August 16, Thursday - We took our time packing up, but eventually carted all our gear down 4 flights of spiral stairs, and made our way to ... can you guess ... Decathlon! :) Well, as it happens the RER station was right next to the Decathlon.

The information at the station was a bit confusing. We were happily sold tickets to St. Quentin, and had been told earlier that the train should go directly out to St. Quentin, and some of the signs did indicate the same thing, but the actual monitor said something different.

However, we boarded the train ... and then it stopped at the very next station. Track works! We were directed to take a bus. One ticket agent told me that the bus would definitely NOT take bicycles, but a more patient man told me it would be no problem. Remember that all these conversations are going on mainly in French, and my French is a little bit on the weak side ... so it can be challenging to communicate when anything unusual comes along.

When we got out to where the busses were, the bus drivers were hesitant about letting us on, but had a brief conference, and then told us it would be OK. The passengers already on the bus were supportive of the idea, although later passengers weren't so enthusiastic.

We disembarked at Invalides, and spent some time practicing taking the bicycles up and down an escalator while waiting for the next train. This is a skill which is very useful to have if you plan to travel by bicycle (especially loaded touring bicycles) and train in France! Rowan has it down pat ... I was the one who needed the practice.

Fortunately, we had time to get our bicycles settled in the train before we set off for St. Quentin ... finally! And finally we arrived. The memories came flooding back ... I can hardly believe it has been 4 years, it doesn't feel that long at all!

We headed for the campsite to see if we could get a spot ... and were told "no". However, some "hmmm-ing" and "hawing", and dejected look on my part, combined with the fact that we had no car ... and we got a spot tucked away in a corner, on a rather mushy bit of ground.

We set up on the highest part of our designated area, and went into town for supper ... McDonalds. Everything else in St. Quentin is quite expensive. But I must say, the McDonalds in St. Quentin is not like McDonalds in North America. It looks like a restaurant, rather than a fast food place ... and you couldn't call the process that occurs between ordering to receiving food "fast". At first, that was a bit disconcerting. I'm used to placing the order, and having it on the tray a few seconds later. But, after a few meals there, I started to get used to the slower, attention-to-detail method they use with regard to food in France.

August 17, Friday - I slept in. It is my goal to feel well-rested over the next few days.

Eventually, we got ourselves together and went to Guyancourt, the Start/Finish area of the PBP, with the goal in mind of cycling the first bit of the route. But a little "difficulty" arose ... a "difficulty" that presented itself every time we went into St. Quentin for the next week or so. Everything we did ended up taking an hour or two longer than planned because we kept running into people we knew, and stopping to have a chat. Yes, I used the word "difficulty" tongue-in-cheek because it was great to see all these people again! Randonneuring events are almost like a family reunion! :)

There was a crowd of people at the Start/Finish area, and we ended up chatting for the next hour or so. Dean, from Manitoba, was there, and Nick, and Amy (Orangecomo) with her husband, and Ken Bonner, and a collection of the BC Randonneurs in their salmon (not red) Canadian jerseys, and the Australian we met in Paris, and a group of other people.

By the time we got going, we were hungry for lunch, so we gave up the idea of cycling the first part of the route and instead picked up the ingredients for a picnic lunch.

There is a park and a lake next to the campground near St. Quentin. It seems that not very many people know about it. We cycled to the lake, and around the lake, and got a little bit lost a few times, and had lunch by the lake. It was a very pleasant diversion.

That evening, Tim Stredwick, Rowan's good friend from Hobart arrived and pitched in our secluded little area. A few other Tasmanians arrived a bit later, and pitched there as well. It became the Tasmanian area of the camp (with me as an honourary Tasmanian), and we affectionately called it, "The Swamp" after the TV show MASH, and after the fact that it was indeed becoming a swamp.

August 18, Saturday - A lazy day ... sleeping, resting around the campsite ... and then we set off for a ride just to get our legs moving.

When I had come to this part of the world before, I did not get to see Versailles so this time, I really wanted to see it. It's a good ride out there, and I would recommend going! Versailles was magnificent!

