One More Post before Leaving

One question that almost everyone asks after learning about my trip is "Do you take your own bike with you?" Although I could rent one from the tour company, it's so much more fun to ride my own, so I pack it and it goes across the ocean with me as checked baggage. Surprisingly, there's no extra charge to check the bike case. Last year, nearly all of the riders brought their own bikes with them. The cases all spend the week stowed in the back of one of the vans, so we never have to deal with them again until it's time to repack the bikes before Paris. Aside from that, the case is pretty roomy, so I also pack my helmet, shoes and a few tools along with the bike. On the return trip I stuff it full of souvenirs, dirty clothes and anything else that I don't need for the last couple of days. I had a nervous few moments in Marseille last summer when my bike didn't arrive with the rest of the baggage, but I finally found some guys who located it down in the basement. It was my first attempt to speak French in a long time, and they must have gotten quite a chuckle when I asked them to look for the "bicyclette" instead of "velo." I get to Geneva on Saturday morning, and look forward to being somewhere along the Tour route on Sunday afternoon. After that, it's Tour de France to the max, for a whole week.