Garry McGivern’s European bike ride, Tuesday, 30th-August-2022, Monnerville to Samoreau. 55 miles. Haha, another sleepless night, but I least I could blame it on something. There was a huge thunderstorm in the early hours of the morning. I want to say that it kept me awake, but I was already awake when it started. It started around three and finished at about five, just in time for getting up.
The day didn’t get much better after that. First, the click-stand that I used to prop the bike up broke. Then as I was loading the bike, one of the straps that I secure my tent with broke. Both are very minor things and nothing to worry about. But I may have jinxed things by thinking about what would be the third thing to break. Because, as we all know, things go in threes. I kept not trying to think about it, but my mind kept returning to it, and I just knew it would be my saddle that broke. And sure enough, as day follows night, it broke!
I was just coming into a town called Nemours when the tensioning bolt snapped. Which I thought was lucky in one way, as there must be cycle repair shops, which there were. But they were all closed. I then had to cycle the ten miles to Fontainebleau with a broken saddle that was painful to ride on. The shop I went to tried to fix my saddle but couldn’t, so I bought a new one. It’s not a Brooks, but hopefully, it’ll be okay. Well, see tomorrow. Do you ever get the feeling that something is trying to tell you not to continue?
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