As that further resolves, I am just mainly relaxing and getting ready for the trip to begin tomorrow.

At just before 3:00 PM today, the appointed time, I walked the 2 km over from my hotel here to the one where the Trek Travel guides are located.  That walk itself was a treat, as it afforded some elevations all of its own, all along the shoreline, giving me new and impressive views of the Atlantic.

The three guides are very friendly, helpful, and competent.  Stefano put my pedals and saddle on the bike.  I rode it for just a very short distance, and it feels great.  It really felt great to get back on a bike, even if it was only for a very short ride today.

I now have the papers which include the cue sheets for every day of the trip.  Tomorrow's ride will be a good one on which to get started, with shorter distance overall, and less demanding climbs.  We will do 76 km tomorrow, with three climbs.  Two, Col d'Otxondo and Col d'Ispeguy, will be moderate climbs.  The former is 10 km long, with an average elevation of 5 to 7.6%.  That will be a good warm up for the next day's more challenging climbs.  The first part of the ride tomorrow will actually be in Spain.  We will end up in France again in the latter part of the day.

Tomorrow's destination really interests me.  The town of St. Jean Pied-du-Port, at the base of the Roncevaux pass, is the capital city of the traditional Basque province.  It is also one of the commonly used starting off places for travelers going on the Camino de Santiago.  This will be fun to visit.

I have met many of the other folks who are going on the trip.  We introduced ourselves to each other in the parking lot of the Hotel la Reserve, as the bikes were getting set up and adjusted to us.  They all seem very friendly.  They also all exude an ambiance that suggests that they are very experienced and capable cyclists.  (Now, why would that be a surprise?)  We have all shared with each other our names, places of hometowns, etc., etc.  As all of us well understand, none of us will successfully be able to match names with faces for at least a few more days from now.

We are all ready and eager to get going tomorrow morning!