(San Francisco rides are on hiatus for June, but here are photos and a map from a ride from two years ago, which I’d never got around to writing up)
After a week in France for work (lucky me, I know), I impulsively bought some detailed road/topo maps at the Espace IGN in Paris, a map-lover’s dream. Then I took a train to Épernay (a famous champagne town and region) and rented a bike for €15/day at the Bulleo swimming pool / sports center at the edge of town (map), which had strict rules about appropriate swimwear:
I’d intended to do 2-3 days of riding stopping off in different towns, but it was pouring rain most of the week, so I just did one day of riding– a roughly 35-mile circuit along back roads:
Rental bikes are the same everywhere– heavy and upright:
Paved roads wound through unfenced vineyards, with rarely a car in sight:
Every few miles I’d pass through a small town.
Some had a single bakery or bar for refueling:
A huge Champagne bottle along the side of the road:
Nonplussed cow (video):
Champagne cellars were dark and gloomy:
There was no real sprawl– towns ended abruptly and returned to fields for a few miles before the next town:
And at the end of the ride, a stop at a chocolate manufacturing plant in an industrial park (video):