Unfortunately, we arrived just as it was closing - it was closing early for a special function - but we still got some photographs, and then took a ride around the grounds which are impressive and extensive. Versailles is much more what I would expect a palace to look like - large and ornate! On the grounds, there is a large canal on which people can boat, and a path all around it on which people can jog and cycle. The canal and grounds are very neat and laid out in an extremely organized manner.

And then we cycled back ... up quite a good hill, which was good practice. We were thinking of going out to dinner with a group, but decided against that. It was more relaxing to have supper in The Swamp.

Later we went out for a short ride to test lights ... and were quite impressed with the lighting display in the middle of the roundabout next to the campsite. However, I should have spent a bit more time out there, I think, adjusting my lights. They weren't quite right.

August 19, Sunday - We were wakened to torrential rain at some point early in the morning, and it kept raining and raining pretty much all day, on and off. Unfortunately, this rain ... and all the rain to come ... turned our already somewhat swampy Swamp into a very swampy Swamp! The path to the toilets, in particular, turned into a treacherously slippery stream of mud. All over the campsite, we could hear the camp tractor pulling vehicles out of the mud.

Fortunately we had picked our spot well, and Buckingham Palace withstood the rain. We were also very glad we'd made the decision to shore up the area in front of our tent with a cheap foam sleeping pad. At least it kept the mud out of our tent.

But it wasn't too bad when we got up and got ready to go in for the bike check.

For some reason there was no formal bike check this year, although we knew they'd do an informal, quick check as we were departing on the ride. People speculated that it was because of the weather, but Rowan and I thought it was more likely because of the volume of people (we heard rumors of anywhere between 5000 and 6000), and also perhaps something to do with the soccer grounds where the bike check was held in 2003 ... the Gymnase had just laid down new turf, and had requested a very strict rule: "NO walking on the turf!".

Nevertheless we still had to go in and collect our information. It was an absolute sea of people! I got through the Canadian "line-up" in no time because most of the Canadians had been told to be there for 1 pm, and I was there at 11 am. However, Rowan took a while to get through his line-up. So I sat on the stands and attempted to take photographs (most turned out blurry for some reason), and looked through some of the information, and watched people, waving at the ones I recognized.

We were provided with several items including an interesting fact sheet about the event. They assumed that we either received our route/cue sheets by email or mail at some earlier point. Fortunately, I had printed everything out, and had brought the cue sheet, although it seemed to be missing the right/left turn indications.

We mingled and chatted, and ducked the rain, and tried on our PBP jerseys ... and I missed the Canadian photo because I was busy chatting to another Canadian -- Grant McLeod from Saskatchewan. I got to see quite a few of the Manitoba group again ... I haven't seen them in quite a while. I also talked with some of the Alberta Randonneurs. We're so scattered here, we don't get to see each other much either. Of course there were heaps of BC Randonneurs around, many of whom I recognized.

When we ventured outside, a Danish woman, Vera, came over and talked to me. Vera and I have been on many of these long distance events together, and have seen each other, but haven't spoken before. It was really nice to get to know each other a little bit. Vera is an inspiration to me ... she is older than me, she's done a lot more of these than I have, and is still at it. If I'm not mistaken, Vera is the only other woman who has completed an Australian 1200K.

But Rowan and I noticed something ... in 2003, the atmosphere was much more like that of a festival. There was a section that looked like a market with food and souvenirs for sale, and music playing, and people riding little penny-farthings, and all sorts of things going on. This year, the atmosphere seemed much more business-like ... no market, no festival.

After we'd been there several hours, we decided to go to the laundromat to ensure all our clothing was ready for the ride. Dr.C, from the Bicycling Mag forum, was there as well, doing the same thing.

Later that evening, we met with a group of the Bicycling Mag Long Distance Forum people, and had supper with them at the same place where we had our pre-ride meal in 2003. This year, however, no one ordered the Steak Tartare! It was VERY nice to see everyone again. :) In the photo on the left are: DrCodfish, Rowan, Machka, pessimistic pedaler's wife Lisa, pessimistic pedaler, and RoadiJeff.