The Heroes have landed. Our paths to the Grand Boucle have been varied with one Hero (Heather) stopping off in London to kiss to her Mum and Dad, and others via Paris and Nice. We gathered in separate locations in the Pyrenees to cover the race and then bolted to Hero Headquarters in Cassis for downloading and decompressing on the tour’s second rest day. The villa, provided by a committed Tenspeed Hero fan in this Mediterranean port, looks upon the sea and cliffs; the Le Baou de Saoupe. Once home to Celto-ligurian Pirates (the swabs!), now home to euro-vacationers, page-three girls and now, a few Tenspeed Heroes. Cassis is a fine escape from Pyrenean mountaintops that come with no toilets and, as such, the poor mountains serve as communal Chiottes.
Unfortunately, we arrived in Cassis two months early for the fall migration of such majestic species as the Short-toed eagle, the Honey buzzard, Black kite, and of course the Wood pigeon.
We have been subsisting on coffee, Gummy Bears from Haribo, muesli, yogurt and cheese – not necessarily in that order. A fairly vegetarian diet to be sure, but we are not quite ready for the severity of the Dave Zabriski diet. After a day with some cliff diving at our favorite calanque, onward to the Alps!